Attorneys, Police, Crime Victims, Rally Around Greg Connor as he Announces Bid for District Attorney

Chuck and Maryann Chesna, whose son Michael was murdered in the line of duty in 2018, joined Greg Connor at his March campaign kickoff event in Quincy.

Greg Connor was surrounded by almost two hundred supporters, including retired police chiefs, state legislators, defense attorneys, and detectives he has worked with, and the parents of the victim in a murder case he successfully prosecuted, as he formally announced his candidacy for Norfolk District Attorney this week.

“These are people who are invested in making the Norfolk District Attorney’s office a model prosecution office – trusted, effective, and respected,” said Connor, whom the state’s 11 District Attorneys honored as Prosecutor of the Year in 2024. “It has been an honor to earn their trust during my 25-years in the office, and I am looking forward to earning the trust and support of Norfolk County.”

Connor served as Chief Trial Counsel for more than a decade. In that role, he helped other attorneys structure effective prosecution strategies in difficult cases while successfully handling several of the most complex cases. Those cases included the Domestic Violence murder of Ana Walshe, whose husband was convicted even though her remains were never recovered, the horrific Quincy animal abuse case of “Puppy Doe,” which made national headlines, and the murder of bystander Vera Adams and Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna, whose parents Maryann and Charles Chesna, joined Greg at the kickoff event.

After scrutiny of two high-profile cases, involving the death of a Boston Police Officer and the death of a young pregnant woman, caused a crisis of confidence in the DA’s Office, Connor was tapped to change how the office dealt with homicide prosecutions.

“Regaining public trust meant making sweeping changes to how the office is structured,” Connor said. The State Police replaced almost all of the investigators assigned to the office’s detective unit in 2024. “Our commitment to change is much deeper than that. The process I implemented to stress test homicide cases was an important step, but as District Attorney I will expand what the office considers a conflict of interest – to make sure that personal connections never again cast doubt on the fairness of an investigation. “

Connor will also use his experience developing Norfolk County’s Drug Treatment Court and founding New England’s first Veterans Treatment Court to bring an Emerging Adults Court to Norfolk County. “We know that interventions and scaffolding tailored to a defendant’s specific issues – whether that be substance abuse, post-traumatic stress, or an immature brain – is an effective way of preventing some from committing future crime. That makes all of us safer.”