Jennifer Marindin Assini
Chief Assistant District Attorney
Jennifer Marindin Assini is currently the Chief Assistant District Attorney in Schenectady County. Assini has served as an Assistant District Attorney for 29 years. For ten years, she served as the Bureau Chief of Investigations & Intelligence where she handled complex investigations into violent gang activity, financial crimes and homicides. And since 2011, she has been cross-designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of NY, working as a member of the FBI-led Safe Streets Gang Task Force to combat violent actors and street groups or gangs. She established and supervises the Crimes Against Revenue Program Unit, the Forfeiture Unit, as well as the County’s extensive Investigative Surveillance Camera System.
Earlier in her tenure, for five years, Ms. Assini was the chief Sex Crimes/Child Abuse Prosecutor where she prosecuted offenders for sexual assault crimes against vulnerable children as well as adult victims. In 2005, she was appointed by the Governor as a Special Assistant Attorney General with the NYS Organized Crime Task Force to prosecute a layered cigarette tax and fraudulent tax stamps case. She has prosecuted a variety of cases, including multi-defendant gambling rings, environmental crimes, corporations and individuals for large scale larceny and embezzlement crimes that include the County’s only Corporate Integrity Agreement, tax crimes, as well as general felonies, and has obtained and managed the eavesdropping warrants for the office. She works closely with DCJS and Schenectady law enforcement to reduce gun violence under the G.I.V.E. program.
Assini practiced environmental law for 5 years in private practice prior to joining the DA’s Office. She holds a BA in Biology from Bucknell University, a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School and is admitted to both the New York and Maryland State Bars.
Assini is a member of the New York State District Attorney’s Association and is the Co-chair of the Electronic Surveillance Committee. Assini has lectured for the New York Prosecutors Training Institute, Albany Law School, and Union College, and served on the steering committee that developed training for the NYS Judicial Institute for Judges on Environmental Prosecution. She established the Niskayuna Town Youth Court and participates in the USAO’s LEADership Program teaching 5th graders.
Jennifer has tried numerous felony trials to verdict including homicide, rape and sexual assault, gang drug conspiracies, illegal construction debris disposal, and embezzlement, such as:
- Daniel Alava – convicted of multiple counts of First Degree Rape and First Degree Sexual Abuse of the 9-year-old victim that occurred over the course of several months. Alava is currently serving a sentence of 54 years in prison.
- Uptown Gunners and Four Block Gang Prosecutions – co-prosecutor of the federal and state cases that resulted in the conviction of 41 members of the Four Block street gang and 27 members of the Uptown Gunners street gang for the extreme violence and large drug operations the two warring gangs were committing in Schenectady from 2009 to 2012. Each of the defendants was convicted of charges including federal racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics.
- Tarchand Lall, Joevany Luna, Kyshaan Moore - Jennifer was the co-prosecutor with ADA Peter Willis in the companion trials of Tarchand Lall, Joevany Luna and Kyshaan Moore, all of whom were convicted in 2018 in a murder-for-hire conspiracy. Lall was convicted of Murder in the First Degree-Contract Killing, having taken out a life insurance policy on his victim and hired Luna to kill the victim, in an attempt to recover the policy proceeds. Lall is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Luna was also convicted of Murder in the First Degree-Contract Killing, he is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Moore was convicted of Murder in the Second Degree and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
- WIlliam M. Larned & Sons, Inc, Frank Corradi, Paul DiCocco - Larned Corporation was convicted of multiple counts of felony First Degree Falsifying Business Records and was sentenced to pay restitution and comply with a three-year Corporate Integrity Agreement that established a monitor to oversee implementation of correct business practices to avoid fraud. Corradi was convicted of Grand Larceny, Tax Fraud and First Degree Commercial Bribe Receiving and served a sentence of 3-9 years in prison and more than $300,000 restitution for his role in the creation of a shell corporation and the embezzlement. DiCocco was convicted of Money Laundering and First Degree Commercial Bribe Receiving for his involvement in the creation of the shell corporation and larceny.
- Vishnunarin Singh – led the prosecution of the large-scale SNAP benefits fraud case. Based in a local store known as the Cheese Bakery, Singh paid less than full value of cash for an individual’s food stamp benefits and kept the remainder. Singh was convicted of 2nd Degree Grand Larceny for taking more than $500,000 worth of benefits and Felony Misuse of Food Stamps and was sentenced to 3 – 9 years in prison and restitution. It was an excellent joint effort by local, state and federal agencies and law enforcement to stop the abuse of a system aimed to aid eligible people.
