Boz Zellinger

Full Legal Name: Benjamin Oren Zellinger
Name as it Appears on the Ballot: Benjamin (Boz) Zellinger
Office Sought/District: District Attorney (10th Prosecutorial District)
Party: Democrat
Date of Birth: 10/7/1981
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 6658, Raleigh, NC 27628
Campaign Web Site: www.BozForDA.com
Occupation & Employer: Assistant District Attorney, Wake County DA’s Office
Years lived in Wake County: 25
Home Phone: 9192608885
Work Phone: 9197925107
Email: boz@bozforda.com

1. What do you believe are the most important issues facing the DA’s office? What areyour top three priorities in addressing these issues?

The most important issues facing the DA’s office are the increasing volume ofcases, the resources that are available to prosecutors to address these cases, andkeeping the faith of the public. My top priority in addressing these issues is to be proactive about crime. WakeCounty continues to grow, and to remain a safe place, we must do more to preventour children from joining gangs and committing crimes. We can curb crime byworking with community resources to get our children out of the gangs that havetaken over parts of our county. To address the lack of resources, we must continue to do what we’ve done for myentire career in the DA’s office – be agile and efficient to always stand up forvictims. I and many others stay well past the close of business, and that isbecause everyone knows our victims and their families deserve nothing less. I willcontinue this dedication and commitment to our community that can overcome alack of resources. Lastly, we must do more outreach in the DA’s Office. In some parts of our county,many people are distrustful of law enforcement. With recent stories aboutimpropriety by prosecutors, or mishandling of evidence in other jurisdictions, westart every trial at a disadvantage when our potential jurors enter the courtroom. We must earn the public’s trust, and the way we accomplish that is by doingoutreach. I envision a community based prosecution system where eachprosecutor becomes responsible for a municipality or area of Raleigh. Thatprosecutor would be asked to attend community meetings and stay aware ofproblems that arise so that each case becomes part of a greater context. Thepublic would have a resource prosecutor to address their concerns, and wouldhave faith that the DA’s office is serving as their voice in the courthouse. 2. What in your record as a public official or other experience demonstrates your ability tobe an effective district attorney? This might include career or community service; bespecific about its relevance to this office. My record as an Assistant District Attorney demonstrates I am the best candidatefor this job. I have prosecuted every type of case in our criminal courts, frommurder and rape to driving while impaired offenses to public corruption. ColonWilloughby has trusted me with the most important cases that have come throughour office, such as prosecuting Brad Cooper for first degree murder, Grant andAmanda Hayes for murdering and dismembering their victim, and Jahaad Marshallfor several home invasions culminating in a violent burglary in Oakwood that left aman paralyzed. I know how to work with law enforcement to conduct an investigation, and how toconfront corruption, such as when I prosecuted a defense attorney passing illegalorders and destroying evidence. I’ve stood up for children and sexual assaultvictims, worked to curb gang violence, and utilized technologies previouslyunseen in our courts. I am also one of the only prosecutors in the state that hasbeen trained by the Secret Service on digital forensics. When you have sat across the table from a woman who has been raped, or amurder victim’s family, you know that they deserve nothing less than the best. Weneed a District Attorney who has the experience to keep our community safe andwon’t have to learn on the job. Experience is so critical for this job because the elected DA not only makes the serious decisions in the office on who or when to charge, but also on how to proceed on cases. The DA's office is not just a bureaucracy that needs a competent manager. The DAmust lead, not just manage the office. It is critical that every assistant know thatthe DA could sit in his or her chair and confront the decisions he or she face inevery kind of prosecution, from misdemeanors to the most serious felonies. TheDA has to be a credible prosecutor to lead the office effectively. I’ve also demonstrated my commitment to our community – I’ve been nominatedtwice for the City of Raleigh’s Fred Fletcher Outstanding Volunteer award, and I’vecoached youth basketball with the City of Raleigh for six years. I served on theSierra Club Capital Group’s Executive Committee, am a Contemporaries BoardMember at the NC Museum of Art, and lecture and mentor students at UNC Schoolof Law and Campbell Law School. 3. How do you define yourself politically and how does your political philosophy show itselfin your past achievements and present campaign platform? I am a Democrat, but my political philosophy doesn’t and won’t affect how Iprosecute cases. I have prosecuted politicians from both parties, and I willcontinue to do what is right, regardless of how my party or any other party mightview it. I am not good at political posturing, and I believe it has no place in theDistrict Attorney’s Office. I am dedicated to improving our community, which stems from my core values,and is why I am running for DA. 4. Identify and explain one principled stand you would be willing to take if elected that yoususpect might cost you some popularity points with voters. We must change how we prosecute drug crimes. I have been a drug prosecutor,and recognize the ineffectiveness in sending drug abusers to short prison termsfrequently. People with substance abuse addictions get out of prison, and returnto the cycle of committing crime to fuel their addiction. Eventually they becomehabitual felons, and we banish that person to prison for long periods of timewithout addressing the issues that spawned their addiction. As elected DA I would send more of these drug abusers to alternativepunishments, such as drug treatment court, which have proven successful inbreaking the cycle of addiction. Jail time often can’t stop someone’s addiction;they must get treatment and want to clean themselves up. Diverting and using alternatives to jail on drug cases would be unpopular, but it isthe right thing to do. I fully support prosecuting and investigating suppliers ofdrugs, as I have seen the ruinous effects these substances have had on ourcommunity. I have worked wiretap cases with the DEA to stop these substancesfrom entering our community. But we must have a new approach to drugprosecutions. 5. North Carolina is one of only two states that try 16 and 17 year olds as adults. Do yousupport raising of the juvenile jurisdiction to 18? Explain why or why not. I believe in raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction – but only if the courts are giventhe resources to change how juvenile court works, and serious crimes are stillable to be bound over to Superior Court. Juvenile court was designed formisdemeanors and low level felonies; currently we have armed robberies andhomicides being committed by juveniles. Those cases must be prosecuted inSuperior Court, where the penalties are commensurate with the crimes.However, juvenile court needs to be given the resources to help divert kids fromthe wrong path. This needs to start when kids first interact with the court system –by the time kids are 15 and 16, they are deeply involved with gangs, and no level ofcourt input can change that. We need to get our children off the path to crime, andprevent them from being expelled from school, closing many future doors to theirfutures. I will create an outreach program working with community leaders to keepchildren out of gangs. 6. Would you ever seek capital punishment? Under what circumstances? As District Attorney I would follow my oath to uphold the law. The DA should seekthe death penalty only in those cases that deeply offend society's sense of justiceand truly shock our conscience, as reflected in the statutory list of aggravatingcircumstances. In only those most rare cases would I allow the people of thiscounty, through a jury, to decide what would be the appropriate sentence. Inaddition, the DA should never see a capital case as part of a win/loss record, but must conduct the prosecution to assure that the result is just, and will be acceptedas just throughout the community. Capital punishment is rapidly becoming more unpopular as citizens questionwhether the tremendous expenses associated with capital litigation could bebetter spent on education or other realms of public spending. 7. What are your views on the Racial Justice Act? Do you agree with its repeal? I believe the Racial Justice Act was a sincere attempt to address a real problem.Racism or any type of bias has no place in any North Carolina courtroom.However, there is overwhelming, undeniable evidence of pervasive racialdisparities in the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, race matters in thecriminal justice system because race matters in society. That is true not just in theconduct of officials in the criminal justice system, but in jury verdicts, as theTrayvon Martin case reminded us. Drug use among AfricanAmericansand whites is about the same, but drugprosecutions are enormously disproportionately of AfricanAmericans.The DA'soffice should be constantly aware of that reality in the conduct of prosecutions,with or without a statute. The difficulty with the law, as it was drafted, was that it was imprecise as to howbias could be proven in a case. In certain situations, such as when prosecutors inother jurisdictions made racially derogatory notes during jury selection anddiscriminated against African American prospective jurors, it is obvious that racialbias existed. In such a case I support the Racial Justice Act, and believe more thanjust the sentence should be changed. However, the legislation needed better parameters; for instance a white defendantwho raped and murdered a white 10 month old attempted to use the Act in apretrial motion. It would be preferable for the legislature to have made moreclarifying changes to the Act. The criminal justice system, attorneys, and judges,would clarify the Racial Justice Act over time by applying the Act to concrete, nothypothetical cases, and that would be far preferable to repeal. 8. As head prosecutor of the most powerful jurisdiction in the state, what you would do toaddress graft, corruption, and lack of transparency among higherlevelstate elected officials and state agencies and departments? How would you ensure that your choice ofinvestigations were not politically influenced? Colon Willoughby selected me to prosecute cases of public corruption, andworking with Colon I learned how to conduct an investigation that would beinsulated from any political influences. Additionally, I prosecuted James Crouch.James was a mentor and a friend to me when I began in the courthouse, andprosecuting him for passing illegal judgments and destroying evidence was verydifficult. I showed through that case and others that I won’t be influenced orintimidated by the case before me, no matter who is the defendant. Credibility as a prosecutor, rather than just political credentials or connections, iscritical to assure that a decision about whether to prosecute or to accept a pleawill not be seen as favoritism on one hand, or selective, politicallymotivatedprosecution on the other. I have earned that credibility by my prosecutions andinvestigations of defendants on both sides of the aisle. 9. As DA, how would you deal with a fatal use of force by the local police? I would request that the SBI conduct an appropriate investigation, and afterreceiving the evidence, I would evaluate it to determine if any charges arewarranted. I’ve prosecuted a law enforcement officer, and it is a difficult type of case toaddress. I realize more than most the pressures and stresses on our lawenforcement officers, and any charging decisions should be made in the contextof the events that were before the officer. There have been videos shown on television recently of police officers shootingand killing an unarmed and apparently harmless suspect. Those incidents, like theRodney King beating, or peppersprayingthe eyes of kneeling students, do greatdamage to the public's confidence in law enforcement and to the fabric of society.On the other hand, law enforcement officers should always have the benefit of fairprocedures to allow the truth to come to light, and have the right to clear theirname if charges are unjust. 10. What do you think is the most effective way to deal with lowleveldrug offenders? The most effective way to address low level drug offenders is to get themtreatment for their substance abuse issues. Too often we give a short jailsentence, and the cycle of crime to feed a substance abuse issue grows. It ismorally and fiscally more responsible to put the offender in a program like DrugTreatment Court, which can break that cycle. 11. When is it inappropriate to plea bargain cases? As a special victims prosecutor, I know that sometimes forcing a child or rapevictim to relive their experience can be extremely damaging. There is a balancingthat must occur between what is best for the community and what is best for thevictim. In some cases a plea bargain can accomplish the appropriate sentencewithout needlessly subjecting a victim or a victim’s family to the difficulties of trial. 12. Are you in favor of raising suggested bond guidelines for serious felonies? Are you infavor of unsecured bonds for Class 2 and 3 misdemeanors? Explain. I believe the suggested bond guidelines for serious felonies are appropriate –when a defendant is facing very significant jail terms, they are more likely to go offbond and flee. Law enforcement does a tremendous job of tracking downdefendants, and forcing them to repeatedly search for defendants that fail toappear is a waste of resources. Additionally, the bond guidelines are just that –judges still have the discretion to order a lower bond if a case appears weak, or ahigher bond if a defendant has a history of failing to appear, or is a danger to thepublic. I am in favor of unsecured bonds for low level misdemeanors. As a veteranprosecutor I know we only have so many spaces in the jail, and they should bereserved for those that need to be kept away from the public. It is rare that a class2 or 3 misdemeanant needs that level of restraint. 13. As DA, what would you do to develop a trusting relationship with the large immigrantcommunity in Wake County? I have worked with numerous immigrant victims in my career as a prosecutor.Building trust in every community is paramount for our DA’s office. Victims arevulnerable in any situation; in a place where they may not speak the predominantlanguage, or are distrustful of law enforcement, the DA’s Office must do outreachto overcome these fears or concerns. I have prosecuted several sexual assault and domestic violence cases where thevictim is terrified about deportation if they come forward. Only by doing outreachto build trust with all communities can we overcome these fears. Additionally, as DA, I would make sure that any person, regardless of where theycome from or what language they speak, would receive the same protectionsunder the law as any other citizen. 14. As DA, how would you have legally dealt with the over 900 Moral Monday arrestees atthe General Assembly last year? I can’t comment on a pending case, but I would note that it is rare that someone isarrested for second degree trespassing. With that in mind, I would offer a deferralin similar second degree trespassing cases where legal questions existed aboutthe potential to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant’sguilt. Such a deferral would allow a defendant to accept responsibility, allow thecourts to recoup some of the resources allocated to so many cases, and allow thecommunity to benefit with some small amount of community service.