16 Facts About Darcel Clark

Darcel Denise Clark was born on April 2,1962 and is an American attorney and prosecutor who has served as the Bronx County District Attorney since 2016.

Darcel Clark was raised in the Soundview Houses in the South Bronx.

Darcel Clark's father, Daniel, was a grounds supervisor and her mother, Viola, was a nurse and a member of the tenant patrol, which was formed in 1975 to keep neighbors and children safe.

Darcel Clark became the first member of her family to attend college.

Darcel Clark attended Boston College, graduating in 1983 with a Bachelor's of Arts degree.

Darcel Clark then attended law school at Howard University, graduating in 1986.

Darcel Clark served as supervisor of the Narcotics Bureau from 1993 to 1997 and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Court bureau from 1997 to 1999.

In 2006, Darcel Clark was elected to the Supreme Court in Bronx County, where she served until Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed her to serve as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division of the First Department of the New York Supreme Court in November 2012.

Darcel Clark decided to step down from the bench to seek election as the Bronx County District Attorney, following Johnson's decision to step down to seek a judgeship one week after his win in the primary election in September 2015.

Darcel Clark is both the first woman and first African American to hold this position.

In May 2016, newspaper accounts revealed Darcel Clark to have rehired a friend who had been forced to resign from the District Attorney's Office years prior after impersonating a police officer, breaking a man's nose, and fleeing the scene of a crime in a fit of road rage.

Darcel Clark was later revealed to have suppressed evidence and kept an innocent teenager in jail for over one year on attempted murder charges until, on the eve of trial, Darcel Clark was forced to dismiss the case in the wake of a public outcry.

Darcel Clark dismissed another case against a young man kept in jail for years without being convicted after claiming, again on the eve of trial, that the alleged witness to this murder could not be located.

Darcel Clark refused to bring any charges in the murder of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman being held on Riker's Island, even though surveillance video showed that guards tried to wake her for ninety minutes before calling for help and then laughed outside her jail cell.

Darcel Clark declined to prosecute anyone connected to the death of Jason Echevarria, who swallowed a ball of soap while in solitary confinement, only to have federal prosecutors later successfully prosecute the corrections captain with regards to Echavarria's death.

Darcel Clark opposed affording immigrants the right to jury trials, only to have the New York State Court of Appeals rule against her, holding the Constitution guarantees immigrants and citizens alike the right to a speedy trial for serious offenses.