HARRISBURG (Nov. 8, 2018) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association will present the 2018 Government Lawyer of the Year Award to Daniel J. Dye of Manheim, senior deputy attorney general in the Criminal Prosecutions Section of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, on Nov. 15 at Committee/Section Day in Harrisburg.
Presented by the PBA Government Lawyers Committee, the award honors a government lawyer who has made a significant singular contribution or has dedicated his or her career to outstanding service to the profession for the benefit of the public or a government entity.
Since joining the Attorney General’s Office in 2012, Dye has provided legal counsel and support to special agents in connection with complex, criminal investigations, and prepared and charted the course of cases that are submitted to a Statewide Investigating Grand Jury. Of his many accomplishments during his career, one of his most significant is his contribution to the groundbreaking investigation into child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. Dye organized and led a five-year investigation of seven Catholic dioceses through two grand juries, presenting hundreds of thousands of items as evidence.
One nominator applauded the leadership of his investigative team, noting that it was “outstanding as the investigations reached all corners of Pennsylvania, and now the world. It goes without saying the exposure of decades of organized cover-up of child abuse has and will benefit the public in ways just now being explored.”
Dye has continued to prosecute an active caseload of sex crimes, child abuse crimes, homicides and cases of public interest. Other noteworthy prosecution efforts included the conviction of former Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Willis Berry in July 2015 for theft of services/diversion of services and conflict of interest for utilizing his judicial office to operate his private rental property business; a third-degree murder conviction in August 2017 for Barton Jones who shot and killed a 22-year-old man who had intended to buy prescription pills from Jones with counterfeit money; and no-contest pleas in May 2018 from Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Cristcitelli, two Franciscan friars who allowed a member of their order to sexually abuse more than 100 children at a Catholic high school in the 1990s.
Prior to joining the Office of Attorney General, Dye served as an assistant district attorney in the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office for four years, prosecuting sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence crimes as a member of the Special Victims Unit. While in law school, he clerked in the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office.
Since 2012, Dye has held the position of director of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Medical & Legal Advisory Board on Child Abuse, which functions as a consulting and advisory board to local investigators in difficult-to-solve child homicide and abuse cases. He is also actively involved in child welfare efforts in his community, including raising awareness and funds for the Lancaster County Children’s Alliance.
Dye received a B.A. from Kent State University and a J.D. from Penn State Dickinson School of Law.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access of legal services; and serve the lawyer members of the state’s largest organized bar association.