Acting DA Gonzalez meets Brooklyn elite
Gonzalez Offers Vision for Reform of Mass Incarceration
“A lot of people say they will continue. I’m a bit different,” Acting King’s County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez explained to the select group of Brooklynites at the home of Pace University Law School Dean David Yassky, who had gathered for the opportunity to meet the man fate had selected to fill the late Ken Thompson’s role as Brooklyn’s chief prosecutor. Gonzalez, born in Brooklyn and raised on the tough streets of East New York, plans to remove “acting” from his title after November’s election, where he faces likely challenges from other former DA staff including Marc Fleidner, who rose to prominence after winning a conviction against NYPD rookie Peter Liang in the death of Akai Gurley, and a former ADA under Charles Hynes, Anne Swern.
“I was there from day one,” Gonzalez went on to say, in reference to his predecessor’s tenure. “Ken Thompson had the grand vision of what justice should be. I’m continuing his legacy, and I’m also building my own legacy.”
Gonzalez has spent his entire professional career in the King’s County DA’s Office, starting in 1995 as an ADA before moving to several of the office’s bureaus, including Sex Crimes, Special Victims, Domestic Violence and the Green Zone, the last of which he ran as executive assistant district attorney.