Who is Chuck Keller? Meet the Democrat challenging DA Fitzpatrick (2024)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A decade ago, someone stole Chuck Keller’s grill.

He was awake after midnight at his home in Strathmore when he heard rustling in his driveway. He opened his door to find his grill was gone. He could hear the banging of the grill rumbling down the bumpy street half a block away, but couldn’t see the thieves in the dark.

So he started running.

Keller followed the clanging noises while dialing police. He caught up to two men with his grill just as the cops did. With the men in custody, Keller helped write the accusatory. He went to court the next morning to see what would happen to them. One was put in drug court. The other was given probation.

For Keller -- who admits he was mad as hell while chasing the men around his neighborhood at 1 a.m. -- the punishment fit the crime.

“I got my grill back and the people, it turns out they’re more sad than sinister,” he said. “We’ve got enough people in jail, we don’t need another person.”

Keller is running for Onondaga County District Attorney as a Democrat. What that office needs, he said in a recent interview, is a guiding philosophy on doling out justice -- one that focuses on violent, repeat offenders and offers redemption for people who are more in need of help than punishment.

“I believe in giving people the opportunity to redeem themselves,” he said. “Redemption sometimes includes going away for potentially a long time. But redemption is getting off of this wheel that the criminal justice system creates.”

Keller has spent nearly two decades squaring off against the district attorney’s office in court. His most high-profile client in that time was Stacey Castor, a woman convicted of murdering her husband, David Castor, with poison. She was sentenced to life. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick -- Keller’s opponent -- tried the case.

He said his experience handling everything from traffic tickets to first-degree murder puts him in a position to run the district attorney’s office. He also cites his experience as a mentor in the assigned counsel program and 20 years of experience teaching law and education at Syracuse University.

Keller, 49, grew up in Massachusetts. His father was a local police officer in a small town. His sister is an officer. So are two of his brothers-in-law.

In 1988, he came to Syracuse University as an undergraduate. After graduating with degrees in philosophy and English, he stayed at SU for law school, graduating in 1996. He started as a public defender in Syracuse City Court before joining Hisco*ck Legal Aid Society in 1999.

In 2006, he returned to private practice, managing DWI cases for Anelli/Xavier law firm. He left there in 2009 and has been practicing as a sole practitioner since.

He lives in Onondaga Hill with his wife and their two young daughters.

After the Castor trial, Keller was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was the scariest experience of his life, he said. Surviving the cancer and the chemotherapy gave him a new sense of urgency, prodding him to get off the sidelines.

Ultimately, that attitude prompted him to run for office. Challenging an incumbent can be daunting in local politics, he said. But nothing seems scary after cancer.

“I had a tube in my chest and a poison I had to walk around with for 10 months,” he said. “I watched a 13-year-old girl who was too sick to get her chemo sit right next to me while I was getting mine. That’s scary. Scary is looking at death in the face.”

This is Keller’s third run for public office. He sought a county court judge seat in 2016 and ran for county legislature in 2017.

This year, he’s up against one of Onondaga County’s most entrenched and experienced public officials, Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was first elected district attorney in 1991. Prior to that, he worked in the DA’s office for 16 years.

Keller’s campaign is as much about Fitzpatrick as it is about himself. In an interview, he rattled off dozens of criticisms of Fitzpatrick and how he runs the DA’s office.

His campaign slogan is “It’s time for change.”

Keller also claims some credit for Fitzpatrick’s announcement early this year that he would erase criminal records for people with marijuana convictions.

Fitzpatrick called that claim “completely false," and said he had been communicating with his staff about that late last year, long before Keller announced his candidacy.

“That has nothing to do with Keller being in the race,” he said.

Keller said that simply by challenging the DA, he’s forcing accountability.

“Win or lose, I think that office is going to run better just because somebody’s making sure we’re taking a close look at what’s going on,” he said.