19 Facts About Stephen Zappala

Stephen Zappala earned his JD from Duquesne University School of Law.

Stephen Zappala was appointed by the Allegheny County's Common Pleas judges with 22 votes.

Shortly after his 1998 swearing-in as district attorney, Stephen Zappala fired Conrad, who had been working in the district attorney's office as lead homicide prosecutor.

However, Conrad successfully pursued write-in votes on the Republican ballot, which led to Stephen Zappala facing Conrad again in the general election in November 1999.

In 2004, County Coroner Cyril Wecht criticized Stephen Zappala for blocking him from holding inquests in certain cases.

In 2012, when Maddox Derkosh was killed by African wild dogs after falling into their exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo, Stephen Zappala stated that he would not charge his mother, Elizabeth Derkosh, who lifted her son to get a better point of view.

Stephen Zappala stated he was still investigating if the zoo had been at fault.

Stephen Zappala urged the police bureau to discontinue its use of simultaneous photo arrays, in which witnesses were typically shown photos of six to eight suspects on one sheet of paper, in favor of sequential photo arrays, in which they were shown photos individually.

In 2016, Stephen Zappala paid nearly $1,400 in bitcoin as ransom after his office computer network was taken hostage by the Avalanche phishing group.

In 2019, Stephen Zappala was re-elected with 59 percent of the primary vote and 57 percent in the general.

In 2021, Stephen Zappala sent an email to his prosecutors directing them not to offer plea deals to black attorney Milton Raiford, who had voiced criticisms about the criminal justice system.

Judge Anthony Mariani of the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court declared that he would no longer accept plea deals from Stephen Zappala's office, citing unequal treatment of defendants based on who was representing them.

Stephen Zappala defended his email, claiming its intention was to uphold consistent, evidence-based decision-making and to counteract unfounded allegations of racism.

Stephen Zappala accused Raiford of misrepresenting a plea offer in another case and undermining the system.

Stephen Zappala won a 7th term in the 2023 district attorney election.

On October 26,2023, during an interview on "The Big K Morning Show with Larry Richert and Marty Griffin" on KDKA Radio, Stephen Zappala discussed the idea of suing the City of Pittsburgh to place the police force under federal receivership.

Stephen Zappala implied that this action would allow him to exercise direct authority over the City of Pittsburgh police force.

Stephen Zappala may be referring to a 1997 investigation of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, which was undertaken to see whether there was a "pattern or practice" of unconstitutionality or civil rights abuses, but whether this was his intended meaning or not is unclear.

On November 7,2023, Stephen Zappala was re-elected, this time on the Republican ballot line, with 51.4 percent of the vote.