Name as it Appears on the Ballot: Mitchell Garrell
Full Legal Name: Thomas Mitchell Garrell
Party:Democratic
Date of Birth: December 5, 1955
Campaign Web Site: www.garrellfordurham.com and Facebook
Occupation & Employer: Financial Crimes Prosecutor, Conference of District Attorneys
Years lived in Durham: nearly 20
Home Phone: 919-949-8988
Work Phone: 919-209-5542
Email: mitchellgarrell@hotmail.com
1.What do you believe are the most important issues facing the District Attorney’s Office? What are your top three priorities in addressing these issues?
There has been a loss of confidence in the criminal justice system here in Durham. This was apparent to me before the reaction to the death ofJesus Huerta, but I was shocked at the number of people who immediately jumped to the conclusion that the police department had assassinatedthis young man; clearly many in our community are prepared to believe the worst when it comes to the criminal justice system.
I believe that the most immediate source of this distrust are the circumstances of the removal of our last District Attorney from office. Ms. Cline engaged in a concerted and extended attack on our Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson. Among her charges, contained within motions filed in court, was that Judge Hudson had repeatedly “raped” victims. She continued to file these motions even after being ordered by more than one Superior Court Judge to cease and desist unless she had evidence to support her charges. The spectacle of the chief law enforcement officer of the county engaging in this bizarre attack on our Senior Judge, in violation of court orders, cannot have failed to shake the public’s confidence in the criminal justice system. Members of the public, not to mention defendants, defense attorneys, victims, law enforcement officers, other prosecutors and jury pool members could not be expected to appear in court with confidence that they would receive fair treatment.
The prevention of such a loss of trust is the very reason that there are established procedures such as filing a complaint with the Judicial Standards Commission (to be confidential until and unless substantiated) and the appellate process, available for such serious charges. I will not always agree with every judge’s rulings, but I will respect the judicial system and abide by the laws and procedures available when disagreements as to rulings arise. The removal of Ms. Cline from office has not fully restored the trust lost during this period of attack; there are still those in the District Attorney’s Office who fully and publicly supported Ms. Cline in her attacks, and nowhere has there been the public admission of the seriousness of the mistakes made, much less the actions required to heal the damage done. One of my opponents was hired by Ms. Cline during the height of the attacks; in fact he was hired to replace me, and did replace me after a well-publicized court hearing in which certain irregularities in discovery procedures was brought to light.
A clean break from the Cline era is required in order to begin the process of restoring public trust in the criminal justice system. As was stated in a Washington Post opinion piece “(i)t is hard not to notice that Durham voters will be choosing between a guy that Cline hired, and a guy that she fired — after he helped expose some of her mistakes. And given his platform, it’s certainly safe to say that Garrell would be a break from the past.” It should be noted that a clean break from the past could hardly be effectuated by a “guy that she hired”, and one who spent nearly his entire career in Person County (including unsuccessfully running to be District Attorney in 2010 in Person County), moving in with his sister in Durham only in November of last year while maintaining his house in Person County. I would begin the process of restoring trust by pledging to meet with attorneys who, acting in good faith, have reasonable concerns about the integrity of a criminal conviction in Durham County, and, if there is a rational basis for their concerns, allow them to review the file maintained in the District Attorney’s Office. Should they, by means of this process, or otherwise, discover or provide evidence calling into question the legitimacy of the conviction, I would join with them in requesting appropriate actions by the appropriate court. I would assign an assistant district attorney, as part of their duties, to assess cases in which the integrity of the conviction is called into question.
In addition, I would hold monthly open forums in which I would make myself available to any members of the public who have questions or concerns regarding the actions or practices of the District Attorney’s Office. By partnering with community organizations as I seek to ensure that alcohol and drug addiction and mental health issues are adequately addressed following criminal convictions, I would further help to establish trust in the actions of the District Attorney’s Office.
Only by electing a person with a well-established reputation for complying with discovery procedures, a person with clear and specific proposals for restoring trust, a person who represents a clear break from the past, can the process of restoring trust in our criminal justice system begin.
Can I only have three priorities? In addition to what has been mentioned above, there would have to be a reorganization of the office. The Office of the District Attorney must be run legally, ethically and efficiently.
2.What in your record as a public official or other experience demonstrates your ability to be an effective district attorney? This might include career or community service; be specific about its relevance to this office.
I have prosecuted thousands of felony cases and have been the lead prosecutor in every case I have prosecuted. I prosecuted every felonious childabuse case involving primarily nonsexual charges from about 1997 until the end of 2010; there were hundreds of such charges. I was primarilyresponsible for serious animal abuse cases and all arson cases for the same period; during 2009 and 2010, I also prosecuted sexual offense felonies. During the last thirteen years of my career, I prosecuted almost exclusively violent crime, to include armed robberies and murders. I haveprosecuted dozens of murder cases. I have tried hundreds of cases to jury verdicts, and, to my knowledge, have never been reversed on appeal. During my career, when trying cases, I managed a large team of, occasionally, second-chair prosecutors, but always investigators, victims,witnesses, victim-witness assistants. The supervisory responsibilities inherent in managing a complex felony trial are substantial and can involvethe management and coordination of dozens of individuals. As the Financial Crimes Prosecutor for the Central Region of North Carolina, I amresponsible for all of the financial crimes referred by the elected District Attorneys in some twenty-two counties in the central region of the State.This position requires that I interact with these District Attorneys and their staffs (having to recruit and build enthusiasm for assisting me withthese cases), as well as with law enforcement agencies within each jurisdiction, along with the State Bureau of Investigation and investigators withthe Office of the Secretary of State and the Department of Insurance, among others.
3.Identify and explain one principled stand you would be willing to take if elected that you suspect might cost you some popularity points with voters.
I am opposed to the death penalty. As I see there is another question on this very issue below, I will reserve commentary.
4.The INDY’s mission is to help build a just community in the Triangle. How would your election to office help further that goal?
Among the most moving and powerful experiences of my career have been those occasions I was able to facilitate a meeting of the family of the victim and the defendant who either had just been convicted of his murder, or was about to plead to that murder. Without exception, those families wanted to know what had happened, why the defendant had killed their son, brother, cousin. I was honored to witness the beginning of understanding and forgiveness as a result of these meetings. I stand second to no one in my dedication to the proposition that those who commit crime must be held accountable; all of those defendants went to prison for substantial sentences. But almost all of them were going to get out, in fact, some have gotten out; they all left families in the community, along with the family of the victim. Restorative justice, such as I witnessed and encouraged, marks the effort of a community to heal from acts of violence, whether self-inflicted or inflicted at the hands of others. I would seek to expand the use of these concepts in our criminal justice system.
I have often said that were it not for alcohol and drugs (the addictions thereto), there would be no need for most of us now working in the criminal justice system. My experience and observation have shown me that almost all crimes, violent and nonviolent, are in some way related to these addictions, while many others involve a mental health issue of another sort. While the day when we need a drastically smaller criminal justice system is nowhere to be seen, that does not mean that we should not begin the process of searching for solutions here and now. As your next DA, I pledge to do all that is in my power to bring together well-meaning folks in the community, be they associated with churches, social organizations, nonprofits or health care providers, with the stakeholders in the criminal justice system: prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, defense attorneys, probation officers, and yes, those previously convicted of crimes. We should be assured that when a judge orders treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, or for mental health treatment, that the person so ordered actually has access to services that are effective and affordable. In this way, we may actually begin to interrupt the cycle of recidivism.
As a prosecutor I am sworn to uphold the law, and I will to the best of my ability. This does not mean that I cannot have an opinion on, or ideas for change in the manner in which we go about seeking and achieving justice. In recent years, the legislature has increased court costs and fees to levels that many persons, even if they have a job, find it impossible to pay. While going to prison for nonpayment alone is, rightly, not a possibility in most cases, starting off with one’s probation containing fines and fees that realistically cannot be paid is hardly a way to encourage successful completion of the other conditions of probation. As your DA, I will work to ameliorate, and reverse the trend of attempting to fund the Judicial Branch of our government on the backs of those who cannot afford to pay. Being poor should not prevent one from complying with court orders.
5.Prior to Leon Stanback’s taking office in an interim role, the District Attorney’s Office went through tumult during the tenures of his two immediate predecessors. What went wrong, and how will you avoid similar setbacks?
This question really goes hand-in-hand with Question #1. Adherence to the law, transparency, open communication with law enforcement, judges,attorneys, witnesses and victims, and the public, essentially, leading by example will undoubtedly create a new office ethos.
6.The Durham Police Department had a difficult year in 2013, which included controversies over officer-involved shootings, struggles with community relations and undisclosed bonus agreements for drug informants. Some people believe the DA’s office and DPD don’t see eye-to-eye. If you assume office, what will be your advice for police officials?
I believe that being a law enforcement officer is one of the toughest, least appreciated occupations. I believe that, in general, we have a group ofdedicated and trustworthy law enforcement officers in Durham. The biggest issue is communication. We may not always see eye to eye, but wehave to be able to have a dialogue. I would increase opportunities for training law enforcement by the DA’s office. Funding issues are present inlaw enforcement as they are at every level of government, and I would support appropriate increases in such funding. I would consider supportingthe establishment of a Durham County version of the CCBI in Wake County.
7.The overwhelming majority of defendants in Durham take plea deals rather than push through to trial. Is this healthy?
As The United States Supreme Court found in the case of Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257 (internal cites and footnotes omitted):
The disposition of criminal charges by agreement between the prosecutor and the accused, sometimes loosely called “plea bargaining,” is anessential component of the administration of justice. Properly administered, it is to be encouraged. If every criminal charge were subjected to afull-scale trial, the States and the Federal Government would need to multiply by many times the number of judges and court facilities.
Disposition of charges after plea discussions is not only an essential part of the process but a highly desirable part for many reasons. It leads to prompt and largely final disposition of most criminal cases; it avoids much of the corrosive impact of enforced idleness during pretrial confinement for those who are denied release pending trial; it protects the public from those accused persons who are prone to continue criminal conduct even while on pretrial release; and, by shortening the time between charge and disposition, it enhances whatever may be the rehabilitative prospects of the guilty when they are ultimately imprisoned.
However, all of these considerations presuppose fairness in securing agreement between an accused and a prosecutor. It is now clear, for example, that the accused pleading guilty must be counseled, absent a waiver. [Rules] governing pleas in federal courts, now makes clear that the sentencing judge must develop, on the record, the factual basis for the plea, as, for example, by having the accused describe the conduct that gave rise to the charge. The plea must, of course, be voluntary and knowing and if it was induced by promises, the essence of those promises must in some way be made known. There is, of course, no absolute right to have a guilty plea accepted.
This phase of the process of criminal justice, and the adjudicative element inherent in accepting a plea of guilty, must be attended by safeguards to insure the defendant what is reasonably due in the circumstances. Those circumstances will vary, but a constant factor is that when a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled.
8.On any given day Durham courtrooms are filled with African-American faces. Is there anything wrong with that? If so, what’s the solution?
Frequently, I entered calendar call on a Monday morning in Superior Court and hoped to see more than a smattering of white faces in the courtroom behind the bar; my hopes were seldom realized. Part, but not all, of this is due to the demographics of Durham County. While I do not claim to have an answer to such a sweeping societal problem that is present in many areas besides Durham, I have some hope that the programs in which persons charged with minor crimes at a young age are allowed to take part in diversionary programs, and, where appropriate, are able to access drug and alcohol abuse programs and mental health treatment. Being cautious about criminalizing minor offenses in schools might be another part of the solution. We do, of course, need to be vigilant to ensure that our suspicions and arrests are not based solely upon race, or solely upon neighborhood. We also have to realize that, with all safeguards in place, we need to prosecute the persons we believe have committed criminal offenses, no matter their race.
9.What is your experience in juvenile court? What can be done to prevent delinquency and gang involvement?
I have been responsible for running juvenile court on several occasions during my career; I do not claim special expertise in this area. I am awareof ADA’s who have done outstanding work there, and would seek to draw upon their experience to introduce best practices in this court in whichevery decision can have lifelong consequences. Youth diversion programs can help to combat delinquency and gang involvement. But as statedearlier, it is my hope as your new DA to bring together well-intentioned groups of people, be they associated with churches, social organizations,nonprofits or health care providers, with the stakeholders in the criminal justice system: prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, defense attorneys,probation officers, and yes, those previously convicted of crimes. I believe it is this community involvement from a tender age that will have thegreatest impact on our youth.
10. There has been a recent effort to divert juveniles charged with nonviolent misdemeanors into programs that could potentially wipe their slates clean. What are your thoughts on this?
I fully support this effort.
11.If you’re assumed into office, will you retain the current stable of ADAs, or will hire new prosecutors?
Quite frankly, anyone who actively supported Ms. Cline in her campaign against Judge Hudson would not have a place in the office. As to theother ADA’s, this would have to be looked on in a case-by-case basis. The goal is to give the Durham community the best office possible.
12.What are your thoughts on the death penalty?
I am personally opposed to the death penalty. I support its abolition, and would encourage the Conference of District Attorneys, and thelegislature as well, to take the same position. Several factors, including disparate treatment, expense, and lack of recourse to correct error, lead meto the position that there would be no capital prosecution in Durham should I be elected DA.
I have been opposed to the death penalty for all of my adult life. Since arriving in the Triangle around 1984, until 1995, when the pace ofexecutions slowed, I was outside Central Prison at every execution making clear that the execution taking place was not being done in my name.
