Descano faces a Primary challenger
Brittany Dunn-Pirio, a career prosecutor, has launched a campaign against Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, who is up for re-election in 2017.
They will face off in a Democratic Primary, expected to be scheduled for next spring.
“If this office were doing its job, I wouldn’t be running against it. I’d be applying to work for it. But it isn’t,” Dunn-Pirio says on her website.
“This race isn’t about whether reform was right. It’s about whether the office can tell the difference between a first-time nonviolent offender who deserves a second chance and a violent or sexual offender who doesn’t,” she says. “It’s about whether deadlines are met, evidence is given to the defendant, and victims are spoken to.”
As an example of Descano’s failures, Dunn-Pirio cites the case of Mustafa Eltayeb, who had been charged with reckless driving for killing Sean King, a pedestrian on a sidewalk on Leesburg Pike in Seven Corners in June. After pleading guilty, Eltayeb was given a 60-day sentence, which was suspended upon the completion of 20 hours of community service.
In another case, Descano failed to prosecute a known sex offender, Richard Cox, who was arrested for exposing himself to a woman at a Planet Fitness locker room. At the time, Descano’s office said they don’t prosecute people who choose to defend themselves.
Descano, meanwhile, has faced scrutiny from Republicans in Congress who have accused him of dropping charges and approving lenient plea deals for undocumented immigrants. Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has subpoenaed Descano for failing to submit documents related to the office’s handling of cases involving “foreign national criminals.”
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Descano also faces a recall petition initiated by Cheryl Minter, the mother of Stephanie Minter, who was stabbed to death at a bus stop in February by Abdul Jalloh. The petition complains that Jalloh had been charged with numerous violent crimes in the past but had served minimal time in jail despite the urging of Fairfax County Police officials not to release him.
Dunn-Pirio is an associate in the Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman law firm in Alexandria. Before that, she was an assistant U.S. attorney but quit last November because the independence of the Department of Justice was compromised.
“I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the exact same conduct,” she says.
Previous positions include assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Frederick County and assistant attorney general of Virginia, where she specialized in domestic violence and child sexual abuse cases.
“I’ve personally prosecuted everything from DUI to murder, practiced at every level of Virginia’s and Fairfax’s courts, including the Supreme Court of Virginia, and secured lengthy prison sentences for sexual and violent offenders, all without ever once requesting cash bail,” Dunn-Pirio says.
“For defendants who deserved a second chance, I’ve recommended treatment instead,” she says. “I have the judgment and experience to recognize when the answer is accountability, when it is rehabilitation, and when it is a combination.”