View as Webpage

January 9, 2026

Greetings, 

Happy New Year, Bronx County! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season.

2025 is now in the books- we came, we saw, and we conquered many of the goals we set out to accomplish.

We began the year continuing our advocacy for refinement of the discovery laws which inadvertently effected due process and victims- by May we accomplished that!

We hosted several awareness events throughout the year from Human Trafficking to Child Safety to Domestic Violence to reintroducing our Gun Buyback program.

We held several victim support initiatives such as our annual Crime Victims' Tribute/Vigil, a Homicide Remembrance program, Operation Gift Giving, and the Tree of Angels.

We indicted gang and gun cases, and won convictions in many homicide cases, including  11-year-old Kyhara Tay and 22-month-old Nicholas Dominici.

We held a handful of re-entry events, including our first ever woman-focused re-entry employment fair.

We focused on providing youth resources- which included the launch of our Youth Justice Bureau- and kept our finger on the pulse through our Youth Advisory Council (Y.A.C.). With the help of the Y.A.C. we kicked off the Beyond the Block series, which focuses on providing teens with education and employment resources throughout the year.

Click on the video below to see the accomplishments of 2025.

Now, we are looking to trailblaze our way through 2026!

Thank you all for your support and commitment to making the Bronx safer.



Yours in service,

District Attorney Clark

2025 was a productive year for the Office of the Bronx District Attorney. Watch our video.

On January 7, the First Day of the Legislative Session, District Attorney Clark joined Governor Hochul and State Legislators in Albany for the Governor’s announcement of new legislation to establish criminal penalties for the unlicensed manufacture and sale of ghost guns.

On January 4, the Black Democrats of Westchester County presented District Attorney Clark with the Thurgood Marshall Award for for her leadership in law, social justice, equity, and advocacy.  DA Clark is pictured above with Chair, Terry Clements.

Fun Fact: Both the Honorable Thurgood Marshall and DA Clark attended Howard University School of Law.

On December 13, District Attorney Clark partnered with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and St. Luke's Episcopal Church to host our second Gun Buyback of 2025. We collected 180 firearms at St. Luke's and 165 at St. James Church in November, bringing the total number of firearms received to 345. The guns included 22 assault-style rifles, 150 semi-automatic pistols, 106 revolvers, 16 rifles, nine shotguns, and three ghost guns. 

Read the press release to learn more about the gun buyback at St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

On December 18, Chief BXDA Detective Investigator Frank Chiara retired after 47 years of dedicated and distinguished service to the Bronx. Read the press release detailing Chief Chiara's legacy of great detective work.

On January 7, District Attorney Clark announced that Frank Blackshear, 47, of Manhattan was sentenced to six months in jail for Grand Larceny for stealing his grandfather-in-law, 92-year-old Milton Roberts' house while the victim was in a nursing home due to health issues. Between February 14, 2023, and May 19, 2023, Blackshear transferred Roberts' property with a deed bearing Frank Blackshear as Trustee. The investigation further revealed that Blackshear created legal documents that gave him and his wife, Jessica, control over Roberts’ assets and health care that included a living will that specifically denied the victim life-prolonging procedures should they be necessary. Another document created was a Power of Attorney which grants Jessica Blackshear the authority to control Roberts’ assets. The home, located in the Soundview section had a value of $698,000.

On December 17, District Attorney Clark announced 19 alleged members of Courtlandt Over Everything (COE) and the ABG Crips gangs were indicted for Conspiracy, Attempted Murder and other violent crimes for a series of shootings, including three in the vicinity of the Bronx County Hall of Justice.

Read the press release detailing the 157-count indictment.

On December 17, District Attorney Clark announced that Racquel Haughton, 44, of the Bronx was indicted on charges of on Manslaughter and Assault charges for fatally beating a female patient with whom she shared a room at NYC Health + Hospitals Lincoln. On September 10, 2025, at approximately 3:00 a.m., at NYC Health + Hospitals Lincoln, the defendant, who was receiving treatment, was sharing a room with Cynthia Vann, 55. Haughton allegedly approached the victim while she was sleeping and struck her multiple times in the head. Medical staff responded immediately to the room after hearing the victim yell. When they entered the room, the defendant was watching television. The victim was later placed into a medically induced coma and died on September 27, 2025.

On December 16, District Attorney Clark announced that Rikers Island inmate, Kelvin Williams, 36, was sentenced to five years in prison, 10 years post release supervision for first-degree Sexual Assault of a transgender inmate whom he threatened with a makeshift weapon. He pleaded guilty to that charge on November 12, 2025. The defendant’s sentence also covers a guilty plea to Obstruction of Governmental Administration for injuring a Correction Officer during a tactical search of his cell on April 23, 2025, and a guilty plea to Forcible Touching of a Correction Officer on January 26, 2025.

On December 10, District Attorney Clark announced that Joshua Burnside, 29, of the Bronx was indicted on Attempted Aggravated Murder, Attempted Murder, Assault and other related charges for stabbing his wife and then torturing his 12-year-old stepdaughter with knives and a needle-like object. On October 22, 2025, inside an apartment in the Belmont neighborhood, the defendant and his wife got into an argument and he allegedly stabbed her in the stomach. He forced her out of the apartment and locked the door. The defendant did not harm the couple’s two children ages 5 and 2, but he allegedly stabbed her 12-year-old daughter with two knives, a fork and other objects. He then allegedly drove a 6-inch-long sharp needle-like object through her nose and into her brain, which required removal by surgeons.

On December 9, District Attorney Clark announced that Michael Baker, 16, was sentenced to 12 years to life in prison for second-degree Murder for killing an innocent bystander on a subway platform, and one to three years in prison for Attempted Murder for shooting a teen four weeks earlier, the incidents took place between January 15, 2024 and February 12, 2024.

On December 9, District Attorney Clark announced that Edison Cruz, 28, of the Bronx, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for first-degree Manslaughter and other charges for fatally shooting a man and wounding two bystanders after an argument in a Bronx Taco Bell restaurant.

On December 8, District Attorney Clark announced that Jamar Banks, 53, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years post release supervision or Attempted Murder in the second-degree for stabbing an off-duty MTA employee. On January 2, 2025, the defendant started an argument with the victim, a 47-year-old MTA employee in uniform on his way to work on the northbound platform at Pelham Parkway station. Banks then pulled out a large kitchen knife and stabbed the victim in the back and left side of his body causing numerous lacerations that kept him out of work for several months.

To access our 2025 press releases visit the Newsroom section of our website.

Visit our website to check out our Cases of Interest Calendar and learn more about upcoming court appearances.

On December 18, members of our BXDA staff came together to lift the spirits of 15 families during the holiday season for our annual Operation Gift Giving program.

On December 16, District Attorney Clark celebrated Hanukkah with members of the Bronx's Jewish community at Bronx House for the annual Menorah lighting, celebrating light overcoming darkness.

On December 4, District Attorney Clark joined Jewish Community Relations Council to celebrate trailblazing Rabbi, Bob Kaplan, on his retirement. Rabbi Bob Kaplan's career, based in human rights, equity, and compassion, impacted New Yorkers in all five boroughs. District Attorney Clark is honored to have worked alongside him in the Bronx. Congratulations on your retirement Rabbi!

From BXDA college intern to law school student, Juan Rivera, just finished his first semester of law school at New England Law.

Juan credits his journey to his family and to his mentors at BXDA. One of those mentors is Bureau Chief Jeannette Rucker, who prepped Juan for the college intern mock trial experience and showed him what a career at a prosecutors office looks like, both through the lens of professional and legal staff members.

Read more about how his journey at BXDA inspired him to apply to law school and helped earn him a scholarship.

Every year, in partnership with New York Cares, BXDA seeks to keep New Yorkers warm with our annual coat drive. This year staff members at BXDA collected over 175 coats.

If you would like to donate, there's still time- coats are being collected through February- find a local coat drive drop-off site by visiting the New York Cares website.

The Bronx District Attorney’s Office is one of the largest employers in the Bronx. We are committed to pursuing justice with integrity by providing services to victims of crime and prosecuting the accused fairly. Whether you intern or join our staff, you will be provided with training, mentorship and opportunities for professional development. The collegial and collaborative environment will provide you with not just a job, but a home for building a career in criminal justice. Check out the wide variety of available opportunities.