Former CCRB Chief Mina Malik Enters Queens DA Race

MINA MALIK. PHOTO BY JACQUIE HEMMERDINGER.

By Jonathan Sperling

It’s official.

Mina Malik, the former head of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, has officially announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Queens District Attorney, three months after the Eagle first broke the news that she was eyeing a bid DA.

Malik currently serves as the deputy attorney general at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. She is a former assistant district attorney in Queens and Brooklyn.

Malik served as an assistant district attorney under Queens DA Richard A. Brown for 15 years, including a significant tenure in the Sex Crimes Bureau. In 2014, she became special counsel to the late Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.

After leaving the CCRB in 2016, Malik worked for the Harvard Fair Punishment Project.

In the months leading up to her announcement, Malik has been an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform on social media.

“Roger Stone is free on $250,000 bail hours after being arrested while people across our nation -- like Kalief Browder & Jerome Murdough — languish in jail for days, months or years b/c they can't afford to pay bail. It's unfair. We need #BailReform now,” Malik tweeted on Saturday.

Malik, who is of Hispanic and South Asian descent, is the second woman of color to declare her candidacy for Queens district attorney, after public defender Tiffany Cabán.

Borough President Melinda Katz, Councilmember Rory Lancman, former Judge Gregory Lasak and State Attorney General’s Office prosecutor Jose Nieves have also each declared their candidacies and started fundraising ahead of the June primary

The six candidates are vying to replace Brown, who has held the office since his appointment in 1991.

Malik did not immediately respond to the Eagle’s request for comment .