February 7, 2000

QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY RICHARD A. BROWN PROMOTES TWO ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEYS TO IMPORTANT EXECUTIVE STAFF POSITIONS

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the appointment of Assistant District Attorney Gary S. Fidel to the position of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Legal Affairs Division. Mr. Fidel replaces Executive Assistant District Attorney Andrew Zwerling who has resigned after 17 years with the District Attorney's Office to join the Manhattan Law firm of Garbarini and Scher. District Attorney Brown also announced the appointment of Assistant District Attorney Vincent J. Carroll to the position of Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Legal Affairs. Mr. Fidel presently serves as Chief of the District Attorney's Special Litigation Unit while Mr. Carroll is now Chief of the District Attorney's Integrity Bureau.

In making the announcement District Attorney Brown said, "I am extremely pleased to make these appointments. Gary Fidel and Vinnie Carroll have shown themselves through the years to be of the highest professional caliber and bring to their new positions a wealth of prosecutorial experience. In their current assignments as Chief of Special Litigation and Chief of the Integrity Bureau respectively they have proven their management abilities along with their knowledge of appellate practice and investigations."

Mr. Fidel joined the Queens District Attorney's Office in March 1982. He served for three years in the Appeals Bureau as an Assistant District Attorney and later in the Supreme Court Bureau. He returned to the Appeals Bureau in 1988 and was appointed Deputy Bureau Chief in 1991. In May 1996 Mr. Fidel was promoted to Chief of the Special Litigation Bureau where he was in charge of all litigation deriving from capital prosecutions. During his career in the office, Mr. Fidel successfully defended the convictions of the killers of Mildred Greene, a grand jury witness, and has lectured at conferences of the New York State District Attorney's Association and the Queens Bar Association.

District Attorney Brown said, "Since the passage of the state's new death penalty law, Mr. Fidel has become a widely recognized expert on proportionality, one of the statute's more complicated and sensitive provisions. In addition, he has a breadth of experience and common sense that will be of great value in his new position."

As Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Legal Affairs Division Mr. Fidel will oversee the Appeals Bureau, all aspects of professional training, and the Special Litigation Unit.

Mr. Fidel is a graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law. Before joining the District Attorney's Office, Mr. Fidel served as a law clerk to Judge Robert Corcoran of the Arizona State Superior Court and thereafter practiced law privately in Phoenix.

Mr. Carroll began his professional career in the Queens District Attorney's Office immediately after graduating from Fordham Law School in 1976. He is a graduate of Holy Cross College, where he was awarded a Bachelor's Degree in English. As an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens District Attorney's Office from 1976 to 1982, Mr. Carroll served in the Appeals, Supreme Court and Criminal Court bureaus.

In 1982, Mr. Carroll left the District Attorney's Office to serve as Deputy Chief Counsel with the New York State Grievance Committee for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts. His duties included investigation and prosecution of complaints of attorney misconduct. He also handled cases arising from the Parking Violations Bureau scandal as well as the complaint of New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams alleging misconduct by the attorney representing Tawana Brawley, Alton M. Maddox Jr.

In 1991, shortly after District Attorney Brown was elected, Mr. Carroll rejoined the District Attorney's Office to head it's Integrity Bureau where he has been in change of the investigation and prosecution of suspected criminal activity by public employees including police officers and by licensed professionals such as lawyers.

The appointments take effect immediately.

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