Candidates for Manhattan DA debate at John Jay

The three candidates for Manhattan District Attorney debated last night at John Jay College. Leslie Crocker Snyder, a veteran of New York's toughest fights against crime in the 80s and 90s, pointed out that frontrunner Cyrus Vance was mostly living in Seattle during those years and portrayed herself as challenging the old boy's network perpetuated by the outgoing, long-serving DA, Robert Morganthau. In response, Vance accused Snyder of changing her position on the death penalty in order to garner votes and maintained that he had the character and beliefs required for the job. Richard Aborn, a gun control advocate, is positioning himself as the most liberal candidate and has the most policy/reform experience. All three candidates served as assistant district attorneys under Morganthau, who choose not to endorse his own "right hand man," Dan Castleman, because he believed only Vance had the name recognition to defeat Snyder, who challenged him in the last election.

NY1 has the complete video of the debate: click here.