Fitzpatrick weighs another term after decades as Onondaga County DA

William Fitzpatrick is weighing whether to seek another term as Onondaga County district attorney, revisiting a post he first won in 1991 after once calling his ninth term his final one. The decision would shape how the county responds to violent crime, prison prosecutions and a backlog of hard cases, while also setting up a major succession fight in Syracuse politics.

Fitzpatrick, a 35-year prosecutor, was sworn in on Dec. 28, 2023, to serve what he described then as his ninth and final term. At the time, he told viewers he considered himself “the luckiest district attorney in the state of New York, maybe the United States of America, because of the people around him.” He had just beaten Democrat Chuck Keller and Conservative Party candidate Christine Varga, winning by more than 14,000 votes, according to local coverage.

His current term is listed as running through Dec. 31, 2027, but recent comments have reopened the question of whether he will leave office as planned. Fitzpatrick has said the Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi prosecutions reinforced his belief that “this is where I belong.” Those cases became central to his public profile as he cast them as part of a broader crackdown on prison violence and officer misconduct.

In March 2025, Fitzpatrick was named special prosecutor in the death investigation tied to inmate Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy. That assignment put the Onondaga County district attorney back in the center of a case with statewide attention and added to the image of an office still focused on violent and institutional crime.

Fitzpatrick has also remained one of the county’s sharpest critics of New York criminal justice reforms, including bail reform and the Raise the Age law. Supporters argue that stance reflects his long experience with public safety cases in Onondaga County and Syracuse. Critics say the county still needs a harder look at prosecutorial priorities, especially when residents are worried about violent crime, case delays and whether the office is using its resources where they matter most.

If Fitzpatrick runs again, it would extend a political run that has lasted more than three decades and kept him at the center of county law enforcement since the early 1990s. If he steps aside, the next district attorney would inherit an office defined by his record, his court victories and the unresolved debate over how Onondaga County should prosecute crime going forward.