Brooklyn District Attorney Announces Resumption of Grand Juries and Creation of Gun Violence Suppression Bureau
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that 36 individuals have been indicted for various violent crimes since grand juries, which have not been impaneled since mid-March due to the Coronavirus pandemic, reconvened last week. With three panels currently hearing cases, the DA’s Office obtained indictments on homicides, gang shootings, attempted murder, rape and other serious felonies. All of the defendants in these cases were previously held on bail or remanded and are still detained.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “With the resumption of grand juries, we are able to redouble our efforts at fighting violent crime in Brooklyn. The dozens of indictments we obtained over the past week ensure that dangerous offenders remain in custody as we seek to bring them to justice. I am grateful to the NYPD, to our other partners in law enforcement and to the prosecutors in my Office who were ready to quickly present their cases.”
In pursuit of our core mission to keep the people of Brooklyn safe, DA Gonzalez also announced the creation of a Gun Violence Suppression Bureau. The new Bureau will improve our response to gun violence by consolidating resources and expertise under a single umbrella, more expeditiously collecting and enhancing the evidence necessary for successful prosecutions, reducing gun recidivism and training assistants who are assigned to firearm cases to help overcome hurdles in prosecuting these often-difficult cases. In addition, the Bureau will collaborate with police to focus on drivers of crime, track patterns of gun violence and identify likely retaliations. It will also enhance fairness by formulating and ensuring consistent plea offers to all defendants.
The recent spike in gun violence demands we strengthen our response to cases involving firearms, innovate new solutions and provide the resources to target the small number of individuals responsible for most of the gun violence in our communities. We are confident that the creation of the Gun Violence Suppression Bureau and the resumption of grand jury trials will help us maintain our historic gains in public safety.
