For over three a long time, Monroe County District Lawyer Sandra Doorley made a profession out of prosecuting people suspected of violating the regulation.
Final week, her personal integrity was referred to as into query when body-worn digicam footage captured Doorley wielding her place in defiance of a Webster police officer who tried to cease her for rushing down Phillips Street.
“I am the DA,” Doorley instructed the officer moments after she parked in her storage and referred to as Webster Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier, pleading with him to inform the officer to “depart me alone.”
“If you happen to give me a visitors ticket, that is effective,” she continued. “I am the one who prosecutes it.”
Doorley issued an apology video Monday. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has referred to as for an investigation by a prosecutorial misconduct fee. Different group members need Doorley’s resignation.
Who’s Sandra Doorley?
The incident has come after an extended profession in Monroe County.
Doorley, 60, began within the district lawyer’s workplace in 1992, serving almost 20 years in numerous high-ranking positions earlier than she was elected to the highest position in 2011. She holds the consideration of Monroe County’s first feminine district lawyer.
Whereas she first ran on a Democratic platform, Doorley switched to the Republican Celebration in 2015. She was re-elected by voters thrice, together with final November when she ran unopposed.
Doorley served as president of the District Attorneys Affiliation of the State of New York in 2020. She lives in Webster together with her husband and a Goldendoodle named Finn. She has two daughters.
Sandra Doorley: Profession highlights and criticisms
Doorley leads a employees of about 95 attorneys throughout the county, however her administrative duties have not saved her from the courtroom. In an interview with Spectrum Information final month, she described making ready for trials as her “pleased place.”
Throughout her profession, Doorley constructed a fame for prosecuting chilly circumstances utilizing DNA proof. The latest instance is the conviction of Timothy Williams within the 1984 rape and homicide of 14-year-old Wendy Jerome final month. The case went unsolved for almost 40 years. The prosecution was the primary of its variety in New York: Williams was arrested utilizing “familial DNA,” which police used to slender an inventory of suspects.
Doorley was additionally lead prosecutor within the high-profile murders of two Rochester law enforcement officials: Daryl Pierson in 2014 and Anthony Mazurkiewicz in 2022.
Doorley served as murder bureau chief within the three years working as much as her position as district lawyer. In 2019, her workplace prosecuted 20,000 circumstances, rating it among the many high district lawyer’s workplaces in New York based mostly on caseload.
Others oppose her extra conventional law-and-order strategy.
In 2019, Doorley’s challenger for the district lawyer seat, Shani Curry Mitchell, ran on a platform of legal justice reform ― wanting previous incarceration as the first response to crime. Mitchell argued that insurance policies inside Doorley’s workplace, corresponding to low-level marijuana possession prices, led to the arrest of extra African Individuals and exacerbated racial inequities within the jail inhabitants.
In 2020, following the loss of life of Daniel Prude, protesters referred to as for Doorley’s resignation, saying she fails to prosecute police misconduct in Monroe County.
Doorley would disagree; the yr prior her workplace prosecuted former RPD Officer Michael Sippel of a misdemeanor assault when questioning a person on a metropolis sidewalk. She additionally personally prosecuted former Greece Police Chief Merritt Rahn, who was convicted of attempting to cowl up the crimes of a few of his law enforcement officials.
Doorley additionally confronted criticism from social justice advocates over her stance on bail reform, which she stated would result in a cycle of “catch and launch” for space criminals. And for years, the district lawyer has spoken towards the Elder Parole Act, a invoice that will prolong parole eligibility to people 55 or over who’ve served at the very least 15 years of their sentence ― calling it “anti-victim.”
Over the weekend, the body-worn digicam video of Doorley’s visitors cease emboldened her critics, who referred to as it proof of a two-tiered system of justice, the place race, class, and standing decide how you might be handled by the regulation.
— This text contains reporting by Gary Craig and Marcia Greenwood.
— Kayla Canne studies on group justice and security efforts for the Democrat and Chronicle. Observe her on Twitter @kaylacanne and @bykaylacanne on Instagram. Get in contact at [email protected].