Queens District Attorney's Office Launches Conviction Review Unit

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — The Queens district attorney's office has formed a bureau to review questionable convictions, becoming the last of the five boroughs to establish a unit dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted.

Leading the new conviction integrity unit in the Queens district attorney's office will be former Innocence Project senior staff attorney Bryce Benjet, who represented Rodney Reed in a widely-publicized fight to block his execution in Texas amid new evidence casting doubt on his 1998 murder conviction.

The conviction integrity unit was one of several new reforms announced Monday just before former Queens Borough President Melinda Katz's inauguration ceremony as the borough's next top prosecutor.

She is Queens' first new DA in nearly three decades and the first woman to hold the position.

Katz announced her office is abandoning the Queens district attorney's office's policy of only offering plea bargains for felony charges if defendants waive their right to a grand jury proceeding, known as the 180.80 waiver policy or the "no plea policy."

The office is also getting rid of the "top count plea policy," which limited any post-indictment plea deals to the top count of that indictment.

A new executive team, led by Chief Executive Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Naiburg, will be responsible for instituting the reforms.

"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."

Katz, a Democrat, won election in November against her Republican opponent, defense lawyer and former cop Joe Murray, with more than 75 percent of the vote.

In June, Katz won a contentious, seven-person primary election by a margin of just 55 votes over insurgent candidate Tiffany Cabán — even after raking in endorsements from scores of elected officials and labor unions and out-raising her opponents thanks to donations from real estate developers and law enforcement unions.