So You Got Arrested

Breaking Down the Bexar County DA Race with Meredith Chacon

• BRCK Criminal Defense Attorneys

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In this episode of So You Got Arrested, host Scott Simpson sits down with Democratic primary candidate Meredith Chacon to discuss her run for Bexar County District Attorney. Chacon, a former prosecutor and victim advocate with over 18 years of experience, dives deep into the systemic issues currently plaguing the DA's office—from a lack of communication between units to alarming dismissal rates in family violence cases. They explore the "Chinese wall" affecting CPS and criminal units, the importance of the "sister court" mentorship system, and Chacon’s transition from the Republican to the Democratic party as a moderate seeking justice for all of Bexar County. 

SPEAKER_02

Whether you're facing charges, we're just gonna understand your rights, your options, and the smart moves that could change everything. We've got your back.

Meet Candidate Meredith Chicone

SPEAKER_01

Well, good afternoon, everybody. Uh, this is Scott Simpson here for BRIC, and I know you're used to seeing Stephen Barrera here. We miss Steven. Uh, there's a lot going on with us moving offices in the beginning of the new year. So Steven wasn't able to make it. So so uh he was our our great play-by-play man. So you're gonna have to just stick with the color guy today. Uh it's great to have you. I hope everybody had great holidays as part of our continuing effort to ask all we've never had this many candidates running for DA in Bear County, not even close. No. Um and so there's eight candidates in the Democratic primary, just one in the Republicans. Yes. And then possibly one independent. Correct. Okay. Uh so we're we're reaching out to everybody to see if they'd like to come on. And today we have the privilege of having Meredith Chicone here with us. Uh, we were prosecutors together under uh both Nico Lahood and Susan Reed. Yes. And so with that, I'd like to introduce Meredith and tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Career Path And Focus Areas

SPEAKER_03

Thanks, Scott. So my name is Meredith Chicone, and I'm running for Bear County District Attorney in the Democratic primary. I was at the DA's office for a little over 18 years. Um, I'm the only candidate who was there as a support staff person. I was there as a victim advocate before I went to law school. Uh, then I went to law school and I came back as a paid intern in the felony criminal trial division. And then I was uh hired as soon as I passed the bar in May of 2003, and I worked there for 15 years as a prosecutor. Uh the bulk of that time I spent in what we used to call the family justice unit, I think it's now referred to as family violence, where I mainly prosecuted child abuse cases, uh domestic violence cases, and I did human trafficking cases as well. Uh after I left the DA's office, I went to work for Child Safe at our child's advocacy center here in San Antonio, where I developed the multidisciplinary team and statewide forensic interviewing techniques. And uh in 2020, me and a couple of other prosecutors who had left the office started a defense practice and family law practice, and I also do child love for law.

Building The CPS Unit

SPEAKER_01

Now, for and I also, when you were under Nico, you took you started supervising the CPS attorneys for the Yes.

SPEAKER_03

So I spent a period of time in the CPS unit as a line prosecutor. And then when uh Nico Lahood was the DA, I was put in a position where I supervised uh the unit. I had to write the budget to expand the unit. I wrote a$2 million budget, pitched it to the commissioners, uh, organized uh and and coordinated a contract with Harris County to purchase a computer system to better manage our cases, and I grew the unit to 38 people at the time that I had left.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, there was a big change when you took over that unit. It was kind of used to be uh this just my opinion, but it used to be kind of like the the the poor stepchild one. And then and you you gave it a lot of resources.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, it was it really was. I remember when I applied for promotion, early promotion into that unit. Uh people on the criminal side were kind of like, what is she doing? And and uh and it was I was one of them.

SPEAKER_01

I was like, Why do you want to go over to there?

SPEAKER_03

I was like, What I just really have a heart for child welfare and I do the docket now, and I I wanted to to be a part of that. It was a it was a fascinating time, and it was really actually a a very uh it built my skills as a cross-examiner better than any other court experience I've had because you could literally call the person to the stand, unlike in criminal cases. So oftentimes my first witness would be the abusive parent, and I just drill into them.

SPEAKER_01

And and unfortunately, I know a lot of times the the defense attorneys on the criminal, a lot of times on those cases, there's criminal cases running along parallel, but but nobody bothers to tell the criminal defense attorney that their clients in this CPS hearing. I used to make an effort, I'm sure you do too, to go to them when that happens. But but it it's so when you were ahead of that, I was kind of like I was kind of ahead of the criminal side running the the family violence or victim protection unit. So we kind of worked hand in hand.

Why Coordination Broke Down

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yes, yeah. And that was, you know, that was what was different back then, and that's one of the reasons that I am running is that there is a disconnect right now. They have, in my opinion, the current administration and anybody who works for them that's just gonna be 2.0, um, have created what they consider to be a Chinese wall around that unit. They prevent there from being communication. So I personally have represented children who are victims of child sexual abuse whose cases were either dismissed or um or not indicted because they lost track of the victim who, by the way, was in foster care, who their office also represents. So that's a problem.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know that was happening.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01

So so who runs the CPS unit for the DA's office now? Do you know? Is it Kimberley?

SPEAKER_03

It no, it is under the it is under the um it it it was under the uh child abuse under Melly Powers. Right. Um, but I believe they put uh whoever the deputy chief was, they may have promoted him. I don't know what their organizational structure is at this point.

SPEAKER_01

Um but so they're not communicating with each other.

SPEAKER_03

They are not. I've also had cases where I represented uh a non-offending father who's who the mother had been charged with uh child abandonment. It was very serious child abandonment case. A young child was left alone in an H E B and she disappeared. And uh they didn't they didn't bring the case, they didn't indict the case, even though the CPS case was pending over a year until after we resolved the CPS case. And so they couldn't use it against her in the CPS case. It caused a whole thing. Child was later abducted from uh uh Georgia, and I pro pro mono, because at that point I was no longer paid to represent the man, stepped in and got an emergency order from the judge and was able to coordinate, you know, to get the child back to his father. But that would have never happened had they been following the case where their child was a victim. And I think that was an important thing you and I worked on very hard that needs to be brought back.

SPEAKER_01

And it's never simple. Well, you know, it I used to be over the protective order people too, and I would tell my young that's always an entry-level misdemeanor prosecutor. And I would say, if there's a criminal case pending, make sure and it's a felony, reach out to the felony prosecutor. And a lot of times the felony prosecutors wouldn't respond. And I'm like, okay, well, we gave them a chance.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

Consequences Of Silence Between Units

SPEAKER_01

So it is always difficult sometimes getting everybody, because let's face it, everybody at the DA's office is busy. Sure. But but you have to strive for that, right?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01

So so what are your thoughts in terms of uh as a as a candidate for DA and somebody who's been in the DA's office, what would what would you look to do to make to help all that communication work better?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think there has to be an expectation that they communicate. Um, because if if there's not and there's no consequence if they don't, then then why would they? Um so that would be the first thing is there would be an expectation in my administration that everybody's gonna communicate with one another. I mean, they have the resources to do it, they have the computer system to put the notes to be. They're all in the same building. They're all in the same. I mean, it's it's crazy when I'm the ad lightum and I'm the one calling SAPD to find out what the status of my kids' case is. That shouldn't happen. Um, I think that's one. I think there needs to be a restructure. I think the office has been in this same structure probably more or less since the 90s. They may have renamed units, but it's been the same. And I think that we need to look at larger DA's offices because we are a large DA's office, such as Harris County, Terran County, uh, Dallas County, and even counties outside of Texas, at a better way to structure things and a better way to intake cases. Um, because I think right now they're driven by numbers, they're constantly talking about the backlog. What is the backlog and what that really means? And I think they need to be more victim-centered than number centered. And and also realize what we were taught was you're probably going to reject more cases than you actually indict if we're doing this right, because the justice center uh system is kind of like a funnel, like lots of calls.

SPEAKER_01

You don't just indict everything and let the prosecutors in court work it out.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_03

It's very, very important. And if you're not willing to try a case, you better not indict it. That was the rule we had back when I was with you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And I I have I have seen where where people we used to, there's people get mad, like you indicted this thing, you come down and try it, which sometimes isn't the best way to put but but yeah, so like for instance, I always found it interesting when I was teaching at that at like the different prosecutor schools, like Dallas County has a unit just for child victims, but sex crimes and family violence are not part, it's just a child victim unit. Sure. Right. So I have seen different counties do whereas in Bayer, we've always taken taken family violence, adult sex crimes, all child victim crimes that are all together. So it's that unit is covering a lot of the most important cases of the community. So what what are your thoughts about that?

Expectations, Structure, And Intake Reform

SPEAKER_03

I do think that that, well, I think they all need to communicate because those can overlap, right? Child abuse can be related to domestic violence, and and you know, but I think you're right. I think that child cases need to be kind of severed out, and then domestic violence needs to be its own area. And I don't know if those would be divisions or what we would call that, but they need to be a little bit separate because there's different skills that you learn with those things and different ways that you prepare those cases, and and the caseload has just become too great to be the expert in everything.

SPEAKER_01

So it's so let's talk about that for a minute because when Nico first came in, he took all the family violence cases and put them out into trial division, remember? Yes. Okay. And and I don't think that's a bad idea. It's just that the person who was headed trial division wasn't real keen on it, and then the trial division didn't really want to handle those, and then we ended up taking them all back.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

But I don't I don't think it's a bad idea, but it has to be promoted from the top. It was like it was done, and nobody, the people that were getting it weren't real pleased with the idea. So what do you I mean because I'm not sure you need a separate division for family violence, it's there, they're just assaults with family members. I mean, if you know how to try an assault, you can try a family violence case. What do you think?

SPEAKER_03

I think that that might be something to consider. And I agree, it wasn't it wasn't the implement the implementation wasn't there. Correct. Um it wasn't a bad idea. No, the buy-in wasn't there. And I think some of that is you you really you have to be a leader who says, This is my expectation. And if you're not on board, you know, I know we have a lot of openings, but if you're not on board, you're not on board. Uh, there was always a competitive spirit, if you will, the nice way of saying it between CT criminal trial division and family justice. I was fortunate that I was assigned the courts that I was assigned to, we worked well with our criminal trial division partners, but it wasn't always that way in every court. And so I I think there's room for something like that, especially at the third degree level kind of offenses, because it spreads the work out to where there's more prosecution.

SPEAKER_01

Well, so both of us were were early on in the process. Well, you know, Judge Ren Hell was thinking about running and we were talking to him about it, and he decided he didn't he wasn't gonna run. Right. Uh, but uh I told I told him at the time the head of criminal trial division and the head of family violence need to be good friends. Yeah, right? Because it'd never been really. You've never seen them be tight. Yeah, because those two divisions run determine the success of the DA's office.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I've seen them argue over who stapler it is in court.

SPEAKER_01

I I know, I know. And so, like so, so whoever because so if if you become the DA, will you commit to make sure that those two people like each other?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_01

All right, that that that would be helpful. I think that has to happen because that's because some of the pettiness that you're talking about in terms is is because it's not that they were enemies, the different heads of the division. It's just they weren't particularly didn't they they're busy, they didn't spend much time interacting or grabbing lunch once a week or things like that. Yeah, and and that's how you build teamwork and camaraderie is like let's you and me grab lunch, right? That's the Presbyterian way. We like we settle everything through committee, we all have lunch together.

SPEAKER_03

Methodists are very much that way as well.

How To Organize Victim-Focused Units

SPEAKER_01

We are we used to say we bring a castle, yes. Yes, yes, we do.

SPEAKER_00

That's funny.

SPEAKER_01

All right, so I'm gonna ask you the hard question now.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, let me get some water.

SPEAKER_01

All right. So so you you you've you've run as a Republican before, and so the the the question that Democrats are gonna ask in a primary, like, so why should we vote you as a Democrat when you run as a Republican?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think it's important to note that um the easy answer to that is to say Donald Trump. I mean, I I I I cannot identify with a party that has that particular individual as their leader. Um, I realized when I ran last time that it had already begun to swing far too right for what I was comfortable with. And over the last four years, I haven't been involved at all with the Republican Party. Um, and you know, when when Judge Ranhell, before Judge Ranhell was potentially thinking about it, I had been approached by many people to run as a Democrat. I had talked to people about that. I had really made a move towards being uh more identified as a Democrat. I've donated to Democratic campaigns, I've signed their petitions. Uh, and so I was really struggling with that. How do I do that? Because, you know, I even went and read the whole platform one night, you know, just to see is this. Oh, okay. And I and I, you know, in the in the Texas Yes, okay, yes. And and what I found was as a moderate, and I'm a moderate, I'm not hiding behind that. It's it's a party I can more identify with at this point because I think there's more room for different voices in the Democratic Party than there are in the Republican Party. If you're a Republican and you don't follow Locke step, what you're told to follow as a Trumper, then you're not really a Republican. You're a rhino or you're kicked out or you're primaried.

SPEAKER_01

It always pisses me off that rhino thing. Like, who are you to decide what what that has to believe? You know, like and so as as an East Coast liberal guy, but uh, but I I've also been I I get resentful about the idea that that the Democrats have are weak on crime because a lot of the people who are in the family violence unit, because we're empathetic to sure to women and children and their and their plight sometimes, in order, just because you're an illegal immigrant doesn't mean somebody can commit a crime against you.

Leadership, Buy‑In, And Culture

SPEAKER_03

Well, you know, I'm glad you said that about Democrats, because I don't think that Democrats inherently are weak on crime. And I think that's a bad, that's a that's a thing that's thrown at them that I don't think is fair. I think there has in the in the past few years, maybe four or five years ago, been been some Democratic groups that that were far left of that, but that doesn't mean they're weak on the crimes that I think you need to be tough on. I don't think anybody's weak on who hurts kids, who hurts the people that can't protect themselves. I think weak on crime kind of came more from the restorative justice things, which what's funny is as prosecutors, we're all for restorative justice.

SPEAKER_01

There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes people get like this something gets pigeonholed as a bad thing instead of look, we're just trying to make sure people don't re-offend and they get, they don't, they're not, we don't send them to prison, they come out with the same damn thing that's going on.

SPEAKER_03

Well, yeah, and and I'm a you know, I'm the defense attorney for the Esperanza court, which as you know, human trafficking is dear to my heart. And these are people who've been victims of trafficking who have mental health issues, unresolved trauma, and and drug addiction issues. And those specialty courts are really important. I think they do good work, and I think that we need to work uh more programs like that and more interventions on the front end, utilize pretrial diversion more broadly, utilize site and release more broadly. I'm for all of those things. And wow, that's a Democrat. Um, and so, and then for those who would say it's easy to jump into that it's easier to win as a Democrat, I would say I'm in an eight-way primary. This is in no way easier than it would have been to go over on the other side because I truly believe the DA's race could go either way.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's gonna be a cluster with eight candidates. I mean, nobody's gonna get 50% of the vote. So there's gonna be the top two candidates who will come out in the runoff, and Lord knows what happens in a runoff.

SPEAKER_03

Well, statistically that may be true, but I still would hope that I could get 51% of the vote. Okay, there you go. I mean, I'm I think I'm the most qualified candidate by far. I have a plan uh as to what to do on day one. I have the connections with law enforcement and the the the history of building teams with law enforcement to make sure that we do the best practices for investigation and prosecution of these most heinous cases.

SPEAKER_01

So well, to that end, I know that there's concerns that you have about some of the statistics that are going on in the DA's office. Can you speak to some of that?

SPEAKER_03

Yes. So when one looks to look at what the statistics are, the the place to look is the Office of Court Administration, because that's where the numbers are compiled by the courts and by the D, you know, they're sent in there and they're published, they're public on their website, so you can run these reports yourself. So I looked at 2024, uh, the year from January 1st to December 31st of 2024, because I feel like they may not have turned in all the 25 numbers yet, but very early in the year. So just on misdemeanor family violence cases, because I know we don't have all day to talk about this, but on misdemeanor family violence cases, they dismissed 1,934 cases in 2024. That was 61% of the cases.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

Sister Courts And Mentorship

SPEAKER_03

That's a 61% dismissal rate.

SPEAKER_01

Now let me ask you what so so what's your thoughts about how much of that is because police are just filing everything instead of using any discretion?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I so it's interesting. They're they're they're not very successful at trial. So when I look at their trial conviction rate, they're at 17% conviction rate at trial. All right. They were they they had seven guilties by a jury and 30 not guilties by a jury.

SPEAKER_01

And so these are misdemeanor, family violence.

SPEAKER_03

Misdemeanor, family violence. Okay, all right. Okay. So I I think the the thing about the dismissal rate that's alarming to me is just that it's it's more than what they took in, you know. I mean, I I if if we're not able to, if they're not able to try a case, okay, so the the the narrative that's being sold is that they've pushed through this backlog of cases that were in intake.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_03

And what I would say is if at the other side of that you've just pushed through a bunch of crap crap cases, then you are leaving your prosecutors with crap cases to try that either have to be dismissed or you're, you know, and then you have to look at why are they losing cases that they're taking to trial? Are they not well trained? Are they not well supported, which I think is what's happening.

SPEAKER_01

And and well, and there's probably an extent they're trying crappy cases instead of exercising discretion. My sense is they don't feel like they have the ability to say this case I can't prove, I'm gonna dismiss it.

SPEAKER_03

They absolutely don't have discretion, which is crazy because then you're dismissing 1934 cases, which means at the last day you're you're deciding you can't prove it. Also, and I know you've heard this, we go to these family violence impact, the family violence courts, and over and over again a case is getting reset because they've had no contact with their victim. And I don't understand that as a former victim advocate. There should never be a day you come to court, and if you haven't had contact with your victim, you better be ready to get to dismiss that case if it's set for trial because we should have had contact with them. And we haven't, there's investigators and people that can do that, and there's plenty of staff to do that. Um, I I disagree that they don't have the ability to do that, they're just not allocating the support staff and giving the support staff enough support to do that job. They have far more advocates than they had when you or I were there.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_03

They have quite a bit, and then they have we didn't have misdemeanor advocates.

SPEAKER_01

No, am I right?

SPEAKER_03

We might have had one.

SPEAKER_01

I don't remember. I think I had to do all the contact. We had one misdemeanor investigator for sure. You know, we track people down.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But I I don't I don't remember. I think later at the end of Nico's, maybe we got a misdemeanor.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe there was. And so I think that there's just a there things are not allocated properly. The resources are not being good because you can see when you go to court and and they they haven't talked to them and they don't have any notes, nobody's, you know, they're just they're they're not figuring out what they need to do and doing it the right way to talk to victims.

SPEAKER_01

But I do want to say that that in my interactions with a lot of the misdemeanor prosecutors, I do think they have a lot of good young talent there.

Party Switch And Public Safety Values

SPEAKER_03

I do, I think there are some. What I'm hearing from them when I go in is they're very frustrated that they either have no discretion to do what they think is right on a case, like they'll say, I agree with you, this is not a good case, or your your girl's actually the victim and she shouldn't have been charged, but I'm not allowed to dismiss this. And then the other thing I'm hearing is they don't they don't know what they can't get a hold of anybody to talk to them about what they can do. You know, there's not got it. There was a mentorship aspect to being a prosecutor when I first started that I think we need to bring back. I mean, you were very good at mentoring young prosecutors. Kirsten Melton was very good at mentoring young prosecutors. I tried to mentor young prosecutors, and Mary Green mentored me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, she was great.

SPEAKER_01

But one and one of the things we had under Nico, we did have a regular training classes like was it every other Friday? I know I I I spoke at a few of them.

SPEAKER_03

I did several of them. I believe it was every other Friday.

SPEAKER_01

And I I We did one set for a while, like a a group for the misdemeanor people. Sure. And then when that was done, we did a group for the new felony third chairs.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and so I don't know why they did away with that because that was a good program.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and I think in house training is great. I think uh, you know, like I said, mentoring people is great, even if it You know, having sister courts, I think, was a great thing.

SPEAKER_01

I like sister courts.

SPEAKER_03

Um, that was really important. I used Charles Bunk was my first and I was in county court too. And if I had a case I needed to review, I knew I could go to Charles and review it. And I he had an open door. And I think if if first chairs aren't willing to have that open door, again, it's about expectations. You know, my expectation is we're all gonna work as a team. We're all gonna, you know, and I think there's a crop camaraderie that's missing. Um, one of the the day I filed, I went over to court to do take care of business. And there was a prosecutor of first year that took me out in the hall and they just they they broke down in tears and they said, I was ready to leave until I heard the news that you filed this morning. And I'm willing to hang on.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because we need somebody who understands what we're going through. And that that broke my heart, but it also encouraged me that I mean, I feel like I'll get their vote.

SPEAKER_01

So are you so are you a believer in the sister court system?

SPEAKER_03

I am a believer in the sister court system.

SPEAKER_01

Can you explain a little bit what that means?

SPEAKER_03

So when I'm talking about sister courts, the the felony prosecutors that are assigned to say the one, like I think it was the 187th at the time, was sister courts with county court too when I was this a young prosecutor. And so that meant that I knew my chain of command, if you will, if I had an issue or I wanted to review a case for dismissal, uh, because there were cases we were not allowed to dismiss even back then without review, then I would go to my felony first chair and review it with them and they would question me about it. And it was a real good, it was a learning experience too, about how to analyze a case and which cases were worth proceeding and which weren't. And so they also would come and help me when I needed help. I remember my second chair sat with me on my first motion to suppress that I did and helped me work out how to do that. And that made me much more confident.

SPEAKER_01

Now, because the new administration did away with they have a chief of misdemeanor and a deputy chief of misdemeanor. So they don't really, the misdemeanor people don't really interact with any of the felony prosecutors, they're interacting with their chief and deputy chief.

SPEAKER_03

That's what it appears, and I think that's that kind of started a little under Nico. He'd kind of developed that, and I didn't agree with necessarily that part of it. Because when I when I go to court both on the felony and the I'll say, well, this this guy has a misdemeanor pending in such and such court. Can you let the misdemeanor prosecutors know we've made a deal? No, you got to go talk to them. I don't talk to them, or vice versa. I'll tell the misdemeanor prosecutor, you know, this person had a felony, he's pleading on the felony. Can we do something with this misdemeanor? Oh, I don't have authority to do that. Well, can you just call the first chair? Oh no, they they, you know, so there's like it's it's a constant lack of communication.

Restorative Justice And Specialty Courts

SPEAKER_01

Because we because back in our day, and now I sound like the old man, back in my day, um like like people like Bill Pennington, yeah, we we he would always love to talk to the misdemeanor prosecutors, and so the misdemeanor prosecutors would just go to their the first chair in their sister court and they would talk to them kind of regularly.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And and so, you know, I I know every the problem, the one problem with that system is is if you have a first chair that doesn't like talk talking to uh younger people, then we probably need to move them somewhere else.

SPEAKER_03

That goes back to expectations, yes, yes, it does.

SPEAKER_01

It goes back to but uh but yeah, but so I think that they had like uh a like a regular input with somebody so experienced like Bill was or or yourself was or or I was that we've tried a whole bunch of things, yeah. And uh and we would just tell you, I don't think you can prove that case or what whatever. Uh but uh now I know what I did whenever, whenever, and even when the felony prosecutors would come to me and say, like, I want to talk to you about this case, is this and this, I would always say, What do you want to do? I want to hear your judgment first before I just tell you what I think. What how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_03

Oh no, I think that's that's a good idea. You know, you want what what are you coming at me with? And I I've even asked prosecutors when they're going to go, like, well, I've got to go talk to my chief. I'm like, how are you gonna you know sell this to your chief before you go? Because you do need to know where they're coming from first. And I think then if if you don't agree with where they're coming from after they give you their spiel, then that's when you can kind of teach and correct and and navigate it. But yeah, that's a good question to ask.

SPEAKER_01

We an unnamed prosecutor that we all worked with was famous for coming to our staff meetings and saying, Oh, there's all this problems, this case, this, this, and this, and this, and this. And I'm like, well, just just go ahead and dismiss it. Oh no, but I don't want to dismiss it like this. I said, what do you want to do this to do? Try it right here in the conference room? I mean, you got to just make a decision one way or the other. You got to make a decision. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So so we're we're come, we're we have about six minutes left. And I told you with five minutes left, I I would turn it over and tell you what is it that you haven't had a chance to say that you want the voters of Bear County to know as they're coming up to this election the first Tuesday in March.

Qualifications And Day‑One Plan

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think the voters need to know this is a very important election for Bear County. And I know a lot of people don't want to get out and vote in a primary. We have low voter turnout overall in primaries. There are people who don't want to identify themselves as either Republican or Democrat. And what I would say to you is you need to research the candidates and decide who's the most qualified because Bear County is in a bad way right now with regards to how the criminal justice system is being handled by this DA's office. And that's because we've had eight years of someone that was not leading this office from a, in my opinion, a perspective that was to be for the best of Bear County and to fulfill that oath to see that justice is done. And I would tell you that I believe I'm the best candidate in any of the party, whether that be Republican, Democrat, independent, of all of them, I'm the most qualified. I've had administration experience, I've had statewide team building experience, I've trained people across the state, as Scott mentioned, with TDCAA. Um, and I I have tried cases, I've tried hard cases. I'm not afraid to take on who I need to take on. And more importantly, you're gonna get transparency from me that you won't get, I think, from anyone else, because it's a hard job and you have to have a thick skin. And I'm not always gonna do everything that everybody's gonna agree with. There are two million people or something in Bear County. So you may not agree with what I decide to do, but you will always know why I did it and why I believed it was the thing that we needed to do to make sure that justice was done. And that's that's important.

SPEAKER_01

Being the prosecutor in a big city is probably the hardest job out there because no matter what, and and you can't go into it trying to make everybody happy.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

Because if you try to make everybody happy, you're gonna you're gonna make everybody unhappy.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

Reading The Data: Dismissals And Trials

SPEAKER_01

And so I would say to the voters, and it is and when you guys go out to vote in March, I would say, my opinion, I don't know if you agree with this or not, the DA is probably the elected official that has the most to do with your daily lives. More than a senator in the state of Texas, more than the president of the United States, the person that has most elected office that has most impact on your community here in Bear County, I would argue, is the district attorney. Am I crazy when I say that?

SPEAKER_03

No, I think you're absolutely right. So if you're displeased by how the police are behaving, if that's how you feel, then you need a DA that you know is gonna get in there and work with them and train them and hold them accountable, but work with them. Um, if you're someone who feels like we're not being tough enough on crime in Bear County and I'm one of those people, then you need me. You need someone who's gonna hold child abusers and domestic violence and human traffickers accountable. Um, if you're worried that people who have addiction and substance abuse issues are not being treated properly, I'm your candidate. I've represented those people in children's court and in criminal court, and I understand the importance of treatment and making sure that we utilize the system to best help those people. Um, but it is so important because it's gonna touch everyone. Everybody knows somebody who's either been a victim of domestic violence or been involved in it in some way. You love somebody who has been, or you've been yourself. And that really should be the most important thing in this race. And I think that I have the unique qualifications and the successful proven outcomes that I've gotten in my cases and in my career in team building.

SPEAKER_01

So I I I do want to follow up with that in that uh so it's important. A prosecutor's duty is to see the justice is done. Absolutely. Okay. So it's see, everybody, all the citizens always want to say, we need to be tougher on crime, give people higher sentences until it's one of their loved ones that's charged.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

When I first left the DA's office under Susan Reed, a lot of the people that I got hired on were relatives of SAPD people, right? And so everybody wants everybody to throw the book at air until it's your loved one. But what we have to understand as prosecutors is that's somebody's loved one. So when we talk about seeing the justice is done, it's not just justice for the victim and justice for the community, you have to treat the accused justly too.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

And sometimes I think we lose that. And some of the it's easy to lose in the social media environment of today.

Training, Discretion, And Victim Contact

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah. Well, when somebody interviewed me the other day, I said we need to get off our phones. But yeah, I think that that is important. You have to be, you have to treat people with dignity. And um, and during the brief time that I was a magistrate judge and I was setting bonds for people, you know, you're there at the jail and they're bringing in people in their handcuffs and you're reading them their rights and you're setting their bond. And I remember the public defender came up to me after my second shift by myself, and she said, You're so kind when you deal with them. And I said, Look, there's no point riling somebody up, number one. And number two, these people are having the worst day they've ever had. You know, they're on their worst day. I don't need to make it worse. I'm just there to do two things, you know, read them their rights and set them their bond. I'm not gonna do anything on their case today. So there's no point getting ugly. And I think you have to remember that as a prosecutor, these are human beings you're dealing with, and we can punish harshly those who harm the vulnerable, and that's fine, but you still have to treat people with dignity, and especially when you're dealing with the defense attorney, treat them well. They're not the ones that committed the crime, they're there doing the most defense attorneys. Some defense attorneys are jerks, but I didn't send one to prison for eight years. But you know that's right, I forgot about that. Okay, yeah. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so on that note, we really appreciate you coming down here. Uh and and and good luck in March, and thank you all for joining us. Uh, have uh take everything seriously when the elections are coming up in a month and a half.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks.

SPEAKER_02

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