By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Frank Sedita III's Nov. 4 victory in the race for Erie County district attorney marked the culmination of a dream for the veteran prosecutor.

With Clark announcing in May that he would not be seeking re-election, the door was opened for a man who had spent 20 years prosecuting cases for Erie County to take his career to the next level.

"I knew I always wanted to be the district attorney, but Mr. Clark was always a larger-than-life fixture," Sedita said. "I felt like I had the legal skills for the job, but even though my last name is Sedita, I didn't know if I had the political skills to pull it off," he explained, referring to lineage that includes a grandfather who was the mayor of Buffalo and a father who is a state Supreme Court justice.

Sedita, 47, easily defeated his opponent, Diane LaVallee, in the general election to capture the seat Clark is vacating. Two weeks before taking office, Sedita sat down with the Buffalo Law Journal.

Responding to ‘a higher calling'

Having spent 20 years as a prosecutor, Sedita said he remained in his assistant DA position out of loyalty to the community and the sense that he was making a difference.

"There have been many lucrative offers for private practice over the years, but I have always felt the higher calling for a lawyer is to be a prosecutor," he said.

Sedita has spent the bulk of the last two decades prosecuting homicide cases. And no matter how strong a calling he's felt, he says the job carries with it a burden that is difficult to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand.

"I handled a prosecution once where it was a quadruple homicide and the only witness was an 11-year-old boy who saw his mother killed before his own eyes," Sedita said. "I've seen too many kids who have witnessed things that no child should ever see."

While his record obtaining convictions as both a prosecutor and chief of the office's homicide bureau was nearly spotless, Sedita said it is the ones that get away that stick with him.

"As a prosecutor, you don't remember your wins, you remember your losses," he said. "The last case I lost was in 1999 or 2000, and there isn't a week that goes by that I don't think about that case. I feel like I let the family of the victim down."

Not Frank Clark Jr.

As he prepares to take the reins from the affable and accessible Clark, Sedita is well aware of the role the media plays in his new post and says he won't be confused with his former boss.

"I'm not flamboyant like Frank. I'm conservative by nature," he said. He pointed to Clark's background as a classics major and said many people don't realize how intelligent the outgoing DA is.

"This is one heavy brain power, and I'm following this guy ... there is a sense of trepidation," he admitted.

‘Deeply disturbing' days

Among the cases Sedita was involved with are several of the highest-profile cases in Buffalo history. In a development that he says he's seen only one other time, "Bike Path Rapist" Altemio Sanchez agreed to sit down with Sedita for questioning after pleading guilty and before being sentenced for a string of Buffalo murders.

"I interviewed him for three hours, and he was talking to me about the details of these rapes and murders like we were sitting down to breakfast and talking about the Bills game," Sedita said, recalling his face-to-face meeting with the notorious Sanchez. "It was bizarre and weird and deeply disturbing to be sitting across from a serial rapist and a serial killer having that discussion."

He says it can get discouraging feeling as though the faces may change year in and year out, but the cases are largely the same.

"I tell people, I'm not a legislator or a policy maker in my capacity as a prosecutor," Sedita said. "We have very little input into addressing the problems and trying to solve them before they happen.... It is enormously frustrating as a prosecutor to see all of the terrible things people do to themselves, to others and to our society."

In the driver's seat

Despite the dark sides of the job, Sedita says it is all worth it when he is able to secure a conviction.

"You spend weeks on a case, nights and weekends, and you start to form a bond with the victim ... you do everything you can to get justice for them," he said. "When you are able to do that, it is an exhilarating feeling of accomplishment, like I am doing something good and meaningful with my law degree."

With the clock counting down the days until he takes office, Sedita says time will tell whether he will succeed in his new position.

"I hope I do, and I think I will," he said. "I've never been in charge of representing 950,000 people before and having to make sure every call I make is the right one.

"In the end, you never know what is going to happen until Mom and Dad give you the keys to the 'Vette."

 

 

 

Frankly speaking

Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark has long been known as a "good quote." As these excerpts from recent interviews with the Buffalo Law Journal show, Frank Sedita III may well follow in his predecessor's footsteps.

•  Kernels from Clark:

"I follow the law as it is written, not the way I wish it were written."

"There are times when I've said, ‘Ooh ... I wish I hadn't said that.' "

"Our homicide rate in Erie County outside (Buffalo) is lower than the homicide rate of Iceland."

"If you are doing real estate deals and screw up, no one knows. If you are trying homicides, your mistakes end up on the front page."

• Sedita says:

"As a prosecutor, it isn't about winning a case, it is about always doing the right thing."

"Sometimes, it is hard to put into words the sickness and the rage you feel, and you just want to jump out of your skin. But those are some of the things you face as a prosecutor."

"I could care less if a case receives media publicity; in fact, in most cases it makes it easier if it doesn't because you can just do your job."