Manhattan District Attorney
The District Attorney of New York County, commonly known as Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County, New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws. The current district attorney is Alvin Bragg Jr.. He was New York County District Attorney election|elected in 2021] to succeed Cyrus Vance Jr.
District attorneys are legally permitted to delegate the prosecution of petty crimes or offenses. Prosecutors do not normally handle New [York City Criminal Court] summons court cases, and the Manhattan district attorney has a memorandum of understanding with the New [York City Police Department] allowing their legal bureau to selectively prosecute them.
History
In the legislative act of February 12, 1796, New York State was divided into seven districts, each with an Assistant Attorney General, except New York County where Attorney General Josiah [Ogden Hoffman, Sr.|Josiah Ogden Hoffman] prosecuted personally until 1801.From 1801 to 1813, New York County was part of the First District, which included the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, Richmond, and Suffolk. At that time, Queens included current-day Nassau County and Westchester included the Bronx. In 1813, Westchester County was apportioned to a new district with Rockland and Putnam counties, and in 1815, New York County became the Twelfth District—the only one at the time that was a single county. In 1818, each county in the state became its own district.
From 1874 to 1895, New York County included the West Bronx, and from 1895 to 1913 it included all of what is now Bronx County, governing the same area as does the present Borough of the Bronx. On January 1, 1914, the Bronx became a separate county with its own district attorney.
Until 1822, the district attorney was appointed by the Council of Appointment, and held the office "during the Council's pleasure", meaning that there was no defined term of office. Under the provisions of the New York State Constitution of 1821, the district attorney was appointed to a three-year term by the County Court, and under the provisions of the Constitution of 1846, the office became elective by popular ballot. The term was three years, beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31. In case of a vacancy, an acting district attorney was appointed by the Court of General Sessions until the Governor of New York filled the vacancy with an interim appointment until an election was held for the remainder of the term.
The Consolidation Charter of 1896 extended the term by a year of the incumbent John R. Fellows, who had been elected in 1893 to a three-year term. Since the city election of 1897, the district attorney's term has coincided with the mayor's term and has been four years long. In case of a vacancy, the governor can make an interim appointment until a special election is held for the remainder of the term.
List of district attorneys
| No. | District Attorney | Dates in office | Party | Notes |
| 1 | Richard Riker | August 19, 1801 – February 13, 1810 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 2 | Cadwallader D. Colden | February 13, 1810 – February 19, 1811 | Federalist | |
| 3 | Richard Riker | February 19, 1811 – March 5, 1813 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 4 | Barent Gardenier | March 5, 1813 – March 31, 1815 | Federalist | |
| 5 | John Rodman | March 31, 1815 – January 28, 1817 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 6 | Hugh Maxwell | January 28, 1817 – June 11, 1818 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 7 | Pierre C. Van Wyck | June 11, 1818 – February 13, 1821 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 8 | Hugh Maxwell | February 13, 1821 – May 1829 | Dem.-Rep. |
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| 9 | Ogden Hoffman | May 1829 – May 22, 1835 | Democratic | |
| 10 | Thomas Phoenix | May 22, 1835 – June 4, 1838 | ? | |
| 11 | James R. Whiting | June 4, 1838 – June 10, 1844 | Democratic | |
| 12 | Matthew C. Paterson | June 10, 1844 – January 26, 1846 | ? | |
| 13 | John McKeon | February 6, 1846 – December 31, 1850 | Democratic | |
| 14 | N. Bowditch Blunt | January 1, 1851 – July 17, 1854 | Whig party|Whig] | |
| – | Lorenzo B. Shepard | July 25, 1854 – December 31, 1854 | Democratic | |
| 15 | A. Oakey Hall | January 1, 1855 – December 31, 1857 | Whig | |
| 16 | Peter B. Sweeny | January 1, 1858 – October 3, 1858 | Democratic | |
| – | Joseph Blunt | October 5, 1858 – December 31, 1858 | Republican | |
| 17 | Nelson J. Waterbury | January 1, 1859 – December 31, 1861 | Democratic | |
| 18 | A. Oakey Hall | January 1, 1862 – December 31, 1870 | Republican Democratic | |
| 19 | Samuel B. Garvin | January 5, 1869 – December 31, 1869 January 1, 1870 – December 31, 1872 | Democratic | |
| 20 | Benjamin K. Phelps | January 1, 1873 – December 30, 1880 | Republican | |
| – | Daniel G. Rollins | January 3, 1881 – January 10, 1881 January 10, 1881 – December 31, 1881 | Republican | |
| 21 | John McKeon | January 1, 1882 – November 22, 1883 | Democratic | |
| – | John Vincent | November 22, 1883 – November 30, 1883 | Democratic | |
| – | Wheeler Hazard Peckham | November 30, 1883 – December 9, 1883 | Democratic | |
| – | Peter B. Olney | December 10, 1883 – December 31, 1884 | Democratic | |
| 22 | Randolph B. Martine | January 1, 1885 – December 31, 1887 | Democratic | |
| 23 | John R. Fellows | January 1, 1888 – December 31, 1890 | Democratic | |
| 24 | De Lancey Nicoll | January 1, 1891 – December 31, 1893 | Democratic | |
| 25 | John R. Fellows | January 1, 1894 – December 7, 1896 | Democratic | |
| – | Vernon M. Davis | December 7, 1896 – December 19, 1896 | Democratic | |
| – | William M. K. Olcott | December 19, 1896 – December 31, 1897 | Republican | |
| 26 | Asa Bird Gardiner | January 1, 1898 – December 22, 1900 | Democratic | |
| – | Eugene A. Philbin | December 22, 1900 – December 31, 1901 | Democratic | |
| – | George W. Schurman | January 1, 1902 | Republican | |
| 27 | William T. Jerome | January 2, 1902 – December 31, 1909 | Fusion/Ind. | |
| 28 | Charles Seymour Whitman | January 1, 1910 – December 31, 1914 | Republican | |
| – | Charles A. Perkins | January 1, 1915 – December 31, 1915 | Republican | |
| 29 | Edward Swann | January 1, 1916 – December 31, 1921 | Democratic | |
| 30 | Joab H. Banton | January 1, 1922 – December 31, 1929 | Democratic | |
| 31 | Thomas C. T. Crain | January 1, 1930 – December 31, 1933 | Democratic | |
| 32 | William C. Dodge | January 1, 1934 – December 31, 1937 | Democratic | |
| 33 | Thomas E. Dewey | January 1, 1938 – December 31, 1941 | Republican,American Labor, City Fusion |
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| 34 | Frank Hogan | January 1, 1942 – August 10, 1973 | Democratic | |
| – | Alfred J. Scotti | August 10, 1973 – February 13, 1974 | Democratic | |
| – | Richard Kuh | February 13, 1974 – December 31, 1974 | Democratic | |
| 35 | Robert Morgenthau | January 1, 1975 – December 31, 2009 | Democratic | |
| 36 | Cyrus Vance Jr. | January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2021 | Democratic | |
| 37 | Alvin Bragg Jr. | January 1, 2022 – incumbent | Democratic |
In popular culture
Films
- ''Legal Eagles''
Television series
- The D.A.'s Man, which ran for a single season on NBC in 1959, starred John Compton as Shannon, an undercover investigator for the Manhattan DA's office. Produced by Jack Webb, the series fictionalized the career of real-life Manhattan DA's Investigator Harold Danforth, whose autobiography, also titled The D.A.'s Man, written in collaboration with veteran, Pulitzer Prize-winning police reporter James D. Horan, had won an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Fact Crime Book.
- For the People starred William Shatner as an idealistic young deputy district attorney in the Manhattan DA's Office, Howard da Silva as his supervisor, and Lonny Chapman as his investigator.
- Hawk, which ran for a half-season in 1966, starred Burt Reynolds as Lt. John Hawk, a detective assigned to NYPD's Manhattan DA's Squad.
- Cagney & Lacey was revived in 1994 for a series of irregularly scheduled two-hour TV-movies. In the interim between these films and the original series, Cagney had been promoted to lieutenant and placed in command of the NYPD's Manhattan DA's Squad. Lacey, having retired some years earlier was persuaded to return to police work as a criminal investigator for the Manhattan DA's Bureau of Investigation, allowing the two partners to work together again. There were four movies in the revived series between 1994 and 1996.
- Blue Bloods: Depicts the prosecution of criminal suspects by lawyers of the New York County District Attorney's office through the character Blue Bloods characters#Erin Reagan|assistant district attorney Erin Reagan], who started out the series as a Trial Division Assistant District Attorney before being promoted to Deputy Bureau Chief in toward the end of Season 3 and then to Trial Division Bureau Chief at the start of Season 9. Since Season 5, Erin has worked closely with D.A. Investigator Anthony Abetemarco.
- Law & Order: The long-running television series Law & Order and its spin-offs depict the prosecution of criminal suspects by lawyers of the New York County District Attorney's office. In the original pilot episode "Everybody's Favorite Bagman", shot in 1988, Roy Thinnes was cast as District Attorney Alfred Wentworth. Subsequent district attorneys depicted in the franchise are Adam Schiff, Nora Lewin, Arthur Branch, Jack McCoy, and Nicholas Baxter. Law & Order ceased production in 2010, but McCoy was still occasionally mentioned as being the Manhattan district attorney in the spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in several episodes through 2011. A reference to "the new DA" in a 2013 episode indicated that McCoy had moved on from the position presumably sometime in 2012; his replacement was unnamed. However, McCoy became the district attorney again as of 2018, showing up in an SVU episode and later during the 21st season of Law & Order that started in 2022.