Her father, Daniel, was a grounds supervisor and her mother, Viola, was a nurse and a member of the tenant patrol, which was formed in 1975 to keep neighbors and children safe.

This sparked controversy, as much of the press perceived Johnson's decision as orchestrated by the Bronx Democratic Party to avoid selecting the next district attorney in the primary.

[9] As district attorney, Clark has vowed to implement reforms to address wrongful conviction, administrative backlogs, and problems surrounding Rikers Island,[10] among others.

Reporting further revealed that Clark gave a prominent promotion and raise to the assistant district attorney responsible for the bungled prosecution of Kalief Browder.

Hugh Barry for the murder of Deborah Danner, an elderly woman suffering from a mental illness who was shot and killed in her home, resulted in an acquittal on all charges.

[18] Clark dismissed another case against a young man kept in jail for years without being convicted after claiming, again on the eve of trial, that the alleged witness to this murder could not be located.

[19] Clark refused to bring any charges in the murder of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman being held on Riker's Island, even though surveillance video showed that guards tried to wake her for ninety minutes before calling for help and then laughed outside her jail cell.

[22] Leaked internal documents showed that the Bronx District Attorney's Office was training its employees to violate defendants' Constitutional rights to speedy trials.

[23] Clark held Darrell Herring, an innocent man wrongfully accused of rape, in jail for eighteen months even though security footage and medical records in the possession of the Bronx District Attorney's Office exculpated Mr.

The unprovoked assault, the entirety of which was captured on surveillance video, left Cortez with a skull fracture, broken cheek, and brain bleeding.