Commissioners

Michael A. Simons is the John V. Brennan Professor of Law and Ethics at St. John’s University School of Law, where he teaches criminal law and evidence. A magna cum laude graduate of both the College of the Holy Cross and Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Professor Simons joined the St. John’s faculty in 1998 and served as dean of the School of Law from 2009 to 2024. Before joining academia, Professor Simons practiced law as a criminal defense attorney with the firm of Stillman, Friedman & Shaw and as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He also served as a staff attorney for The Washington Post and a law clerk to a federal district judge. He has conducted numerous jury trials in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and has argued appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Professor Simons is a Senior Fellow with the Vincentian Center for Church and Society and has served as a member of both the Commission on Reimagining the Future of New York’s Courts and the New York City Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary.

Hon. Michael J. Obus is a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. After graduating from Rutgers University in 1970 and from the Columbia University School of Law in 1973, he was employed as an attorney with The Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, N.Y., where he was the Chief of the Appeals Bureau from 1979 to 1986. In August of 1986 he was appointed by Mayor Edward I. Koch to be a Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, where he served in Bronx and New York Counties. Thereafter, from 1992 until his retirement in December of 2020, Justice Obus sat in the Criminal Term of Supreme Court for New York County, handling thousands of felony cases and hundreds of jury trials. He was the Administrative Judge of that Court for eight years. He is currently a member of the New York State Unified Court System Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions, Model Colloquies, and Evidence Rules.

Daniel R. Alonso is a Shareholder in the New York office of Vedder Price P.C., where he handles white collar defense and corporate investigations, with a special focus on cross-border matters in Latin America. Mr. Alonso began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, where he investigated and prosecuted cases of fraud and corruption. He later became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he rose to the position of Chief of the Criminal Division. After a stint in private practice, Mr. Alonso returned to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2010 as the Chief Assistant District Attorney during the first term of District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. He later served as General Counsel of the global risk and compliance firm Exiger before returning to private practice in 2020. From 1995-96, Mr. Alonso was a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph R. Bellacosa of the New York State Court of Appeals. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Alonso has served as Chair of the Council on Criminal Justice of the New York City Bar Association, Co-Chair of the New York State White Collar Crime Task Force, President of the New York American Inn of Court, and is currently a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct. Previously, he was a member of the Grievance Committee for the First Department. Mr. Alonso is also an Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School, where he teaches a seminar titled, “Transnational Corruption and the Law.”

Mayo Bartlett is the Principal Attorney at the Law Offices of Mayo Bartlett, PLLC. He worked for the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for more than ten years, serving as a litigator in the Superior Court Trial Division and Chief of the Bias Crimes Unit. He is a co-founder of SAFE PASSAGE, a youth law forum that brings issues of law and policy to the classroom. Mr. Bartlett serves as a Director of the New York State Civil Liberties Union, and Hudson Link. He is a member of the White Plains – Greenburgh NAACP, and a Director of the Urban League of Westchester. Mr. Bartlett serves as Co-Chair of the Westchester County Police Reform and Reimagining Task Force, and he works with the Westchester County Human Rights Commission addressing acts of hate and discrimination. Previously, Mr. Bartlett was a member of the Advisory Board of the Westchester Holocaust Education Center, assisting the Center in the development of a Juvenile Hate Crime Offender Program. Mr. Bartlett was an active member of the New York State Hate Crimes Coalition in support of passage of the Hate Crime Act of 2000, the first comprehensive hate crime legislation in New York State. He is a former Vice President and Director of the Westchester County Bar Association, where he served as Co-chair of the Criminal Justice Section, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, and as a delegate to the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Bartlett is a former Director of the Westchester County Black Bar Association, and former Chair of the Westchester County Human Rights Commission.

Chantelle Botticelli is a nationally recognized subject-matter expert in Title IX and related fields. Before becoming Senior Director of Business Development at Grand River Solutions, she served as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Client Relations for the Northeast Region. She has more than 15 years of experience in the investigation and adjudication of sexual and interpersonal violence. She lectures extensively at universities and conferences throughout the U.S. on Title IX, VAWA, harassment, and implementation of best and emerging practices. Prior to joining Grand River Solutions, Chantelle served as the Director for Institutional Equity and Title IX at Cornell University. Prior to that, she served as the Assistant Vice President for Equity and Compliance and Title IX Coordinator at the University at Albany. In these roles, she provided direct, hands-on experience in the fields of Title IX, civil rights, employment law, and workplace and academic investigations. Her responsibilities included focusing on diversity efforts, sexual assault prevention and training, affirmative action, and protecting minors on campus. Ms. Botticelli spent the first decade of her career as an Assistant District Attorney assigned exclusively to the prosecution of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and crimes against children. While in that role, Ms. Botticelli developed an expertise in trauma-informed interviewing practices and investigation techniques. Ms. Botticelli is an adjunct faculty member at Albany Law School and has also served on the faculty for National Center for Campus Public Safety and at Cornell Law School. Ms. Botticelli received her B.A. from Binghamton University and her J.D. from Albany Law School.

Hon. Stephen J. Dougherty is a graduate of the University of Texas (B.S.W. 1981) and Albany Law School (J.D. 1986). He prosecuted criminal cases for 13 years in the Albany County and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Offices. During his time in the Onondaga County D.A.’s Office, he was promoted to Chief Assistant D.A. and supervised both the Felony Trial and Homicide Bureaus. He prosecuted a total of 50 felony trials to verdict, including 25 homicide trials. In 2002, he was elected to Syracuse City Court. At the direction of then NYS Chief Judge Judith Kaye, Judge Dougherty created and implemented the Domestic Violence (DV) Part of Syracuse City Court in 2004. Judge Dougherty presided over the DV Part for 12 years and handled approximately 1,200 misdemeanor and felony cases each year. Judge Dougherty is frequently asked for his expertise regarding DV issues and has provided his insight to court personnel throughout New York and in other states as well. Judge Dougherty also created and implemented an Adolescent Diversion Part (ADP) in Syracuse City Court and the first Animal Cruelty Court in New York State. Judge Dougherty was re-elected, without opposition, in 2012. He was promoted to Supervising City Court Judge in 2014. He was elected to Onondaga County Court in 2016 and presided over 70 felony trials, retiring in 2022. Judge Dougherty currently is a consultant with the Onondaga County D.A.’s Office mentoring young attorneys. Judge Dougherty is a frequent lecturer on a variety of topics pertaining to the legal profession. He has spoken at Syracuse University College of Law, Colgate University, the New York State Judicial Training Institute and at national seminars. Judge Dougherty has served on various community boards. He resides in Syracuse with his wife, Mary, and has three grown children.

Justice Randall T. Eng is of Counsel to Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C., and a member of the Litigation Department, including the Appellate Practice and Criminal Defense groups. He also serves as referee, receiver and arbitrator. Immediately prior to joining Meyer Suozzi, Justice Eng served as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department. Justice Eng was raised in Queens earning his undergraduate degree from SUNY Buffalo and his juris doctor from St. John's University School of Law in 1972. Justice Eng’s legal career began in public service as an assistant district attorney in Queens County. He became the first Asian American appointed as an ADA in New York State history, and serving from 1973-1980. In 1983, Justice Eng became the first Asian American judge in New York State. He was appointed to the New York City Criminal Court. He was elected to the Supreme Court in 1990 and designated to the Appellate Division in 2008.

Brian J. Griffin concentrates his practice of law in the areas of criminal defense at the state and federal level. A graduate of the University of Scranton and Brooklyn Law School, he began his career as an Assistant District Attorney at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. At the DA’s office he tried numerous cases to verdict at the misdemeanor and felony level. Mr. Griffin was also appointed as a Special Prosecutor for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. In 1997, Mr. Griffin left the DA’s office and established the litigation law firm of Foley Griffin, LLP which provides both civil and criminal representation. Mr. Griffin oversees the Criminal Defense division of the firm. Mr. Griffin is a Past President and current Member of the Nassau County Criminal Courts Bar Association. He is also a Member of the Nassau County Bar Association where he is the current Chair of the Criminal Law and Procedure Committee. Mr. Griffin is admitted to practice law in New York State as well as the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Andrea Glenn Loigman is a Supervisory Attorney for the Assigned Counsel Plan-Second Department under the New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. She began her career at Mental Hygiene Legal Services in the Bellevue Hospital office, practiced ten years in the Bronx for the Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Division, and advocated for preschool through grade 12 students in special education matters for the Children's Unit at Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. She then joined the Legal Aid Society of Westchester County as a Supervising Attorney for the inaugural Assigned Counsel Mentorship Program sponsored by LAS' Assigned Counsel Division (ACD), New York state's Indigent Legal Services (ILS) and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA). She ultimately became Deputy Chief Administrator for LAS' ACD pre-pandemic where she helped administer the 18B program for both family and criminal mandated representation. Ms. Glenn Loigman additionally practiced in Westchester County's three family courts as part of LAS' Family Court Division from August 2020 until February 2023. Before joining the ACP, Ms. Glenn Loigman served on the Westchester County Bar Association's Task Force on Attorney Well-Being and the Post-COVID Practice of Law and was an inaugural member of ILS' Parent Representation Advisory Council. A published freelance writer, she holds an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, her J.D. from New York Law School, and a B.A. from New York University.

Marne L. Lenox is an Assistant Federal Defender with the Federal Defenders of New York, Inc. in the Southern District of New York. She co-teaches the Federal Defender Clinic at NYU School of Law, where she supervises students handling petty offense cases in the Eastern District of New York. Before joining the Federal Defenders, Ms. Lenox worked as an Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She practiced law as a Criminal Defense Practice Staff Attorney at the Bronx Defenders. Ms. Lenox received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar and served as a Notes Editor for the NYU Law Review. Ms. Lenox received her undergraduate degree from Brown University, where she concentrated in both Public Policy and Africana Studies. She is a member of the New York State Bar and admitted to practice in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Amy B. Marion is a Partner with Abrams Fensterman, Fensterman, LLP. She focuses her practice on human rights, specializing in litigation involving deprivation of constitutional rights, whether by criminal investigations and prosecutions, due process or First Amendment violations, wrongful death claims, or commercial, corporate, property, estate, or regulatory disputes. Ms. Marion’s legal career began in the Criminal Defense Division of the New York City Legal Aid Society. In 2005, Ms. Marion became Principal Law Clerk to the Honorable Tammy S. Robbins, Nassau County Court Judge. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Marion was a founding partner and head of the civil rights and civil practice group of a Long Island firm. Ms. Marion has over 35 years of experience representing individuals in civil and criminal investigations and prosecutions in both federal and state courts. She has tried to verdict a multitude of felony cases including attempted homicide and narcotics cases. She has defended clients in investigations, trials and appeals of false arrest, malicious prosecution and excessive force claims. In addition, Ms. Marion has extensive experience in cases involving domestic violence and abuse and litigation in both Family and Criminal Court. She has successfully litigated discrimination cases against several large municipalities and corporations; has obtained multi-million dollar settlements in wrongful conviction cases; successfully tried and defended one of the state’s first Child Victims Act (CVA) trials; and has successfully established actual innocence in litigation brought pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law § 440.

Susan Friedman was appointed as the Administrator to the Commission in February 2024. As the Commission’s first Administrator, Ms. Friedman is responsible for launching the Commission’s operations and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Commission, including oversight of the investigative process. Ms. Friedman spent a decade representing individuals seeking relief from wrongful conviction, most recently at the Innocence Project in New York. In that role, Ms. Friedman has deep experience investigating wrongful convictions and working side-by-side with prosecutors at conviction integrity units across the country. Ms. Friedman was lead or co-counsel in cases that overturned 10 wrongful convictions. Before joining the Innocence Project, Ms. Friedman was a staff attorney with the DNA Unit at The Legal Aid Society in New York, where her practice focused on emerging DNA technology. Prior to working at The Legal Aid Society, she was an Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney at the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, where she represented individuals whose wrongful convictions were secured using unreliable and unvalidated forensic evidence. Ms. Friedman graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a B.A in Biochemistry and from The George Washington University Law School. She also holds an M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where her research focused on stem cells and cancer development.