Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley will be stepping down, telling a state disciplinary commission “It’s time for a new DA.”
The decision comes with a public censure after an investigation into her actions during a 2024 traffic stop. Just when Doorley plans to step down is unclear.
The significant date is Aug. 4. If a vacancy occurs by that date, the seat goes on the November ballot, and the political parties can put forward candidates. After that, Gov. Kathy Hochul makes an interim appointment, and the election is held next year.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Monroe County GOP chairman Pat Reilly.
Discussions about who might replace Doorley have been going on privately for months, he said, adding that Republicans have a short list of likely candidates both inside and outside the DA's office.
“She wants to see the office and the political process land on a place where there's a
competent person to succeed without turning the office inside out,” her attorney Bob Masters told the New York state Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct back in March. “And from having been through transitions, if she leaves now, it will affect the way that that place operates. It will do no good for that legal community.”
The Commission began an investigation into Doorley’s conduct in May 2024. The investigation sought to determine whether Doorley had "violated the standards of conduct of her position." The commission’s report, released Tuesday, said she did.
“The Commission concludes as a matter of law that respondent (Doorley) engaged in illegal conduct that adversely reflects on her honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer,” the report reads.
Doorley agreed to a public sanction, a designation which is essentially a strong condemnation of her actions. Masters told the commission he only agreed to take Doorley's case if she was "willing to volunteer for a public censure. "And she has said to me, 'Bob, call it by another name, I've been censured a lot, and I deserve it. There's no part of this I don't deserve.'" Doorley, he said, was going to resign in early March, "and I spoke to her and she didn't." In the report, the commission is vague on Doorley's departure, only noting that she would be “vacating” her position.
The district attorney seat is up for election in 2027. Doorley, a Republican, ran unopposed in 2023.
In her deposition before the commission, Doorley said “I know it’s time for me to go,” adding that she had begun the process. She said her husband has already moved to South Carolina, and they have sold their house in Webster.
“I can't tell you enough how sorry, how embarrassed I am. It's affected me. It's affected my family. I'm not going to cry again, I promise,” she said, according to the transcript. She continued: “I'm just looking for the best transition for the next person to take over. I think it's time that there is — that there should be a new DA. So I would just — I would ask you just let me ride off into the sunset.”
Monroe County property records confirm Doorley sold the house on Fallen Leaf Terrace in November 2024.
Doorley declined comment Tuesday, instead issuing a statement.
“Because of pending disciplinary proceedings — resulting from my self-report of this incident — I am prohibited from providing a detailed response,” Doorley said in her statement. “However, I am content that the Commission has concluded its investigation by recommending the censure I have sought since the process commenced.”
She also referred questions to Masters, who issued the following statement:
"Today is not a day to discuss any future plans regarding Sandra's prospective retirement. She will be certain to alert the public of any future plans at the appropriate time. Rather, it is appropriate that deference and respect be shown for the process engaged in by the Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct, which resulted in the imposition of the sanction that I recommended from the outset of the investigation into this regrettable episode."
On April 22, 2024, Doorley was clocked going 55 in a 35 on Phillips Road. Webster police officer Chris Crisafulli attempted to pull her over. Doorley did not stop until she arrived at her house on Fallen Leaf Terrace, about a mile away.
In body-worn camera footage, Doorley is seen berating Crisafulli in an expletive filled rant and refusing to follow his instructions.
“I am the DA of Monroe County,” she told the officer at one point in the interaction, which was captured by the officer’s body worn camera. “...I don’t really care. You know what, if you give me a traffic ticket, that’s fine. I’m the one that prosecutes it, OK? Just go ahead and do it. Go ahead. Go ahead.”
In a statement, GOP chairman Reilly called Doorley "a tough prosecutor who always fought hard for crime victims, stood by our police when it was politically difficult to do so in Monroe County, and has run an extremely successful District Attorney's office.
"The incident in Webster was serious, unbecoming, and in the end extremely unfortunate," the statement continued. "I am saddened by this entire situation, and I hope DA Doorley can enjoy a fresh start in whatever she chooses to do next."
A report in July from the Monroe County Office of Public Integrity found Doorley violated public trust in the traffic stop, but did not go so far as to recommend Doorley’s resignation. The report from the Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct was the its first to be publicly released since the agency was formed in 2021.
Commission administrator Susan Friedman said Doorley's case exemplifies the importance of public trust in the legal system.
"It is really important in the legal system for public officials to not create the appearance that there are two different systems," Friedman said. "...Her conduct suggested, that there was an appearance that she created, that she was above the law."
The recommendation of a censure will be forwarded to the Attorney Grievance Committee, which will make the ultimate decision on enforcing the decision. Just what the censure would entail and what sanctions could be included is unclear.
Friedman said that the commission's report should help lay the groundwork for rebuilding public trust in the district attorney's office.
"My hope is that, through this process being transparent and for the public having the opportunity to see the deposition and the Commission's conclusions, they're able to have some amount of that harm repaired," she said.
The Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct has received 286 complaints since opening its public portal in October. Ten of them have been authorized for investigation, and 8 have been dismissed.
Includes reporting by WXXI investigations and enterprise editor Brian Sharp.
