State’s Attorney Kevin Lawlor gets new appointment

State’s Attorney Kevin D. Lawlor, who serves the Milford-Ansonia district, has been appointed deputy chief state’s attorney for operations.

Judge Andrew J. McDonald, chairman of the Criminal Justice Commission, announced Lawlor’s appointment Friday, according to a news release.

Lawlor will complete the remainder of Leonard Boyle’s four-year term to which he was appointed last July. Boyle retired in June following his appointment as first assistant U.S. attorney.

“The Deputy Chief State’s Attorney for Operations is responsible for oversight of specialized units in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, including the Appellate Bureau, Civil Litigation Bureau, Cold Case/Shooting Task Force Bureau, Statewide Prosecution Bureau, Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit and Witness Protection Unit,” according to the release.

Lawlor has served as state’s attorney for the Judicial District of MilfordAnsonia since June 2006, succeeding Mary M. Galvin when she retired.

Lawlor was a prosecutor since 1995 when he joined the Division of Criminal Justice as a deputy assistant state’s attorney in Milford, distinguishing himself early in his career by working with the Milford Multi-Jurisdictional Team for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse, convicting many of this district’s most serious sex offenders, according to the state’s website. He advanced to assistant state’s attorney three years later and transferred to the Judicial District of Ansonia/Milford in July 2002. He was designated senior assistant state’s attorney four years later.

Lawlor also helped to create and supervise the Neighborhood Prosecution Program in West Haven, which is a federally funded initiative designed to reduce teen crime and improve the quality of life for West Haven residents.

Lawlor graduated from the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University School of Law and teaches several criminal justice courses in the Legal Studies Department at Quinnipiac in addition to having taught graduate level seminars in evidence and legal aspects of arson investigation at the University of New Haven, according to the state’s website.

Lawlor also volunteers his time speaking with Wilbur Cross High School students in New Haven about criminal justice issues and the legal profession.