Maureen McCormick | Special Assistant District Attorney for Legislative Initiatives

Maureen McCormick joined the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in February 2022 as a Special Assistant District Attorney for Legislative Initiatives. She is a graduate of St. John’s University Law School. After law school, she began her career in 1986 in the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office, where she created the first-ever Vehicular Crimes Bureau in New York City and served as its Bureau Chief. She worked on many high-profile cases in Brooklyn, including the Grand Jury presentation that precipitated the 1991 Crown Heights Riots, and successfully tried People v. Grey in which an off-duty NYPD officer was convicted for the drunk driving deaths of Maria Herrera, her baby born by emergency c-section, her four-year-old son, Andy, and her sister, Dilcia Pena.

In 2006, she joined the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office where she served as the Founding Chief of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau and Executive Assistant District Attorney. During her time in Nassau, she successfully tried People v. Heidgen, the infamous case involving a wrong-way drunk driver hitting a wedding limousine head-on, resulting in the deaths of limo driver Stanley Rabinowitz and seven-year-old flower girl Katie Flynn, as well as the critical injuries of her family. McCormick successfully argued two DWI depraved murder cases before the Court of Appeals and the Federal Second Circuit.

Over the last decade, Maureen has worked tirelessly to close the loopholes in New York State’s drugged driving laws. To prosecute a motorist for drugged driving, the law requires that an officer name the exact drug that was impairing the driver, and that drug must also appear on the Public Health Law list. As a result, these loopholes in the law have created a situation where victims can be injured or killed by a drugged driver, but that driver cannot be criminally held accountable. In the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, McCormick has worked exclusively on bringing these important issues to the attention of the New York State Legislature and the Governor. She authored the pending S8913/A9554, drugged driving correction, gathered organizations to form a support coalition, and hosted the legislative briefing in May 2022, “Protecting New Yorkers from Drugged Driving," which you can watch here: https://stopdwi.org/protecting-new-yorkers-from-drugged-driving/

In addition to the prosecution of numerous vehicular homicide cases throughout her career, McCormick co-chairs the New York State District Attorneys Association's Vehicular Crimes Legislative Subcommittee and has trained hundreds of fellow prosecutors all over New York State. Furthermore, she created the award-winning “Choices and Consequences” Program, which has educated more than a million high school students in multiple counties about drunk, drugged, and reckless driving.

She is a member of the New York State Impaired Driving Advisory Council and helped draft legislation, including Leandra’s Law, Jack Shea’s Law, and the Aggravated Vehicular Homicide and Assault statutes, among others. She is a contributing author of the New York State DWI Trial Manual and the Vehicular Homicide Manual. She also devised the plan to use asset forfeiture funds to close the treatment gap for victims of addiction.

McCormick is the recipient of a number of awards including the William T. Smith Award for Legislation, the MADD Lifetime Achievement award, the NHTSA Public Service Award, the National Traffic Safety Award for Prosecutors, and New York State Prosecutor of the Year. Most recently, she was honored to have the “Maureen McCormick Leader of Excellence Award” named after her by MADD.

00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Early Career in Brooklyn
01:57 - Victims of Vehicular Crime v. Intentional Homicide
04:40 - Crown Heights Riots
06:30 - Grand Jury Investigation
06:54 - Training & Education
08:32 - Nassau County
08:57 - New York v. Martin Heidgen
13:20 - Being a Prosecutor
15:38 - Katie Flynn's Legacy
16:43 - Drugged Driving Laws in New York
17:30 - Detection
18:56 - Litto Case
20:10 - Impaired Driving Statute
21:45 - Maureen's Continued Work in Suffolk County
23:37 - Tim Carpenter
24:42 - An Abandonment of Victims

Видео Maureen McCormick | Special Assistant District Attorney for Legislative Initiatives канала Ray Tierney, Suffolk County District Attorney, NY