Promises Made and Promises Kept

DA Tierney promised to make the Gilgo Beach murders a priority for the Office and lead a Task Force to solve these heinous crimes.

On July 14, 2023, DA Tierney announced the arrest and indictment of Rex Heuermann for the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and Melissa Barthelemy. On January 16, 2024, the DA filed a superseding indictment additionally charging Heuremann with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. All four victims’ bodies were found in brush off the shores of Gilgo Beach.

The arrest was the culmination of 18 months of investigative work by the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force which DA Tierney set up his first month in office. The Task Force brings together the DA’s prosecutors and investigators with law enforcement partners from the SCDA, SCPD, New York State Police, FBI, Suffolk Crime Lab, Medical Examiner’s Office, U.S. Secret service and Sheriff’s Office.

Although the charges are still pending, the prosecution team which is led by DA Tierney himself has already brought immeasurable closure to the families of the four named victims. While the case is far from over and the Trial Team looks forward to proving the allegations in court, these families at the very least find themselves—after 13 years of waiting and uncertainty—moving forward and participating in the criminal justice process. While other families are still waiting for similar release from insufferable stasis, they should know that the Task Force remains hard at work on the remaining murders.

District Attorney Tierney promised to combat Gang Violence and re-establish a dedicated Gang Unit as his first priority.

On his first day in office on January 1, 2022, DA Tierney established the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, putting together together an amazing team of investigators and prosecutors to work with our law enforcement partners.

DA Tierney fundamentally changed the way gang cases are both investigated and prosecuted in Suffolk County. As District Attorney, Ray holds gang members responsible for their most violent crimes and ensures they receive substantial jail sentences for all acts of violence committed in our community. This aggressive approach to combating the gangs uses the latest surveillance technology and crime statistics to map out and attack hot spots of gang activity. Prosecutors are assigned to work with dedicated teams of detectives to prosecute the individual gangs responsible. Large conspiracy gang cases are built from the ground up that combine conspiracy charges with specific acts of violence occurring in the community, such as murders, assaults, reckless endangerment shootings and unlawful possession of illegal handguns.
Under DA Tierney’s leadership, Suffolk’s Violent Crime Rate has hit a record low of 89.0 per 100,000 population making Suffolk the safest suburban county in the state.

District Attorney Tierney promised to fight for us in Albany opposing disastrous Bail Reform, Discovery Reform, the Clean Slate Act, Parole Reform, the Elder Parole Act and other progressive laws that make us all unsafe.

District Attorney Tierney is a leader for common sense, bipartisan fixes to restore law and order in New York State. He has regularly published opinion pieces on criminal justice issues pending in Albany. He has been a vocal advocate to roll back progressive laws and will continue to fight for common sense changes to criminal justice laws in New York.

DA Tierney promised to take on drug dealers causing the epidemic levels of overdose deaths in Suffolk county via aggressive enforcement using his experience prosecuting narcotics cases ranging from Colombian drug lords to doctors to street-level dealers.

DA Tierney is a leader in NY State in battling fentanyl overdose crisis. Under DA Tierney’s leadership, the SCDA Narcotics Bureau infiltrates and dismantles major trafficking organizations that extend far beyond Suffolk’s borders. Its productivity and success in attacking supply-side operations is unprecedented. By investing heavily into these operations, and the task forces that support them, SCDA narcotics prosecutions are almost double any other county in New York State.

In 2023, DA Tierney worked with Long Island legislators and treatment providers to draft and introduce 4 bills to combat the crisis of opioid deaths: 1) a “Death by Dealer” statute, titled “Chelsey’s Law,” in honor of Chelsey Murray, a 31-year-old Suffolk County resident who fatally overdosed in August 2022 from fentanyl poisoning, 2) a bill designating Xylazine or “Tranq” as a Controlled Substance, 3) allowing Crime Victim Assistance Funds to include families of overdose victims, and 4) rolling back Bail Reform to allow prosecutors to ask for bail for sale and possession of dangerous amounts of fentanyl, nitrazine, methamphetamine, LSD and other deadly narcotics.

District Attorney Tierney promised to focus more financial crimes resources towards protecting consumers from Identity Theft, Cyber Crimes and Scams targeting the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

DA Tierney has aggressively pursued both prosecution and prevention of consumer frauds, particularly scammers targeting the elderly and other vulnerable populations. Last year, the Financial Crimes Bureau conducted multiple presentations every month at senior and community centers, teaching audiences how to avoid becoming a victim.

DA Tierney promised to bring Integrity back to the DA’s Office by Prioritizing Training and Supervision.

Under DA Tierney’s leadership the Office hired an experienced full-time Training Coordinator. The Office has doubled the number of Continuing Legal Education classes given for our experienced attorneys, doubled the length if the New-ADA Training Program and introduced training for STOP THE BLEED, NARCAN, AED, CPR, FIRST AID, CYBER SECURITY, AND ACTIVE SHOOTERS.

DA Tierney promised to re-establish the DA’s Office Homicide Bureau in order to prioritize homicide prosecutions.

In his first month in office DA Tierney brought back the Homicide Bureau and over the past two years, we have doubled the number of prosecutors. As a result, Homicides have fallen 21% in the two years since DA Tierney took office. At the same time, homicide trials went from only 1 in the last year of the prior administration, to 7 in DA Tierney’s first year, to 12 in 2023. Over the same period, pre-trial hearings jumped from 12 to 32 and guilty pleas near-tripled from 9 to 26.