Issues

The top priority for the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, along with any competent governmental organization, should be to promote the safety and well being of the citizens that it protects. Current policy in the Office puts public safety at risk by repeatedly failing to detain or to prosecute violent offenders, and those who are willing to commit violence are accordingly not held accountable for their actions. I will bring back accountability to our criminal justice system by taking steps to protect the public by advocating appropriate pretrial detention policy and then by firmly but fairly prosecuting those who intend to do harm.

Violent Crime in Prince William County rose by 70% in 2022 (According to the PWCPD Annual Police Report). This rise is due to the failure of the current Commonwealth’s Attorney to hold violent offenders accountable. Rather, those charged are treated as the victim and are released pre-trial and are back on our streets as soon as possible. This is not Criminal Justice Reform, this is Prosecutorial negligence.

Here are just a few examples of policies I plan on bringing back to the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office:

-My Office will work in direct partnership with law enforcement to prosecute cases involving not just violent offenders, but all offenders, in order to get to fair and just results in every single case.

 - I will take steps to ensure that the prosecutors who serve you know, understand, follow, and respect their statutory and constitutional duties to protect the rights of crime victims.

 -In response to the worst and most lethal drug crisis of our lives, I will

take steps to immediately re-institute the Narcotics Task Force within the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney; thereby making sure that prosecutors who are subject matter experts in drug distribution and trial advocacy are evaluating and prosecuting drug distribution cases.

-Similarly, I will develop and maintain a cadre of expert prosecutors in

the field of DUI and DUID (Drug Impaired Driving) in order to make

certain that these complicated cases are handled by skilled trial attorneys

who are also subject-matter experts in this type of litigation.

-Domestic Violence- I will engage prosecutors, non-governmental organizations, Law Enforcement, and the local community to build a Domestic Violence program from the “ground up,” one that is aimed at curbing domestic violence, effectively handling routine cases, and taking serious action in serious cases.

-All operations of the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney will be designed to identify,

interdict, and remove violent offenders from our communities, in that order.

Crime affects almost every aspect of our community. I will take steps to increase engagement between the criminal justice system and our communities. This collaboration promotes a system-wide effort to prevent crime, support victims, and hold offenders accountable. Law enforcement agencies will be encouraged and supported in adopting community-oriented policing practices, building renewed and improved relationships with community members, and collaborating on identifying and addressing local concerns. This approach emphasizes communication, trust-building, and mutual understanding between law enforcement and the community.

1. Community Engagement: The reform seeks to engage the community in the criminal justice process, fostering partnerships between law enforcement, victim service organizations, community leaders, and other stakeholders. This collaboration promotes a systemwide effort to prevent crime, support victims, and hold offenders accountable.

2. Modernized Community Policing: Law enforcement agencies will be supported in adopting community-oriented policing practices, building or rebuilding relationships with community members, and collaborating on identifying and addressing local concerns. This approach emphasizes communication, trust-building, and mutual understanding between law enforcement and the community.

3. Proactive Policing, Problem-Solving and Prevention: Instead of solely focusing on reactive measures, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney and the entire system will emphasize proactive problem-solving and prevention strategies. These strategies engage community members in identifying and addressing the root causes of crime, such as poverty, substance abuse, or lack of educational opportunities.

4. Partnerships and Collaboration: The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney and its members will foster partnerships between law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, courts, community organizations, NGO’s and residents. These partnerships promote shared responsibility and joint decision-making in addressing community safety and justice issues.

We are a nation of laws, but for the laws to mean anything at all, they have to be applied evenly and fairly- without regard to race, circumstance, or political opinion. Trying to be fair to individuals by choosing in advance which laws to enforce leads to unfair and disparate outcomes and victims who don’t get justice. Being a good elected prosecutor takes, in part, courtroom experience, experience in evaluating investigations, good interpersonal skill, good judgment, the courage to say "no", "not good enough", or "not yet" to law enforcement, and a devotion to fairness and what can best be described as an unquestioned commitment to integrity.

To ensure a fair and just system is in place, especially in investigated cases where the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney is consulted or provides direct input into charging decisions, I will take steps to:

- Ensure that the process for charging a person with a crime or sustaining a prosecution will be deliberate, serious, skeptical, non-partisan, non-political, and conducted with respect to the solemnity of the task at hand.

- Establish the precedent that before bringing or prosecuting criminal charges, the first person who should be convinced of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is the prosecutor. -Promote and follow Victim-Centered Prosecution

- A prosecutor's responsibilities in victim-centered prosecution go beyond just getting a guilty verdict. Prosecutors actively interact with victims, offering them resources, information, and support as they navigate the legal system.

- Consider victims' interests and rights first priority throughout the courtroom proceedings. It emphasizes victim empowerment and support while also holding perpetrators responsible for their acts.

- Remembering that violent criminals are not “victims of the criminal justice system.”

- Knowing that inequitable bail reforms rebound onto the community that the law is supposed to protect.

It is important to keep in mind what Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland said about the power of prosecutors: "[A prosecutor] may prosecute with earnestness and vigor-indeed he should do so. But while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one."