Cover credit: D.A. Tierney announces his re-election candidacy on Tuesday afternoon in Riverhead (Credit – Matt Meduri)
The 2025 campaign season’s top race just became slightly clearer as District Attorney Ray Tierney (R) announced to a fired-up room of bipartisan supporters that he will, indeed, be seeking a second term.
Tierney became the County’s top prosecutor in 2021, when he ousted one-term incumbent D.A. Tim Sini (D) in a landslide victory of just under eleven points, a large margin that spoke more of a referendum on crime and safety in Suffolk County, compounded by the fact that Sini had be elected to the open seat vacated by the scandal-plagued Tom Spota (D) in 2017 by a landslide win of 62% over Raymond Perini (R).
With his 2021 win, Tierney returned control of Suffolk’s D.A.’s office to the GOP for the first time in nearly twenty years.
The 2025 campaign season’s top race just became slightly clearer as District Attorney Ray Tierney (R) announced to a fired-up room of bipartisan supporters that he will, indeed, be seeking a second term.
Tierney became the County’s top prosecutor in 2021, when he ousted one-term incumbent D.A. Tim Sini (D) in a landslide victory of just under eleven points, a large margin that spoke more of a referendum on crime and safety in Suffolk County, compounded by the fact that Sini had been elected to the open seat vacated by the scandal-plagued Tom Spota (D) in 2017 by a landslide win of 62% over Raymond Perini (R).
With his 2021 win, Tierney returned control of Suffolk’s D.A.’s office to the GOP for the first time in nearly twenty years.
The Suffolk Theater in Downtown Riverhead hosted an array of County, Town, and State officials, including Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard (R-Aquebogue) – who also led the ceremony in the Pledge of Allegiance – Suffolk County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Garcia (R-Ridge), Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman Mike Torres, County Clerk Vincent Puleo (R-Nesconset), County Comptroller John Kennedy (R-Nesconset), Assemblyman Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills), Senator Mario Mattera (R-St. James), Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R-Kings Park), members of the Suffolk County Legislature, various councilmembers from across Suffolk, and County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), who spoke in support of Tierney ahead of the formal campaign announcement.
“Our District Attorney has contributed to much to Suffolk County. We need people who are going to make sure that the laws are enforced, that criminals pay a price, and that the public is protected,” said Romaine. “That’s exactly what Ray Tierney. He is a great District Attorney and he will go down as one of our greatest district attorneys in terms of justice and fairness.”
D.A. Tierney was introduced on stage by two people with whom he has worked closely since last year.
Gene and Sue Murray have been steadfast advocates in campaigning for more effective laws to curtail the deadly scourge of opiates into Suffolk’s communities. Their daughter, Chelsey, tragically had her life cut short in 2022 due to a fatal mix of fentanyl and heroin. Tierney successfully prosecuted Jaquan Casserly, the defendant who sold Murray the lethal cocktail. He received ten years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
However, the true work has come in the form of lobbying Albany to pass “Chelsey’s Law,” a bill crafted with Tierney’s input and sponsored by Assemblyman Stern. The bill would increase penalties on dealers who knowingly sell controlled substances that are likely to result in the death of another person.
“We’re just regular people, we’re not involved in politics or anything,” said Gene Murray, recounting how their proximity to such a pressing issue began in 2012, when they lost their son, Michael, to a drug overdose.
“Nothing happened,” said Gene. “Fast-forward to August of 2022, and our daughter Chelsey overdosed on fentanyl. We contacted the police, they did an investigation, and the D.A.’s office is in touch with us all the time. We met with him when he decided to introduce Chelsey’s Law, named after our daughter. Ray [Tierney] didn’t know us, but he cares about the people of this county. We’ve been to Albany with him and we see the amount of work he puts in behind the scenes. I don’t think that anybody else would be doing that for the residents of Suffolk County.”
Tierney then took the stage, calling the Murrays “emblematic of the victims’ families” that he and his team have come to know over the last three years since he took office.
“They’ve taken this personal tragedy and turned it into action, and the only thing they ask is that they don’t want another family to go through what they have.”
Tierney thanked his many inspirations and teammates, especially his executive team, Chief Assistant D.A. Allen Bode, and the various law enforcement agencies of Suffolk. Tierney also mentioned Officer Brendan Gallagher, who sustained heavy injuries after a high-speed, Sunday-evening chase near Exit 55 on the Long Island Expressway resulted in the reckless driver side-swiping Gallagher’s vehicle, causing him to careen off the side of the road and into a tree.
The Case for a Second Term
Tierney, flanked by his wife, Eric, two of his four children, Patrick and Sean, and, as the youngest of five, two of his four sisters, Joanne and Regina, laid out his record over the last three years, with still another to go in his current term.
“I’m not from a political background. I was never involved in politics; I was never a member of a political party,” said Tierney. “But the people of Suffolk County put their trust in me and I’m so grateful to those supporters for standing behind me and coming up with constructive criticism, as well as ways we can do better.”
Within the D.A.’s office, Tierney outlined the re-establishment of the Homicide Bureau, the formation of the Gang Bureau – an “actual” Gang Bureau, Tierney notes, that “follows the violence in our streets.” The office also took a “task force approach” to the Gilgo Beach investigations, after only a year of which was a suspect – Rex Heuermann – produced. Since the July 2023 cracking of a stubborn cold case and of one of the most high-profile serial killings in the country, the D.A.’s office has alleged Heuermann’s responsibility in seven of the Gilgo Beach murders, including those of the original “Gilgo Four.” Other victims’ fates are still being investigated by the department.
“The bare bones were there, but what was missing was a comprehensive approach and proper leadership,” said Tierney. “This is how we were going to treat not only a case such as Gilgo, but all of our cases. All of our cases resemble Gilgo in the level of comprehension, comprehensive preparation, investigation, and litigation that we do.”
Tierney referenced quality-of-life crimes that he immediately took to addressing upon taking the oath of office, such as organized retail theft and catalytic converter thefts, the former of which has been facilitated by wiretaps and a State RICO investigation, while both, Tierney says, weren’t just handled through “press conferences,” arrests were made and defendants were sentenced to “Upstate jail.”
“If you want to go into a store and you want to take whatever you want; if you want to impede those merchants’ ability to make a living; if you want to raise the prices of consumer goods; if you want to have stores shut down in compromised communities so the people in those communities aren’t able to shop, you’re going to bear the consequences of that,” asserted Tierney.
Tierney also said that his office has helped craft beneficial legislation, something he “never thought he would do.”
“In thirty years as a prosecutor, you’re taught that you go to court, you try your case, you investigate your cases, whatever the outcome is, you move on, keep your mouth shut, and try your cases,” said Tierney. “But what I soon realized once I got to this office, it was necessary for me to speak out because when you talk about so-called criminal justice reform, bail reform, or discovery reform, they were enacted with a lie. Those laws do not make us more safe; they do the very opposite. And until they’re changed, I’m going to keep on talking about it. I will not stop talking about it.”
Aside from Tierney’s steadfastness in speaking out against counterproductive criminal justice reform passed in Albany, other legislative initiatives from the D.A. include reimbursement penalties for those convicted of illegal dumping of waste in Suffolk, and the epidemic of illegal street racing, to which the County Legislature responded with a bipartisan bill to increase such penalties. Members of the Suffolk delegation to Albany promised in October to carry a similar bill this year.
“We have fought the opioid overdose crisis; we reinvented and reinvigorated our Overdose Task Force, our East End Drug Task Force, and our Fentanyl Task Force,” said Tierney. “We started a community outreach program with zero dollars and then we allocated the funds to it; now, we have a robust community outreach program.”
Tierney said the importance of such a program is needed to “introduce ourselves to the community,” and that it “allows them to have faith in what we do.”
“We have to educate our young people, our elderly, with regard to what’s happening out there, how they can keep themselves safe,” said Tierney, adding that accountability comes with showing the receipts and proof of concept to residents, even when the news from the D.A.’s office is positive.
“It’s one thing to do it [the job]; it’s another to hold yourself accountable to the public, and we’re always going to do that. The very least we can do is hold ourselves accountable to the public and to let them know that we are going to enforce the law in a fair and even-handed manner,” said Tierney.
Tierney outlined the robust units that were rolled out under his leadership, adding that “starting from scratch” in the D.A.’s office isn’t similar to “remodelling a home,” wherein everyone moves out, renovations are made, and everyone moves back in.
“You’ve got to change on the fly,” said Tierney, sharing that, despite the constant momentum of his office, the department was able to unveil a Bias Crimes Unit, an Animal Crimes Unit, and Environmental Crimes Unit, and a Human Trafficking Unit, owing to the help of his executive staff.
Statistics
Tierney shared some public safety numbers that he proudly delivered as proof of his effectiveness after just one term, and as proof of concept for another four years. He recounted the pushback he received from some officials in starting a ShotSpotter program, a gunshot detection system that uses microphones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify and locate gunfire in real time. Information is relayed directly to law enforcement. Tierney revealed that some were skeptical of the program, as collecting gun violence statistics would make the County and its various departments “look bad.”
“If we address the problem, it won’t matter what the numbers are, because we’ll have the results,” said Tierney, stating from 2023 to 2024, shooting victims dropped 33%. In the two years prior to his oath of office, Suffolk saw eighty (80) shooting incidents per year. The average number between 2022 and 2024 was forty-six (46) shootings. In the past year, Suffolk saw twenty-six incidents.
Tierney shared additional figures: the number of persons shot fell from eighty-four in 2021 to thirty-two in 2024 – a 62% decrease. Incidents of shots fired, regardless of those shots produced victims and without ShotSpotter, was 280. In 2024, with ShotSpotter, the number fell to ninety incidents – a 68% decrease.
The homicide rate fell about 39% this year, cratering at just fifteen homicides this year, the lowest rate in Suffolk County since the State began keeping that statistic in 1960.
The overall crime rate per 100,000 residents is 89. For perspective, the rate in Nassau County is 162.2; Westchester, 167.7; Albany, 397.2; Queens, 526.3.
“Suffolk County is the safest ‘big county’ in the State and one of the safest ‘big counties’ in the nation,” said Tierney. “And to my earlier critics who said, ‘you shouldn’t do ShotSpotter because it will make you look bad:’ if you do your jobs properly, everyone will look good.”
Looking Forward
Tierney spared no expense in decrying the criminal justice reforms passed by the State Legislature, adding his views on what he as a County prosecutor would need to make the work for his department easier.
“Let prosecutors argue dangerousness. Don’t let discovery reform affect cases; don’t let cases be dismissed on petty procedural grounds. Let all cases be discovered on the merits. It’s an easy fix to change our speedy trial statute,” said Tierney.
Tierney also hopes for more clarity on regulations regarding driving while intoxicated on marijuana, an offense that can be difficult for officers with which to charge a driver based on grounds of probable cause and insufficient methods of testing intoxication.
“We’re not asking for an enhanced penalty for our driving-while-drugged laws. We just want to treat drugged driving like we treat drunk driving; it doesn’t mean we’re anti-alcohol. It doesn’t mean we’re anti-marijuana; we’re pro-public safety.”
Tierney says that while the Suffolk delegation to the Assembly and Senate have been “great partners” in advocating for such State changes and bringing legislation to the floor, the Legislature at-large has not been proactive in passing such bills.
Tierney also pledged to continue fighting for the passage of Chelsey’s Law, as “we need to reflect what’s happening on our streets. We need to have our laws reflect what’s happening in our communities.”
D.A. Tierney closed by thanking the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), represented Tuesday afternoon by Deputy Commissioners Kevin Catalina and Belinda Alvarez-Groneman, as well as Lou Civello, President of the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association (PBA). He owes the SCPD “99%” of his department’s success in prosecuting their cases and making Suffolk safer. He also thanked the Medical Examiner’s Office and the Crime Lab for their work in this era of cold cases and the opioid epidemic.
“Our homicides in 2024 were fifteen (15); historically low, but still too high,” said Tierney, and while overdose numbers for 2024 are not yet prepared, the 2023 figure serves as a decent metric.
“We have 465 overdose deaths, and each of those individuals mattered. We will continue to fight for those individuals. We’re going to continue to work to make Suffolk County safe and we will work to make law enforcement fair, accountable, and effective. We’re going to do that not just for the North Shore, the South Shore, the East End, or the West End. We are going to do those things for all of Suffolk County.”
Tierney now has just one year left in his first term and will be on the ballot this November with the Republican and Conservative lines for another four years.
