BOSTON, May 18, 2018—A longtime prosecutor who worked his way from an unpaid internship to the most senior position on Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s staff was honored with a prestigious statewide award last night.

First Assistant District Attorney Patrick M. Haggan received a William C. O’Malley Prosecutor of the Year Award at the 24th annual Massachusetts Prosecutors Conference in Boston. Haggan was nominated for the honor by Conley, who called him “one of the finest, most courageous trial lawyers in the storied history of our Commonwealth.” The award is named after the longtime Plymouth County district attorney who served from 1978 until his death in 1995.

Haggan, a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School, was hired as an assistant district attorney in 1995 and assigned to the Dorchester District Court. He later served as a supervisor there and in the South Boston District Court. He was promoted to a series of Superior Court trial teams beginning in 1998 and the Homicide Unit in 2001.

Conley said Haggan had “a reputation for skillfully managing even the most complex fact patterns,” including the 2001 homicide of Io Nachtwey, a homeless woman who was raped, stabbed, and thrown into the Charles River to die. Haggan responded to the scene when her body was discovered, led the grand jury investigation into her death, and prosecuted them in the longest murder trial in modern Suffolk County history.

When two defendants successfully moved to sever their trials for the murders of 21-year-old Kayla Ravenell and her toddler son, Xavier, Haggan tried both of them back to back, “delivering opening statements to one jury while another deliberated the co-defendant’s fate,” Conley said.

“Even today, as he serves in our Conviction Integrity Program, represents the MDAA on the state’s Witness Protection Board, and helps me oversee 160 lawyers and 30,000 cases each year, he still takes on the most challenging cases that Boston and Suffolk County have to offer,” Conley said. “Whether the victim is a gang member shot in an ongoing feud or an innocent soccer coach mistaken for a rival, he dedicates himself, with intensity and perseverance, to finding the truth and building the best and fairest case to prove it. Whether the courtroom is packed with national media or empty but for a grieving mother and her victim-witness advocate, he brings the same high levels of skill, preparation, and professionalism to bear.”

Haggan thanked colleagues past and present at the Suffolk DA’s office, from the senior homicide prosecutors who mentored him to the victim-witness advocates who work alongside him every day. He praised the victims and survivors for whom he works, and offered an explanation why.

“When people hear about a gruesome or sad case I’ve worked on,” he said, “they sometimes ask, ‘How can you do that for all these years? Why would you deal with so much tragedy, sadness, and frustration?’ I respond the same way: ‘For the victims and their families. For the next potential victim. For the people who live in the community and deserve to see justice done.’ Although I often see the worst in humanity, I more often see the best in humanity. I’ve been lifted up and inspired so many times by the families of homicide victims, who exhibit such strength, such grace, and such dignity in the face of the most horrible loss and the most tragic circumstances.”

In moving terms, Haggan thanked his wife and two children for supporting him even amid a demanding work schedule, and paid homage to his mother, who was on hand for the honor.

“My mother can be credited for just about any success or accomplishments in my life,” he said. “As a single parent, she raised three boys by working two jobs. She put all of us through college. She taught me the ideals of generosity, hard work, perseverance, selflessness, and commitment to what you think is right. For the countless things you have done and continue to do for me and for our family – thank you, Mom.”

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.