User:Jeffpine

Jeffrey B. Pine (born January 10, 1955) was Attorney General of Rhode Island from 1993-1999.

Mr. Pine grew up in Providence and graduated from Moses Brown School in 1972. While at Moses Brown Mr. Pine played three varsity sports and was Captain of the swimming and golf teams. He went on to earn a BA in Political Science from Haverford College in 1976, where he also was also Captain of the golf team. Mr. Pine earned his law degree from the National Law Center at George Washington University in 1979.

Mr. Pine spent ten years as a criminal prosecutor in the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General prosecuting dozens of capital cases and high profile homicides. Following the enactment of Rhode Island's Life Without Parole Statute in 1984, Mr. Pine was the first prosecutor to prosecute a life without parole case, in State of Rhode Island v. Raymond Lassor, who was convicted of three homicides in 1986 and was sentenced to Life Without Parole.

Mr. Pine was elected Attorney General in 1992 and was overwhelmingly reelected in 1994, receiving 76% of the vote.

As Attorney General Mr. Pine established priorities for the Department in the areas of juvenile crime, consumer protection, domestic violence, senior protection, public corruption, health care, and multi-state public interest litigation.

As Attorney General he oversaw the successful prosecutions of the Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Thomas Fay, who was convicted of Ethics Violations; the former Governor of the State of Rhode Island, Edward DiPrete, who was convicted of bribery; four-time serial killer Craig Price; banking crisis figure Joseph Mollicone and notorious killer Christopher Hightower, as well as successfully convicting individuals who had wounded or killed law enforcement officers.

During Mr. Pine’s two terms as Attorney General the Department received numerous awards on the state and national level for its successes and achievements, including “The 1997 Elder Initiative Award” presented by the National Association of Attorneys General, recognizing the Department’s many achievements in the area of Senior Protection.

Mr. Pine also was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General and served as Chair of the Eastern Region for two years.

In 1993 Attorney General Pine established a statewide Task Force to Prevent Violence in Schools and a Domestic Violence Task Force. He also chaired a Task Force to Prevent the Sexual and Violent Abuse of Children, which led the charge to improve the justice system’s treatment of victims of child abuse and sexual assault.

Attorney General Pine also introduced more than 40 pieces of legislation that were passed on a bipartisan basis in the General Assembly, strengthening the laws in the areas of victim’s rights, juvenile justice, domestic abuse, drunk driving and other public safety areas. Attorney General Pine published a law review article on Juvenile Crime for the Roger Williams University Law Review and was cited as a national leader in the battle to end Domestic Violence.

In the private sector Mr. Pine has successfully represented corporate and individual clients in a variety of high profile civil and criminal litigation matters.

Mr. Pine has spoken extensively on the state, regional and national level on a variety of legal issues. He has provided radio, television and print media commentary on legal and political events, including the CNN show “Burden of Proof”.