QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY RICHARD A. BROWN NAMES TWO ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEYS TO HEAD CRIMINAL COURT AND INTAKE BUREAUS

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the appointment of Assistant District Attorney Joan I.. Ritter to the position of Chief of his Office’s Criminal Court Bureau and the appointment of Assistant District Attorney Laura M. Henigman to the position of Chief of the Intake Bureau. Ms. Ritter, who now serves as Chief of the District Attorney’s Intake Bureau, replaces Assistant District Attorney Rona Richman who retired after 9 years with the District Attorney's Office and many years in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Ms. Henigman who now serves as Deputy Chief of the District Attorney's Narcotics Trials Bureau, replaces Ritter as Chief of the District Attorney’s Intake Bureau.

In making the announcement District Attorney Brown said, "I am extremely pleased to make these appointments. Joan Ritter and Laura Henigman have shown themselves through the years to be of the highest professional caliber and bring to their new positions a wealth of prosecutorial experience. The Criminal Court is among the busiest courts in the country and in Queens alone last year handled over 64,000 cases. Felony cases have their preliminary proceedings in Criminal Court and misdemeanor cases and lesser crimes — including prostitution, gambling, graffiti writing, menacing, and public drunkenness — receive their final adjudication there. While these cases may not cause the damage associated with more violent felonies, their successful handling has a wide impact on the quality of life in Queens. The Intake Bureau is responsible for the first step in the processing of arrests. It is there that the charges are reviewed and the evidence is evaluated. Together these two bureaus set the tone and pace for much of the work done in the District Attorney’s Office. Ms. Ritter and Ms. Henigman have proven their management abilities along with their knowledge of trial work and investigations. They are true professionals."

Ms. Ritter joined the Queens District Attorney's Office in August 1985. She served as one of the first members of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau in 1991 and then as one of the founders of the Office’s Training Bureau. In 1993 she was appointed Deputy Chief of the Grand Jury and served there for four years before she became Chief of the Intake Bureau in April 1997. She also served on the Chief Judge’s Grand Jury Reform Panel in 1998 and 1999. Ms. Ritter is a graduate of Queens College and Hofstra University School of Law.

Ms. Henigman began her professional career in the Queens District Attorney's Office immediately after graduating from St. Johns Law School in 1988. She is a graduate of Pace University, where she was awarded a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. As an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens District Attorney's Office from 1988 to 1997, Ms. Henigman served in the Intake, Supreme Court, Rackets and Anti-Bias/ Youth Gang bureaus before being appointed to Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Trial Bureau. She has also volunteered with the District Attorney’s Moot Court for Queens County High Schools.

The appointments take effect immediately.