The Russell Peeler case in the late 1990s was one of the first that career prosecutor Joseph Corradino worked. And it had a profound impact on Corradino, whom the Criminal Justice Commission Thursday named state's attorney for the Fairfield Judicial District.

Peeler was convicted of ordering the murder of 8-year-old B.J. Brown and his mother, Karen Clarke. The case received statewide publicity, and affected Corradino, then the father of a 3-year-old girl, in a way that stays with him today.

"My oldest child was born in 1996, and I thought how horrible it is for any parent to have to bury a child," Corradino said. "In this case, a mother and child died, wiping out a whole family. It was all so very profound to me. What happened to that family had a real impact on me personally. It gave me more of an appreciation for family and life."

Those who know and or who have worked with the 56-year-old Branford resident say the seven-member CJC made the right pick Thursday. Corradino was sworn in Friday to oversee 24 prosecutors in his office in the Fairfield Judicial District, which is located in Bridgeport.

"He is knowledgeable, tactical and never loses sight of the role a prosecutor plays in the justice system," said Shelton-based attorney James Ruane. "He will be an excellent state's attorney because he understands how the system must be blind to socioeconomic factors and applied equally."

Mary Galvin, a former prosecutor and now senior counsel at the Travelers Indemnity Co. in Hartford, said, "I was a neighboring prosecutor to Joe for many years, and can attest he is an excellent prosecutor who has a depth of experience. He will be able to take the tough cases and lead a large office."

Corradino will run the Fairfield Judicial District, which includes the city of Bridgeport and the communities of Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull. There are 13 state's attorneys in Connecticut.

Corradino, a state prosecutor for 30 years who spent 18 months in private practice before that, said his short-term goal revolves around technology, while his long-term goal is to spend more time in the community meeting shareholders.

"The division will be rolling out a case management system and the target is to have everything in place by the end of the year," Corradino said. "It's designed to advance transparency. It will allow prosecutors to generate and collect data more easily. For example, we will be keeping track of dispositions of racial or ethnic information on people charged with a particular crime in the Fairfield Judicial District. We never did that before."

The long-term goal, Corradino said, "is to have a closer connection between the community and our office. I want to meet more people like civic and religious leaders and get more feedback. I want to find out what their perceptions are of us and if they don't match up with how we see ourselves, they we need to find out why and change it."

Corradino said he wants to continue and expand on Project Longevity, a program that addresses people at-risk for offending or reoffending.

"Project Longevity helps people develop skill sets like education or a job," he said.

Corradino received his law degree in 1988 from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He's also a lecturer in criminal justice at Bridgeport's Housatonic Community College.

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