A D.A with a serious mission

 Being the first female candidate, Rice was a trailblazer.

 To the extent that Nassau County had until that point been very insular in terms of the criminal justice system, there had never been a female district attorney, and all of the major law enforcements posts were held by men, as was common. Even now there are 62 district attorneys across the state of New York, and only 11 or 12 of us that are women.”

 In the race to get elected, Rice decided not to think about the groundbreaking aspects of her campaign. But the day after she won the local news stations asked her point blank how it felt to be the first female district attorney

 “I had never experienced sexism in my family. My parents expected the four boys and six girls to go to college. We weren’t treated differently. I just forged ahead,” she says.

 “To me getting promoted was merit based. I think I won that race based on merit. I’m very proud to be the first women and I take that role model aspect very seriously for young girls, but also for young boys to show that no matter what obstacles are put in your way you can overcome them though the strength of your character and hard work.”

 The issue that has brought her to national prominence is her hard line stance on drunk drivers. Rice is clearly passionate about the issue and its often fatal consequences in her community.

 “DWI offenses are an enormous problem on Long Island. It’s a problem that resonates with the public. Everyone here knows how bad it is. We’re a car driven society out here, very different from New York,” she says.

 “Over 4,000 people a year are arrested here for drunk driving, and out of that number a third have been arrested before. My opinion is the message was not getting through. We had a too lax plea-bargaining system.”

 Rice was incensed, and she decided to fix it.

 “What I did was overhaul the plea-bargaining system for drunk drivers. We’re holding them accountable now,” Rice says.

 “Most people were getting to plead guilty to the equivalent of a traffic infraction. It was like speeding. They paid a fine and went on their merry way. We are now holding people more accountable to that misdemeanor.  

 “We’ve also embarked on a broad educational program because in my view the way we tackle this problem once and for all is to raise the levels of awareness. It’s an issue across the whole country, not just here.”

 The case that brought the nation’s media, including 60 Minutes, to her office door was the horrific death of 7-year-old Irish American Katie Flynn, which Rice flatly calls a murder. Flynn had been travelling inside a limousine that she, her sister, father and mother had also been riding in, when a pickup truck slammed into the car, also killing the limousine driver Stanley Rabinowitz. The family had been returning home from the wedding of Flynn’s aunt in Bayville.

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Nster.com