A veteran prosecutor who used to work within the Manhattan District Lawyer’s Workplace is looking for to topple present DA Alvin Bragg.
Diana Florence mentioned she’s going to run on an unbiased “Safer Manhattan” poll line in opposition to Democrat incumbent Bragg — a longshot bid within the closely Democratic borough.
She ripped Bragg over his notorious “Day One memo” in January 2022 that ordered his prosecutors to cease looking for jail sentences for hordes of criminals and to downgrade felony prices in instances together with armed robberies and drug dealing.
“The regulation is a command, not a suggestion,” mentioned Florence, an ADA below former District Lawyer Cy Vance. “It’s time to deliver widespread sense again to the District Lawyer’s workplace and go away the politics behind.”
However Florence has her personal baggage.
She resigned from the Manhattan DA’s workplace in 2020 amid allegations she withheld proof involving a key witness in a number of main instances.
Maud Maron, a former public defender, is the Republican candidate for Manhattan DA.
Bragg is also going through a Democratic main problem from former Bronx prosecutor and civil litigator Patrick Timmins.
Florence beforehand ran within the crowded Democratic main for Manhattan DA in 2021, a race gained by Bragg.
This time round, she is specializing in his “Day One” memo.
A few of these insurance policies have been reversed after a thundering backlash.
“Manhattan deserves a DA who will take decisive motion to revive order and equity,” she mentioned in a press release. “My promise is to deliver justice to each group — with out worry or favor — and make New Yorkers protected at residence, protected at work, and protected on the streets.”
However Florence additionally was accused of failing to show over a probably damning audio recording in her prosecution of shady development executives accused of illegally securing thousands and thousands of {dollars} in metropolis contracts.
A marketing campaign spokesman for Bragg mentioned Florence is unfit to be DA.
“Alvin Bragg is an sincere, principled, skilled prosecutor who has helped scale back shootings in Manhattan by 45%, launched new psychological well being outreach to get individuals assist, stood up for victims, and held the highly effective accountable,” mentioned Bragg marketing campaign rep Richard Fife.
“Diana Florence resigned in shame from the Manhattan DA’s workplace for failing to show over proof in a significant corruption case, and for making a poisonous work setting internally. No quantity of particular curiosity cash from Florence’s wealthy, highly effective patrons or marketing campaign rhetoric will be capable to cover her scandal-scarred historical past, or distort Alvin Bragg’s profitable document of delivering the protection we want, the equity we deserve, and one normal of justice for all.”
Regardless of the controversy, Florence obtained a professional score from the New York Bar Affiliation throughout the 2021 race.
Other than saying she would have zero tolerance for violent crime if elected DA, Florence vowed she would vigorously prosecute quality-of-life crimes comparable to shoplifting, vandalism and trespassing.
“I’m going to struggle for a Manhattan the place shops aren’t locking up toothpaste and our public areas aren’t crime scenes ready to occur. This will probably be mirrored in my ‘Day One Memo,’ ” Florence mentioned.
She additionally promised to aggressively prosecute home violence and intercourse crimes.
“DA Bragg’s failure began from the very starting, along with his ‘Day One Memo,’ ” she mentioned. “As a substitute of contemplating every case individually, he directed prosecutors to mechanically downgrade how crimes have been charged, turning felonies into misdemeanors, and misdemeanors into no crimes in any respect.
“The DA’s workplace pursued a social experiment that made our metropolis extra hospitable for criminals, and fewer protected for everybody else. At present, it’s not uncommon for somebody to be arrested for a severe crime, solely to be launched as a result of the DA refused to prosecute. And no shock – crime has gotten worse,” Florence mentioned.
She vowed to deal with antisemitism, anti-Asian and different hate-related crimes, too.
Florence spent 25 years as a prosecutor specializing in avenue crime, home violence, fraud and corruption instances and headed the nation’s first development fraud process power.
She gained convictions in opposition to corporations and people for defrauding 9/11 charities, corruption, home violence, wage theft and lethal work situations.
Born in Manhattan, Florence resides in Kips Bay together with her husband and two kids.
