STATEN ISLAND — The prosecutor in charge of the Etan Patz case will run to become Staten Island's District Attorney.
Joan Illuzzi-Orbon was nominated by the borough's Republican Party to run against former Congressman Michael McMahon in the race to replace Dan Donovan, who vacated the post after being elected to Congress, the Staten Island Advance first reported.
"As Richmond County district attorney, my mission will be to continue the important and incredible accomplishments of Dan Donovan and his staff," Illuzzi-Orbon told a crowd at her nomination, the Advance reported.
"I will expand on that work to strive for a crime-free environment in which we will all be proud to work and raise our families."
Illuzzi-Orbon, a Staten Island native, served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan for 27 years and, alongside the Etan Patz case which ended in a mistrial last month, was in charge of the high profile Dominique Strauss-Kahn case.
She also prosecuted rapper Lil Wayne for his 2009 gun charge and is in charge of the Manhattan DA's Hate Crime Unit, Bloomberg reported. Illuzzi-Orbon graduated from New York University and St. John’s University School of Law, according to Bloomberg.
She'll face off against McMahon, a lawyer at a private firm who served in the City Council and Congress beforehand.
The DA spot was left open after the Republican Donovan defeated Vincent Gentile in a special election to replace Michael Grimm, who resigned after he pleaded guilty to tax fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 8.
The Republicans were originally expected to nominate Assemblyman Andrew Lanza but their vote was postponed after he told the committee he would not run, the Advance reported.
The Staten Island GOP did not immediately return a request for comment.
