Peter D. Coddington – 50th Reunion Essay

Peter D. Coddington

3 Jaffray Park

Irvington, NY 10533

petercoddington@gmail.com

914-591-5705

Spouse(s): Nicola (1978)

Child(ren): Inslee (1988); Charles (1991)

Education: Albany Law School (Union University) JD 1973

Career: Chief Appellate Attorney Bronx County District Atty for 38 years; litigator private practice 2 years

Avocations: Bagpipes. Orchids. Hiking.

College: Berkeley

I have devoted most of my professional life to public service. I am still serving the Bronx community as an assistant district attorney. Twenty-five years ago, when I last wrote about myself for the Class of 1969, I was chief of the Appeals Bureau, a largely administrative position. Now I am the chief appellate attorney for the office, a litigator’s position. No more vacation schedules to approve, no more late arrivals to address, and no more fights between secretaries to mediate. I briefly left the district attorney’s office in the fall of 1998 and took a position with the law firm representing the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association. I was involved a few notorious trials (Abner Louima in federal court, and Amadou Diallo in state courts). Both of my clients were cleared of all charges. In the spring of 2000, two years of criminal defense practice convinced me that I am a prosecutor at heart. The defense side places the defendant’s interests above all else, and the lawyer has to face difficult questions of morality and ethics in representing the client. On the other hand, the prosecutor gets to do the right thing. Indeed, it is our constitutional obligation to seek justice in every case and answer questions of morality and ethics with the public good as our foremost consideration. Is this a good use of one’s talents? I think it is. Have I made a difference? The families of the victims of a quintuple homicide gave me a plaque thanking me for restoring their trust in the legal system after two colleagues and I convicted the defendants in 2001. Crime is down in the Bronx, and the urban wasteland where I work, is being renewed. There are new stores, restaurants, and apartment buildings all around me. The community is safer. I like to think that I—and the countless law enforcement professionals I work with—have played a part in the neighborhood’s rejuvenation. I can look at my life’s work in the Bronx with pride.

On the family front, things have been good to me. I am still married to Nikki, after 40 years. Both kids are responsible adults. My daughter, Inslee, is a licensed speech pathologist and lives in Brooklyn. My son, Charlie, is studying at George Mason University on the way to an eventual Ph.D. in ornithology.

My health is okay for a 70-something-year-old. I had a stroke in 2012, which caused me to lose much of my agility in my right hand, and affected my speech. But with constant effort at rewiring my brain through thought games and word games, my speech has improved. In 2017, I began to play the bagpipes again. The bagpipe is a right-hand dominated instrument, but I see signs that with time and practice I will again become a competent piper. I continue to raise orchids in my office window. I have about 20 different plants of eight different genera that bloom regularly in the South Bronx.