SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY RAYMOND A. TIERNEY ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS OF TIMOTHY GOUGH AND KERRIANN KELLY TO LEAD RESTORED HOMICIDE AND MAJOR CRIMES BUREAUS

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced the appointments of Timothy Gough to Homicide Bureau Chief and Kerriann Kelly to Major Crimes Bureau Chief. Gough joins District Attorney Tierney’s team effective today after spending 25 years at the Brooklyn D.A.’s office where he served as Homicide Bureau Chief for the past five years. Kelly is a veteran Suffolk County prosecutor who previously served as chief of the now disbanded Felony Offense Bureau for two years.

“All offenses matter. Murders and violent felony offenses, however, deserve their own bureaus and specialized teams. With this reorganization, we now have two bureau chiefs that can each spearhead their efforts to focus on homicide and violent crimes in a more streamlined way,” said Tierney. “Both Gough and Kelly are two very talented prosecutors and I’m thrilled they are going to help me lead our efforts in keeping Suffolk County safe and bringing violent offenders to justice.”

In November 2020, the Homicide and Major Crime Units were merged and designated as the “Felony Offense Bureau.” Kelly became the chief of the Felony Offense Bureau, responsible for supervising violent felony offenses in addition to homicides. Effective today, the Major Crime Unit within the Felony Offense Bureau will be reestablished as the Major Crime Bureau, which will continue to be led by Kelly. Kelly will continue to be relied upon as lead trial attorney for significant Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office (SCDA) cases, including the trial(s) this spring of the People v. Michael Valva and Angela Pollina.

Kelly has been an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) with the SCDA’s Office since 1988. She is a graduate of Boston College and the Oklahoma City University School of Law. After law school, Kelly worked for the Suffolk County Attorney’s Office for two years before transferring to the District Attorney’s Office. She served in District Court, Appeals, White Collar Crime, Narcotics and Major Crime Bureaus. Her exceptional skills earned her an assignment to the Homicide Bureau, where she tried homicide cases for approximately eight years. In her career, she has tried approximately 42 felony cases to verdict including 18 homicides. Kelly was then promoted from homicide to deputy bureau chief of the Major Crime Bureau before being promoted to bureau chief of the Special Investigations Bureau. Her supervisory responsibilities there included wiretaps, search warrants, conspiracy to commit murder cases and gun possession cases. She was then promoted to chief of the Major Crime Bureau where she supervised 19 lawyers in the prosecution of felony cases including burglaries, robberies, sexual assaults and DWIs. Following Major Crime, Kelly was the chief of the Homicide Bureau where she supervised the prosecution of all murders committed in Suffolk County before the bureaus were merged.

Gough is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Albany Law School of Union University. Following graduation, in 1990, he joined the New York County District Attorney’s Office where he worked as an ADA in the Appeals Bureau, then as a trial assistant. Gough joined the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in 1997, where he worked his way up from a trial assistant to a senior assistant district attorney to bureau chief. Gough has tried approximately 100 cases to verdict including about 65 homicide trials. Notably, in December 2021, in People vs. Andre Neverson, Gough convicted the defendant accused of murdering his sister and ex-girlfriend nearly two decades after the crime were committed. He was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Gough’s significant homicide trial convictions include People vs. Zabdiel Yara, in which the defendant fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her two children, staged the crime scene and set the apartment on fire and People vs. Merciful Johnson. In the that case, the defendant killed the son of a Brooklyn North Homicide Detective.

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