Allen L. Bode serves as Chief Assistant District Attorney. Mr. Bode began his career as a prosecutor in 1997 at the office of the Queens District Attorney, where he prosecuted armed robberies, arson and economic crimes. In 2003, Mr. Bode joined the United States Attorney’s Office (“USAO”) for the Eastern District of New York (“EDNY”) where he served as an Assistant United States Attorney until December 2021. During his tenure as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Bode served 17 years in the Long Island Criminal Division, investigating, prosecuting and prevailing at trial and on appeal in every type of case including complex white-collar frauds, international cartel drug importation, child exploitation, physicians illegally dealing controlled substances, robbery and murder. In 2016, Mr. Bode was appointed as a Deputy Chief in the Long Island Criminal Division of the USAO. In February 2020, Mr. Bode served as lead trial counsel in federal court in the prosecution of U.S. v. Robinson, a prosecution for multiple violent robberies, shootings and murder occurring across Nassau and Suffolk counties. In November 2020 Robinson received a sentence of life plus 84 years.

In 2020, Mr. Bode was appointed Chief of the International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section of the USAO in the Brooklyn Criminal Division where he served until his appointment as Chief Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County.

During his career as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Bode was awarded the 2005, 2007 and 2009 Federal Prosecutor of the Year Award, by Parents for Megan’s Law; the 2009 Investigator of the Year Award by the NY/NJ Federal Law Enforcement Foundation; and the 2011 and 2020 True American Hero Award by the Federal Drug Agents Foundation.

Mr. Bode received his Bachelor of Arts from Western Washington University and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago School of Law.

Megan O’Donnell serves on the Executive Team as the Division Chief of the Criminal Investigations Division and the District Court and Intake Division. Ms. O’Donnell is a seasoned attorney with over twenty years of experience. She began her career in this Office in 1998 as a prosecutor, serving as a trial attorney throughout various bureaus where she prosecuted a gamut of crimes, including sexual assaults, gang violence, major narcotics offenses, and homicides.

In 2008 Ms. O’Donnell handled the prosecutions of seven young men who became known as the “Patchogue Seven” for their involvement in the death of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero. The expanded investigation into Lucero’s senseless death culminated in the state’s first ever trial for murder charged as a hate crime and resulted in the convictions of all seven defendants. For her work on that case, Ms. O’Donnell was given the distinguished honor of being named 2010 Prosecutor of the Year in Trial Advocacy by the New York Prosecutors Training Institute.

In 2010 Ms. O’Donnell was named Attorney-In-Charge of the Anti-Gang Unit, and shortly thereafter Deputy Bureau Chief of the Special Investigations Bureau, which is comprised of a number of specialized units to combat gangs, organized crime, and human trafficking.

In 2013 Ms. O’Donnell left the District Attorney’s Office, to litigate cases in Federal Court as an Assistant County Attorney for the County of Suffolk. As a federal litigant, Ms. O’Donnell once again handled a breadth of cases including employment discrimination and constitutional claims brought against the County.

In 2018, Ms. O’Donnell returned to the District Attorney’s Office as Division Chief of the Criminal Investigations Division. Ms. O’Donnell strives to continuously implement investigative strategies for all the bureaus and utilize the assistance of the vast law enforcement agencies available to this Office.

Ms. O’Donnell received her Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and received her Juris Doctor from Hofstra University, School of Law.

James G. Chalifoux serves on the Executive Team as the Chief of the Trial Division. Mr. Chalifoux has nearly thirty years of experience as a prosecutor, having joined the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in January 1993. After a short time in each of the District Court and Case Advisory Bureaus, Mr. Chalifoux served as a trial attorney in the Major Crime Bureau, where he prosecuted violent street crimes. After that, he investigated and prosecuted crimes involving government corruption in the Public Integrity Bureau. His next assignment within the office was in the Special Investigations Bureau, where he prosecuted organized crime and gang cases. In 2005, he was promoted to the Homicide Bureau. During his time there, he successfully prosecuted numerous high-profile homicides, including David Laffer for the murder of four people at a Medford pharmacy.

In 2010, Mr. Chalifoux was promoted to Deputy Bureau Chief of the Major Crime Bureau, where he supervised the prosecution of violent street crimes. In 2020, he was appointed to serve as the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Homicide Bureau.

Mr. Chalifoux is recognized as one of the preeminent trial attorneys in Suffolk County. He has successfully tried dozens of felony cases, for crimes including murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, rape, robbery, assault, and burglary. He has lectured at local colleges and universities, including Hamilton College, Touro Law School, SUNY Stony Brook, Suffolk County Community College and Briarcliffe College, as well as for various groups, including the Parents of Murdered Children, the Town of Islip and the Suffolk County Civilian Police Academy. He has also served as a panelist on News 12 regarding gangs in our community. His awards include a certificate of appreciation from Parents of Murdered Children.

Mr. Chalifoux is a graduate of Hamilton College and Albany Law School of Union University.

Jed Painter serves as General Counsel. Mr. Painter joins the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office after serving on the executive staff in neighboring Nassau County across three administrations. As the Nassau DA’s General Counsel, Mr. Painter served as a principal adviser to the District Attorney on a wide variety of legal, legislative, administrative, and policy matters. His broad portfolio of duties included promulgation and enforcement of office policies, staff performance evaluation, discovery compliance protocols, legal training and staff development, control and accountability of asset forfeiture expenditures, the collection and publishing of office statistics and reports, labor and contracting issues, and internal audits.

Mr. Painter is an Advisory Member on the NYS Chief Judge’s Justice Task Force. He has also served on the NYS Permanent Commission on Sentencing, the NYS Bar Association Special Committees on Re-Entry and Wrongful Conviction, the New York Prosecutors Training Institute faculty, and the New York State District Attorney’s Association’s legislative and best practices committees, with his work encompassing matters such as conviction integrity, juvenile justice reform, and prosecutorial misconduct.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Painter served on the Governor’s Moreland Act Commission on Utility Storm Preparation, where he was primarily responsible for the performance audit of the Long Island Power Authority. In 2018, he was appointed a Special Deputy Attorney General for the investigation into former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

As a former member of the Nassau DA’s Public Corruption Bureau, Mr. Painter secured numerous convictions on high-profile cases involving elected officials as well as employees from school districts, law enforcement agencies, housing authorities, and government agencies in Nassau County. His ability to analyze government systems has been utilized time and again for matters such as the 2015 review of the Nassau County Contracting and Procurement Systems and the NYS Inspector General compliance report on the remediation and repatriation of Nassau County’s forensic services.

Throughout all of these postings, Mr. Painter steadfastly served as Chief of the NCDA Animal Crimes Unit, where his work has earned him the National Sheriff’s Association and Humane Society of the United States’ Law Enforcement Award in 2016 and repeat appearances as an expert in the field of animal crimes prosecution at the New York State Senate, the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, the New York State Bar Association, and the New York City Bar Association, as well as at the Pace, Fordham, New York, Syracuse, and Hofstra law schools. In 2016, Mr. Painter was selected by Thomson West to be the Practice Commentator for the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law and his commentaries now appear on Westlaw as well as in the annually printed McKinney’s books. In 2019, he was appointed by then-Association President and Albany County District Attorney David Soares to be Co-Chair of the Animal Crimes Committee of the New York State District Attorneys Association.

In 2019, Jed received the prestigious “Prosecutor of the Year” Award from the New York Prosecutors Training Institute.

Richard Zacarese serves as the Chief Investigator of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Zacarese began his law enforcement career in 1999 and served over twenty-two years with the New York City Police Department.  Mr. Zacarese spent nineteen years working in an investigative capacity, both conducting and supervising investigations in different ranks, beginning as a Police Officer in the Queens Gang Squad through Executive Director of Criminal Investigations.  He worked across all five boroughs, where he formed partnerships with all prosecuting agencies throughout New York City to conduct the most complex investigations into violent individuals and gang organizations for a variety of crimes, including: homicides, non-fatal shootings, robbery patterns, firearms possession, firearms sales, and narcotics distribution.  He created a method of breaking down complex investigations to obtain the most compelling evidence which resulted in the convictions of a countless number of the most violent criminals in New York City.  Throughout his career, Mr. Zacarese focused on precision investigations into the most violent individuals and created new and innovative investigative techniques to respond to current trends in crime.

In 2003, Mr. Zacarese began his investigative career with an assignment to the Queens Gang Squad as a Police Officer and Detective.  He spent seven years assigned to the Gang Squad, with the majority of his tenure on the major case team conducting complex investigations into organized gangs.

After being promoted to Sergeant in 2010, Mr. Zacarese continued his investigative career in the South Bronx assigned to the Intelligence Bureau as the 44th Precinct’s Field Intelligence Sergeant.  In this position, he led a team of investigators responsible for collaborating with all units within the department to identify criminal organizations and investigate the methods in which they structure, plan, and commit their crimes.  Working with a team of prosecutors, he began developing gang violence conspiracy investigations to combat gang violence, which later resulted in a city-wide initiative.  These investigations led to the prosecution of some of the most violent individuals and organizations for a multitude of high-level crimes, resulting in a significant decrease in shootings and homicides.

In 2014, after being promoted to Lieutenant, Mr. Zacarese oversaw the newly formed Violence Reduction Task Force.  He played an integral role in the formation of the new Gun Violence Suppression Division, which was established in 2016.  He served as the Commanding Officer of the Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island Violence Reduction Task Force and Investigative Coordinator for the Division.  He utilized his expertise in gang violence conspiracy investigations to spearhead new initiatives and continued to develop new innovative investigative techniques to build the strongest prosecutions.  This role led to his promotion to Lieutenant Commander Detective Squad in 2016.  In addition to his promotion, he was honored in 2017 with The New York City Police Foundation’s Hemmerdinger Award for Excellence in Distinguished Public Service for his significant contribution to public safety.

In 2020, Mr. Zacarese joined the NYPD’s Executive Staff, after he was appointed Executive Director of Criminal Investigations by the Police Commissioner.  In this assignment, he worked directly with the Chief of Crime Control Strategies and the Detective Bureau to analyze all crime trends and develop strategies to continue to combat all violent crime.  In this position, he oversaw the creation of the Gun Violence Strategies Partnership, which was a partnership between the NYPD and all five District Attorneys, Federal Prosecutors and forty plus agencies assigned to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.  The purpose of the partnership was to work collaboratively to develop strategies to combat gun violence.  He remained in this position until leaving the NYPD in December 2021 to join the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.