Mitchell Richard "Mitch" Morrissey (born 1957) is a former

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

of Colorado's Second Judicial District in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. A Democrat, Morrissey was elected in November 2004 and was sworn into office on January 11, 2005.Denver District Attorne
“Meet the DA”
Accessed December 5, 2011. As the chief

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

in Denver, he was responsible for the prosecution of more than 6,000

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...

and 18,000

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

criminal cases every year. Prior to being elected as the District Attorney, Mitch Morrissey worked in the Denver District Attorney's Office for twenty years, ten of which he served as a chief deputy district attorney. Morrissey was named the 2011 "Individual Community Ally of the Year" by the Denver Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. He received the "Distinguished Service Award" from the GLBT Community Center of Colorado in 2006 and was named the 2001 "Prosecutor of the Year" by the Colorado District Attorney's Council. In 2012, Morrissey was awarded the "Patriot Award" by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve division of the U.S. Department of Defense. The award honors supervisors for supporting staff during absences for Reserve training and deployments in foreign countries.

Early life and education

Morrissey is one of six children born to Michael (Mike) and Eileen Morrissey. Morrissey is a third-generation attorney. His father was elected in 1958 to the

Colorado House of Representatives The Colorado House of Representatives is the lower house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Colorado. The House is composed of 65 members from an equal number of constituent districts, with each distri ...

while still a law student and practiced law in Denver for over fifty years. Morrissey's grandfather served as the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

of Colorado under presidents

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

. Mitch Morrissey has credited his grandfather and father's careers for his initial interest in law. Morrissey graduated from J.K. Mullen High School, from the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

and from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

Law School, now the

Sturm College of Law The Sturm College of Law ("Denver Law") is the professional graduate law school of the University of Denver. It is one of two law schools in the state of Colorado. Founded in 1892, the Sturm College of Law was one of the first in America's Mount ...

Use of DNA evidence in prosecution

Morrissey is known as an expert on the use of

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

evidence in prosecution.Faison, A. (2006
"The Model Organism."
5280 Magazine. Retrieved December 5, 2011.Schorn, Daniel (2009)
"A Not So Perfect Match."
CBS News. Retrieved December 7, 2011. In 1989 he tried and won the first case involving DNA evidence in Denver, ''People v. Fishback.'' In 1999, Morrissey was sworn in as a District Attorney for Boulder County, Colorado, to provide aid in the thirteen-month-long

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

investigation into the death of Jon Benet Ramsey. Morrissey continued to be an advisor to the ongoing investigation until 2003. In 2003, Morrissey, Denver Police Department Crime Lab Director Dr. Gregg LaBerge, and Lt. Jon Priest from the

Denver Police Department The Denver Police Department (DPD) is the full service police department jointly for the Denver, City and County of Denver, Colorado, which provides County police, police services to the entire county, including Denver International Airport, and ...

pioneered the

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

Project that utilizes DNA to solve cold cases. To date, the Denver District Attorney's Office has filed 81 charges in cases dating back to 1980 related to this project. The Denver District Attorney's DNA Burglary Project, launched in 2005, used biological material found at crime scenes to convict over 95 prolific burglars in Denver. These convictions led to a 26% drop in burglary rates in the city. Mitch Morrissey was a key supporter of Katie's Law passed in Colorado in 2009, which requires everyone arrested for a felony to submit a DNA sample to law enforcement. After leaving the Denver District Attorney's office due to term limits, Morrissey co-founded United Data Connect, a company that uses DNA to solve cold case rapes and homicides through familial DNA searching and forensic genetic genealogy analysis. United Data Connect also provides innovating solutions for data analysis and database construction.

Advocacy for familial DNA database searches

In 2008, Morrissey was the first District Attorney in the United States to develop and implement familial DNA searching to solve cold cases.DNA Forensic
"States Using Familial DNA Searches"
Retrieved December 7, 2011. The technology was used to identify the prime suspect in the Grim Sleeper serial murder case in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 2010. Morrissey's advocacy for the use of familial DNA searches across the United States has included an interview on

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

, debate in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, and numerous national speaking engagements where he offers free familial search software to other law enforcement agencies. Familial DNA searching has received criticism from

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

advocates, who question the constitutionality and effectiveness of the searches.

Community involvement

Morrissey is the President of the Board of Directors for the National Forensic Science Technology Center in Tampa, Florida. Morrissey is the President of Board of Directors of Voices of Victims, a Colorado non-profit that provides post-sentencing support for victims of crime. Morrissey is on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Haven, a Colorado non-profit that provides care for the infants of women going through drug treatment. Morrissey is on the Advisory Board of the Porter Billips Leadership Academy, a Colorado non-profit that's mission is to academically challenge students who are high achieving, yet possibly at risk of falling through the cracks.

Family

Mitch Morrissey lives with his wife Maggie in Denver.

Publications and press

Ashikhmin, S. et al. "Effectiveness and Cost Efficiency of DNA Evidence in Volume Crime." Denver, n.d. PDF
"Available in PDF
Ashikhmin, S. et al. "Using DNA To Solve High-Volume Property Crimes In Denver: Saving Money, Lowering Crime Rates and Making Denver Safer." August/September 2008. Print
"Available on the Denver DA Website."
Morrissey, M. and Curtis, L. "Partnering with Faith Communities to Prevent Elder Fraud and Exploitation." The Prosecutor November/December 2005. Print
"Available on the Denver DA Website."
Morrissey, Mitchell R. "Camels and Crime Scenes: A Lesson on DNA in Abu Dhabi." The Docket May 2011. Print
"Available on the Denver DA Website."
—. "Elder Abuse: Strengthening Victim Outcomes Prosecutorial Leadership." Newsletter of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys July 2011. Web
"Available on the Denver DA Website."
—. "Familial DNA Searching: What Every Prosecutor Should Know about this Powerful Forensic Tool." The Prosecutor September 2011. Print
"Available on the Denver DA Website."

External links

* United Data Connec

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey, Mitchell R. 1957 births Living people District attorneys in Colorado Colorado Democrats University of Colorado Boulder alumni Sturm College of Law alumni 21st-century Colorado politicians