“In all my cases, whether prosecuted to trial, resulted in a plea, dismissed, or resolved through alternatives to incarceration, the ultimate aim has always been to do the right thing and provide justice—for the victims, for the accused, and for the community.”
No one matches Manny Nneji's deep knowledge of the law, his intense commitment to fairness, and his profound understanding of our community, built over 32 years of experience as a prosecutor.
He has served as a prosecutor under both Democratic and Republican leadership, as an Assistant District Attorney in Ulster County and an Assistant New York State Attorney General. In 2021, Manny was appointed Ulster County's Chief Assistant DA.
Manny has prosecuted some of the most difficult and serious cases in our jurisdiction: homicides, assaults, drug and weapon sales, animal cruelty, and fraud. He understands how to navigate the law, deliver justice and protect Ulster County residents.
In addition to the interview transcript (with our own Emily Dindial of Kerhonkson), it is well worth your time to read Manny's website to learn about his unique life story, his priorities for Ulster County, and the extensive list of cases he has worked on.
Interview with Manny Nneji by Emily Dindial
The service and responsibility of the District Attorney's office
How long have you been a prosecutor, and what positions have you held?
I have been a prosecutor for 32 years. I started in the Ulster County District Attorney’s office, left in 2007 to serve as Assistant New York State Attorney General, and in 2014 returned to the Ulster County DA's office, at the invitation of the DA at that time. I have held the title of Assistant DA, Senior Assistant DA, and Chief Assistant DA twice. That's the position I hold now. I held that position under Donald Williams, a Republican, and now under Dave Clegg, a Democrat.
I have been a prosecutor for 32 years. I started in the Ulster County District Attorney’s office, left in 2007 to serve as Assistant New York State Attorney General, and in 2014 returned to the Ulster County DA's office, at the invitation of the DA at that time. I have held the title of Assistant DA, Senior Assistant DA, and Chief Assistant DA twice. That's the position I hold now. I held that position under Donald Williams, a Republican, and now under Dave Clegg, a Democrat.
Why did you want to be a DA?
I'm not sure if it's a matter of wanting to be a DA as much as a matter of wanting to be a public servant. I have always been interested in doing the right thing, obtaining justice for the community, a fair process for the community, protecting the rights of the community, and the rights of someone who is accused of a crime, even as you hold them accountable for their conduct, just like I would protect my own. I believe in this statement from the poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by John Donne: “never send to find for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." The rights, the interests, of each and every one of us is interwoven with every one of us. And if we see injustice happen to one of us, and we let it go, that injustice is happening to us, and the more we let it go, the more it eventually will come to us. It's very important to have a process that's fair, for everyone—for the victim, for the community, and for the accused. And that fairness must come from the prosecutor who is charged with reviewing the case and making a decision as to what to do, as well as the judge and community—not by virtue of political ideology or political preference, but simply by the idea of doing the right thing, the fair thing. That's why I'm a prosecutor.
An experience I had with my grandfather, when I was about 10 years old, has shaped me the way I am. My grandfather had to make a decision for two villagers where I grew up in Nigeria. One of the villagers was my godfather, my grandfather's best friend. The other man was a member of the village. My grandfather had to resolve a land dispute between them. And my grandfather ruled against his best friend, my godfather, in favor of the other man. That was the moment for me. Doing the right thing, without fear or favor. And after they resolved the case, the three of them, my grandfather, my godfather, and the other village man, they went to the village square together to enjoy some treats, all of them together. That meant a lot to me.
I would say 95% of prosecutors mean to do the right thing, mean to do well. Sometimes getting a conviction becomes too important, especially when you sprinkle a significant amount of politics into it, when the case has a lot of community interest, and that agitation by the community, that agitation by political interests becomes an influence on the prosecutor who is handling the case. That's noise that I disregard. I don't hear that noise, no matter how loud it is in my head or around me. Because if I cannot be fair, I have no business being there. And that's the way every prosecutor ought to be.
I'm not sure if it's a matter of wanting to be a DA as much as a matter of wanting to be a public servant. I have always been interested in doing the right thing, obtaining justice for the community, a fair process for the community, protecting the rights of the community, and the rights of someone who is accused of a crime, even as you hold them accountable for their conduct, just like I would protect my own. I believe in this statement from the poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by John Donne: “never send to find for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." The rights, the interests, of each and every one of us is interwoven with every one of us. And if we see injustice happen to one of us, and we let it go, that injustice is happening to us, and the more we let it go, the more it eventually will come to us. It's very important to have a process that's fair, for everyone—for the victim, for the community, and for the accused. And that fairness must come from the prosecutor who is charged with reviewing the case and making a decision as to what to do, as well as the judge and community—not by virtue of political ideology or political preference, but simply by the idea of doing the right thing, the fair thing. That's why I'm a prosecutor.
An experience I had with my grandfather, when I was about 10 years old, has shaped me the way I am. My grandfather had to make a decision for two villagers where I grew up in Nigeria. One of the villagers was my godfather, my grandfather's best friend. The other man was a member of the village. My grandfather had to resolve a land dispute between them. And my grandfather ruled against his best friend, my godfather, in favor of the other man. That was the moment for me. Doing the right thing, without fear or favor. And after they resolved the case, the three of them, my grandfather, my godfather, and the other village man, they went to the village square together to enjoy some treats, all of them together. That meant a lot to me.
I would say 95% of prosecutors mean to do the right thing, mean to do well. Sometimes getting a conviction becomes too important, especially when you sprinkle a significant amount of politics into it, when the case has a lot of community interest, and that agitation by the community, that agitation by political interests becomes an influence on the prosecutor who is handling the case. That's noise that I disregard. I don't hear that noise, no matter how loud it is in my head or around me. Because if I cannot be fair, I have no business being there. And that's the way every prosecutor ought to be.
What is the role of the person at the helm of the DA’s office in ensuring that all the prosecutors are doing the right thing?
The leadership in the office has to be towards the substance, and everyone in the office ought to be working towards the same goal. I want everyone to understand that this is who I am.
The moral leadership in the office starts with the DA. When the ADAs see me try a case, they know that I don't fall for any of the personal stuff. They know the trial is not about me. It has everything to do with the individual who is accused of a crime and what he or she has done. It has everything to do with obtaining the just outcome for the community and for the victim. It’s very important for the DA to play an exemplary role in the trial, as a human being and as a lawyer. And if I am the DA, that's the role I'm going to play for everyone in the office. That's the role I play right now, as the Chief Assistant DA.
The leadership in the office has to be towards the substance, and everyone in the office ought to be working towards the same goal. I want everyone to understand that this is who I am.
The moral leadership in the office starts with the DA. When the ADAs see me try a case, they know that I don't fall for any of the personal stuff. They know the trial is not about me. It has everything to do with the individual who is accused of a crime and what he or she has done. It has everything to do with obtaining the just outcome for the community and for the victim. It’s very important for the DA to play an exemplary role in the trial, as a human being and as a lawyer. And if I am the DA, that's the role I'm going to play for everyone in the office. That's the role I play right now, as the Chief Assistant DA.
(interview continues below)
By protecting someone else's constitutional rights, you protect yours, you protect everyone else's. It all comes together.
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Confronting office politics, new regulations, and a pandemic
It's my understanding that after the 2019 election, there was an exodus of prosecutors from the Ulster County DA's office. And you chose not to leave.
When the election results were confirmed, four experienced prosecutors out of about 15 in the office left. And these four experienced prosecutors handled felonies, not the local courts or misdemeanor courts. They left in protest, because their preferred candidate had not won. Undermining the safety of the community. I have worked for all the DAs in the county from 1990 to this day. I had never seen that. But those individuals left.
I was a Senior Assistant DA, I didn't have any official role or official title to guide anything in the office. But I wanted to make sure that we were able to keep doing the work for the sake of the community. And I asked everyone that was there, the new ones who were coming in and the ones who had stayed, to hang in there, we are going to turn this ship around. And we are going to make Ulster County the envy of other DA offices across the state. When the chief assistant at that time left, Dave Clegg appointed me his chief assistant and I asked him for permission to make some changes. One of those changes was that I would be part of all interviews involving new hires. One of the requirements I had for every new hire was to have an interest in serving the community, serving the public. And you must have respect for everyone in the office, no matter their role, whether it's Dave, the head of the office, or the janitor. I think it makes a difference. And I gave everybody the commitment that if we can work together, we can do this. We can turn the ship around. And that's something that we have been able to do.
Another change had to do with discovery. The legislature had recently revised the discovery laws. It's about sharing evidence so that the defendant knows what the proof is against him or her. It helps them make a decision whether to take a plea, and to prepare their defense in a trial. Every DA's office in New York State had eight to nine months to put together a discovery unit to handle the excessive workload that this imposed on prosecutors. Of all the 62 DA's offices in the state, I believe 61 of them did something about it. The only office that did nothing to prepare was the Ulster County DA’s Office, which was led at the time by DA Holley Carnwright and his Chief, Mike Kavanagh..
I reached out to the administrator of the discovery system, the New York State Prosecutors Institute, and solved the problem. We now have a unit that's the gold standard for the rest of the state.
When the election results were confirmed, four experienced prosecutors out of about 15 in the office left. And these four experienced prosecutors handled felonies, not the local courts or misdemeanor courts. They left in protest, because their preferred candidate had not won. Undermining the safety of the community. I have worked for all the DAs in the county from 1990 to this day. I had never seen that. But those individuals left.
I was a Senior Assistant DA, I didn't have any official role or official title to guide anything in the office. But I wanted to make sure that we were able to keep doing the work for the sake of the community. And I asked everyone that was there, the new ones who were coming in and the ones who had stayed, to hang in there, we are going to turn this ship around. And we are going to make Ulster County the envy of other DA offices across the state. When the chief assistant at that time left, Dave Clegg appointed me his chief assistant and I asked him for permission to make some changes. One of those changes was that I would be part of all interviews involving new hires. One of the requirements I had for every new hire was to have an interest in serving the community, serving the public. And you must have respect for everyone in the office, no matter their role, whether it's Dave, the head of the office, or the janitor. I think it makes a difference. And I gave everybody the commitment that if we can work together, we can do this. We can turn the ship around. And that's something that we have been able to do.
Another change had to do with discovery. The legislature had recently revised the discovery laws. It's about sharing evidence so that the defendant knows what the proof is against him or her. It helps them make a decision whether to take a plea, and to prepare their defense in a trial. Every DA's office in New York State had eight to nine months to put together a discovery unit to handle the excessive workload that this imposed on prosecutors. Of all the 62 DA's offices in the state, I believe 61 of them did something about it. The only office that did nothing to prepare was the Ulster County DA’s Office, which was led at the time by DA Holley Carnwright and his Chief, Mike Kavanagh..
I reached out to the administrator of the discovery system, the New York State Prosecutors Institute, and solved the problem. We now have a unit that's the gold standard for the rest of the state.
How does that affect cases?
Defense attorneys can now do the review with their client. And if it turns out that we didn't turn over the evidence, it may affect our declaration of readiness for trial. When you convict someone for a serious offense, you want the community to have faith in that conviction.
Do you have any final words to share?
You know, I never thought that I would be running for office. But what I saw in the DA's office from 2014 to 2020, and then how every DA's office in the state has been altered completely by the pandemic and by the new discovery laws. And what we have in the DA's office right now—I do not want that to change. I do not want us to go back. And I am running because Ulster County deserves a just environment, a just society, a fair trial process. And if someone is convicted or if they are acquitted, the community would know that it was a fair process.
Defense attorneys can now do the review with their client. And if it turns out that we didn't turn over the evidence, it may affect our declaration of readiness for trial. When you convict someone for a serious offense, you want the community to have faith in that conviction.
Do you have any final words to share?
You know, I never thought that I would be running for office. But what I saw in the DA's office from 2014 to 2020, and then how every DA's office in the state has been altered completely by the pandemic and by the new discovery laws. And what we have in the DA's office right now—I do not want that to change. I do not want us to go back. And I am running because Ulster County deserves a just environment, a just society, a fair trial process. And if someone is convicted or if they are acquitted, the community would know that it was a fair process.
The Rochester Democrats believe Manny Nneji is the best candidate for District Attorney because of:
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WARNING: Republicans in Ulster: Deceiving, Distorting, and Defaming
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