Commonwealth’s attorney launches re-election campaign
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano says his goal is to focus on justice while also keeping the community safe. “You don’t have to choose between justice and safety,” he told the crowd at a re-election campaign event Jan. 28.
Descano criticized his opponent in the Democratic Primary, Ed Nuttall, for “spending the last 20 years defending the bad cops that give our police officers a bad name.”
Nuttall, a partner in the Carroll Nuttall law firm, was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Fairfax County in 1999-2002. He hasn’t officially launched his campaign yet. The primary is June 20.
“Every time there’s a police shooting, every time there’s a beating, every time that there’s an internal affairs investigation, they turn to my opponent,” Descano says.
In one example, he said Nuttall defended the police officer who arrested Elon Wilson, a young African American firefighter who got pulled over in Fairfax County in 2018 on a fictitious charge.
A dashcam video showed Wilson didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t cross a double yellow line as the police claimed, Descano said. It was later revealed that the officer, Jonathan Freitag, had made hundreds of racially motivated traffic stops.
When Descano was elected commonwealth’s attorney in 2019, he got Wilson’s conviction overturned. Wilson later won a lawsuit against the county.
Related story: Descano clears officer in shooting incident
Descano says his focus on justice differs from the approach taken by the former commonwealth attorney’s office. “They cared more about moving paper and moving cases than they cared about doing justice.” It was an office that “not only turned a blind eye to racial and economic disparities, but actually made them worse.”
“They actually sent more people down the path of criminality. They were more interested in serving the needs of the office and the people in that system than in serving our community,” he said.
One of Descano’s first acts as commonwealth’s attorney was to stop asking for cash bail. “We are done with a system that treats people differently based on how much money they have.”
“Are we going to have a justice system that is run on our values, of justice, of equality, of fairness, and doing the right thing to help people?” he said. “Or are we going to go back to the good old boy network of guys just moving the cases along?”
That attitude has led to sharp criticism within conservative circles. “We know we have a giant target on our back,” he said. While no Republican candidate has yet emerged, there is likely to be one who focuses on the county’s crime rate.
“There are people with deep pockets who want to stop the reform movement,” Descano said. “We can’t let that happen.”
Descano is a tragic miscarriage of justice. The Commonwealth Attorney should be at the forefront of fighting crime and using every legal means. Sadly he has pushed an agenda instead of fighting crime.
Descano has made an important difference in this County. For our size, we remain very safe; Descano’s more aggressively just positions make all the sense in these days.
What are you talking about?
Mr. Descano has made an important different in Fairfax County, that’s true. The county is a much less safe place to live now than it was just a few years ago. The criminals are much more important than their victims. Mr. Descano seems very proud every time he announces yet another crime his office will not prosecute like that’s a good thing. I have lived in Centreville for over 20 years and never felt unsafe, but today I will no longer go anywhere I need to park in a large parking lot after dark because there are no police around and the prosecutors? Yeah, right.
Steve Descano needs to go. Criminals belong in jail. People who commit crimes but need mental health services can and should be treated in jail, where they can’t victimize law-abiding citizens. People who are convicted of crimes and are in this country illegally need to be deported. We have a shortage of police officers in Fairfax County and Mr. Descano is one of the reasons for that.
In addition, attacking another attorney because of his clients is a well-known smear tactic. Mr. Descano surely knows that everyone is entitled to legal representation. Then there’s his “people with deep pockets who want to stop the reform movement” statement. Mr. Descano has delusions of grandeur if he really thinks that is true. People no matter what their circumstances want a safe place to live. If Mr. Descano wants to do social science experiments, he should apply for a job with a university or research center.
Agree. No more experiments – more enforcement at all levels … code enforcement on building owners; code enforcement in residential areas; parking and traffic enforcement. Start with the basics / show residents of Annandale that government can execute on the basics first
Thanks to Steve, I can’t go to my Post Office box after work. Due to the policies of not arresting people, the Post Office has been turned into a homeless shelter and they have to lock the doors after closing. I pay for my PO box and I shouldn’t be denied access because people want to urinate on the floor and vandalize the PO. Steve has turned Fairfax County into a sanctuary county for criminals. People with substance abuse and mental health issues should be treated, not left to terrorize the community.
Apparently Descano believes a criminal suspects race and position on the economic ladder Trump that of victims’ rights and justice. Since he has been in office he has neglected the crime victim and instead given a pass to the criminal.
Descano also seems to forget that most of his serious crime victims are minorities also. He could care less about them.