New assistant district attorney starts March 30

An Oswego County lawyer prosecuting Alan Jones for the murder of 11-year-old Erin Maxwell soon will leave that high-profile case to become Jefferson County's newest part-time assistant district attorney.

Mary E. Rain, 46, will replace Assistant District Attorney Peter S. Blodgett, who retired last summer after 30 years of service but returned to the office until a replacement could be found. Ms. Rain's first day is March 30. Her annual salary is $36,000.

Her duties will include prosecuting town court cases in Champion, Lyme, Rodman, Rutland, Theresa and Watertown and village court cases in Theresa and West Carthage.

Ms. Rain, a Hudson native, said she took the job in part to be closer to her boyfriend. But she also is relishing the opportunity to work alongside District Attorney Cindy F. Intschert.

"She's a wonderful person," said Ms. Rain, an Oswego County assistant district attorney. "The prosecutorial world is a small world, and I hear nothing but good things about that office too."

Ms. Rain is a 1983 graduate of SUNY Oswego, where she majored in public justice, with a minor in political science and a concentration in forensic science. She received her law degree in 1996 from Penn State University's Dickinson School of Law.

She joined the Oswego County district attorney's office in 1997. She left there in 2001, but rejoined it in September 2007. In between, she prosecuted cases for Monroe and Cortland counties' district attorneys' offices.

Ms. Rain also was a part-time attorney for the city of Fulton from 2004 to 2008.

She is co-prosecutor on the Jones murder case. The Palermo man is accused of strangling his stepsister in her home in August. The case has received widespread media attention because of public scrutiny of the Oswego County Social Services Department. The agency had sent social workers to investigate complaints at the home before the murder, but allowed Erin to remain there.

Mrs. Intschert said Wednesday that her office would miss Mr. Blodgett, but added: "We're very pleased to get an experienced prosecutor to fill that spot."