Queens ADAs Honored With 28th Annual Hal Miller Weinstein Memorial Award

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown (front, center) named Assistant District Attorneys Gabriel Reale (front, left) and Chrystina Lopera (front, right) as the recipients of the 28th Annual Hal Miller Weinstein Memorial Award. Joining Brown in presenting the awards were (back left to right) Weinstein’s brother, Lloyd, an attorney and Weinstein’s uncle, Queens Supreme Court Justice Jeremy S. Weinstein. Photo courtesy of the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

By Jonathan Sperling

Two Queens assistant district attorneys were honored with a prestigious award for their commitment to public service in the borough at a ceremony last Thursday.

Assistant District Attorneys Chrystina Lopera and Gabriel Reale were awarded the DA office’s 28th Annual Hal Miller Weinstein Memorial Award, given each year in honor of former Assistant District Attorney Hal Miller Weinstein, who died following a car crash during his first year as a newly appointed prosecutor.

“I present this award each year to one or more of our first year class assistants — assistants who most exemplify and embody Hal Weinstein’s exceptional spirit, his boundless enthusiasm and deep commitment to public service. Hal was a personally engaging young man who touched the lives of many of us here in this office,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.

“His warmth and friendship were felt by all of us that had the privilege and honor of knowing him,” Brown continued. “The professionalism and career promise demonstrated by both Chrystina and Gabriel over this past year, as well as their deep commitment to the office, truly exemplified those personal qualities representative of Hal Weinstein.”

Lopera obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2011 and received her Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School in 2016. While in law school, Chrystina served as the president of MetroLALSA, Inc. and NYLS LALSA, two coalitions of Latino students in the legal profession. Lopera was also a Student Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and interned in the Queens DA office’s Domestic Violence Bureau before accepting the job of ADA.

Reale received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in 2014 and his Juris Doctorate degree from Fordham Law School in 2017, where he graduated magna cum laude. Reale interned in the Queens District Attorney’s office in the summer of 2012.

Lopera is presently assigned to the District Attorney’s Kew Gardens I Trial Bureau and Reale is assigned to the Domestic Violence Bureau.

Among those present at the ceremony were Weinstein’s uncle, Queens Supreme Court Justice Jeremy S. Weinstein, Administrative Judge of the Civil Term of the Queens Supreme Court and his brother, Lloyd, who is also an attorney.