Connecticut selects new top prosecutor after scandal, retirement

— Veteran prosecutor Patrick Griffin was named Connecticut’s new chief state’s attorney Thursday and vowed to repair the office’s reputation after an investigation questioned his predecessor’s integrity.

Griffin, a state prosecutor for 27 years including the past six as the top state’s attorney for the New Haven area, was appointed by a unanimous vote of the Criminal Justice Commission. The panel interviewed Griffin and Hartford State’s Attorney Sharmese Walcott for the post earlier Thursday.

“I don’t think that there’s any question that the reputation of the Division of Criminal Justice has been tarnished,”

Griffin told the commission. “I think that’s affected the morale of the entire division. ... We’ve got to begin to think about new ways to engage the community. We have to think outside the box. But I do think that the only way to begin to mend and improve our reputations is through community engagement.”

The chief state’s attorney is Connecticut’s top state prosecutor and leads the Division of Criminal Justice, which oversees the state’s attorney’s offices for the state’s 13 judicial districts.

Former Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. decided to retire March 31 after two years on the job as the Criminal Justice Commission considered whether to hold termination hearings.

An independent investigation ordered by Gov. Ned Lamont questioned Colangelo’s hiring of a state budget official’s daughter to a $99,000-peryear executive assistant’s job in his office, while pressing the official for pay raises for high-ranking state’s attorneys. Colangelo denied wrongdoing and questioned many of the investigation’s findings.

The probe, led by former U.S. Attorney Stanley Twardy Jr., said Colangelo, budget official Konstantinos Diamantis, and Diamantis’ daughter, Anastasia Diamantis, gave conflicting statements to investigators that “cast doubt on the integrity of the circumstances surrounding” the hiring of Anastasia Diamantis.