Katz names new executive team, conviction review chief
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AP Photo/Seth Wenig.
By David Brand
New Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on Monday unveiled the nine-member executive team, including four veterans Queens prosecutors, that will lead the office’s various divisions and oversee justice in the borough of 2.3 million people.
The executive team includes Bryce Benjet, a former attorney with the Innocence Project, who will lead the office’s newly formed Conviction Integrity Unit. Benjet represented Rodney Reed, a death row inmate whose high-profile murder conviction has undergone renewed scrutiny in light of fresh evidence. A Texas appeals court halted Reed’s execution in November 2019.
John Castellano, formerly the deputy executive assistant district attorney of the Legal Affairs Division, will serve as counsel to the DA. Katz had said that one member of the previous administration’s executive staff may remain in her team as she hired a roster of “true believers” who would implement the reforms she pledged on the campaign trail. Castellano is the lone hold-over from the executive or deputy executive team.
Jennifer Naiburg, a 26-year veteran of the office, will serve as chief executive ADA. Naiburg most recently served as Bureau Chief of the newly Kew Gardens III Felony Trial Bureau.
“We have created a team with the unique kind of expertise and specialized skills that will usher in a new era here in Queens County,” Katz said. “The new policies and appointments are just the start, as we look forward to innovative ideas that will enhance the safety of all those who live, work and visit Queens.”
New Executive ADA of the Appeals and Special Litigation Division Johnnette Traill has served in the Queens DA’s Office for 27 years, most recently as chief of the Appeals Bureau. New Executive Assistant District Attorney of the Major Crimes Division Daniel Saunders has worked in the Queens DA’s Office for nearly 28 years. Saunders moves over from the Major Crimes Division.
Colleen Babb will serve as executive ADA for the Community Partnerships Division, a rebranding of the office’s Special Prosecutions Division. Babb previously served as Queens Borough Chief of the New York City Law Department’s Office of Corporation Counsel.
The other members of the executive team include Chief of Staff/Administration Camille Chin-Kee-Fatt, formerly the director of administrative services for the New York City Council; Executive ADA of the Criminal Practice and Policy Division Angela Albertus, formerly chief of the city Law Department’s Family Court Division; Executive ADA of the Supreme Court Trial Division Pishoy Yacoub, formerly a Bronx prosecutor.
Katz is the first new DA elected in Queens since 1991, the year late DA Richard Brown took office. She has pledged to implement a few criminal justice reform measures and has eliminated the office’s policy of preventing defendants to plea bargain after five days unless they waived their right to a grand jury.
