TIMOTHY J. KOLLER

Timothy Koller earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and business from St. John’s University in 1977, and went on to earn his J.D. in 1980 from Pace University School of Law. After serving as an intern at the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office in 1979, he was appointed an Assistant District Attorney on Aug. 11, 1980, where he began his career as a prosecutor in the office’s Criminal Court Bureau. In 1982, Koller was transferred to the Supreme Court Bureau as a staff assistant assigned to prosecute felonies. From 1986 through 1989, Koller served as the Chief of the Career Criminal Unit, where he was responsible for the prosecution of repeat felony offenders. In 1989, Koller was appointed Chief of the Investigations Bureau, a position he held until 1991 when he was tapped to serve as the Chief of the Supreme Court Bureau, a post Koller held for 14 years. In 2005, he was named Executive Assistant District Attorney, and continues to serve in that role under District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, the fifth District Attorney under whom Koller has served during his nearly 40 years as a prosecutor, making him the longest-serving assistant district attorney in the history of the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office. Koller is a member of the National District Attorneys’ Association, as well as the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY), where he serves as a member of the Best Practices Committee, and as the Co-Chair of the Ethics Guidance Committee. As an original member of the DAASNY Best Practices Committee, Koller was part of a group that formulated Identification Protocols for New York State’s law enforcement community. In 2014, he was invited to serve as a pre-publication reviewer for a National Academy of Sciences Publication, “Identifying the Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification”. He also serves as a member of the New York State Bar’s Criminal Justice Section’s Executive Committee; the Awards Committee, and the Bar’s Task Force on Parole Reform. As an Adjunct Assistant Professor at St. John’s University since 2003, Koller has taught graduate courses in Constitutional Law and other areas of criminal justice. He has been a guest lecturer at Pace University’s Prosecution Clinic, and has been a program panelist at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has also lectured at various trainings at the NYPD; the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services; the NY Prosecutors Training Institute; DAASNY; the NYS Attorney General’s Office; the NYC Department of Investigation; Safe Horizon; numerous District Attorneys’ Offices, and the Oregon Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section. As an original member of the DAASNY Best Practices Committee, Koller was part of a group that formulated Identification Protocols for New York State’s law enforcement community. In 2014, he was invited to serve as a pre-publication reviewer for a National Academy of Sciences Publication, “Identifying the Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification”. Koller served as co-counsel in the 1998 trial that resulted in the conviction of the defendant who murdered P.O. Gerard Carter in the West Brighton Houses in 1997. Among the recognitions that Koller has received are the New York City Bar Association’s Thomas E. Dewey Medal in 2005, DAASNY’s Robert M. Morgenthau Award in 2012, and NYPTI’s Prosecutor of the Year Award in 2018. Koller was named as RCDA’s Chief Assistant in December 2019 following the retirement of former Chief ADA Paul Capofari.