2014 Distinguished Alumni Award: Brian Preleski

Brian Preleski currently serves as the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New Britain. He was born in New Britain, Conn., and raised in Bristol, Conn., where he attended public school and his father worked as a Bristol police officer.
Mr. Preleski earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Connecticut in 1987. As an undergraduate, he was an Honors Scholar, graduated Magna Cum Laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He subsequently graduated with High Honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1991, where he was awarded the American Jurisprudence Book Award for Excellence in Torts.

Mr. Preleski became a member of the Connecticut Bar in 1991 and began practicing as a litigation associate with a large law firm in Hartford. He was initially appointed a Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney by the Criminal Justice Commission in 1993 for G.A. No. 17 (Bristol). When the New Britain Judicial District was created in 1998, Brian transferred to New Britain and began prosecuting major felony cases. In 2011, he was appointed State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New Britain.

As the New Britain State’s Attorney, Mr. Preleski is the chief law enforcement officer for the Judicial District of New Britain, which includes the cities of New Britain, Bristol, and eight surrounding communities. The State’s Attorney is responsible for the supervision of the prosecutors’ offices at the Part A Judicial District Superior Court in New Britain, the G.A. No. 15 (New Britain), G.A. No. 17 (Bristol) courts, and the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters and Housing Sessions at New Britain.

As a prosecutor for more than twenty years, Mr. Preleski has been involved in several notable cases. He successfully prosecuted Connecticut’s first cold case murder, tried the case establishing the constitutionality of sobriety checkpoints under Connecticut law, and has tried more than fifty major felony cases to verdict. In 2013, Mr. Preleski was selected by the National District Attorneys Association to serve as an official observer to the war crimes trial of Abd al Rahim al Nashiri in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has been published widely, both in professional publications and as a contributor to the Hartford Courant’s Opinion pages.
In addition to serving as a prosecutor, Mr. Preleski has been a member of the faculty of the University of St. Joseph since 2005, where he annually teaches a graduate seminar on legal issues in Homeland security.

Mr. Preleski met his wife, Kim, when they both lived on the University of Connecticut campus in Webster House. Kim is a 1988 UConn graduate and works as a physical therapist at the UConn Health Center in Farmington. They have two children, Chris and Sarah.