Fairfax prosecutor presses case for more changes
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by BRIAN TROMPETER, Sun Gazette Newspapers
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano approves of
criminal-justice changes enacted in 2020, but said more needs to be done.
The reforms aim to reduce mass incarceration and racial and economic
inequities in the criminal-justice system while maintaining community safety,
Descano told the McLean Citizens Association in a Dec. 16 virtual meeting.
Descano, a Democrat, said he was “really excited” that Fairfax
County police by the end of 2021 almost fully will implement a body-worn-camera
program, providing cameras to about 1,200 officers.
“I really do feel that body-worn cameras are essential to creating
trust in the community,” he said. “They are a great tool for evidence, they are
a great tool for police accountability, and quite frankly, they’re also in many
ways a tool to make sure our police aren’t being accused of things that they
did not do.”
Descano is seeking 65 more staff members to ensure proper case
prosecution and review of voluminous video recordings from police body and
cruiser cameras. County prosecutors will need to review about 89,000 hours’
worth of body-worn-camera recordings annually, in addition to roughly 60,000
hours of recordings from cameras in police cruisers, he said.
Virginia’s commonwealth’s attorneys only statutorily are
required to prosecute felonies, so the funding burden for tackling misdemeanors
falls on localities, said Descano, who previously served on the Fairfax
County Police Civilian Review Panel. The county police department’s
animal-control unit has a larger budget than the commonwealth’s attorney’s
office, he said.
County officials are giving his office some annex space in a
former warehouse and bus depot about 10 minutes from the courthouse.
“At the end of the day, I’m not trying to put my people in
luxury. I’m just trying to get the job done for the people of the county,”
Descano said.
Descano worked with General Assembly members during the lengthy
special session this fall to increase diversion initiatives, which allow
low-risk people to enter rehabilitation programs instead of being incarcerated.
Legislators also enacted police use-of-force reforms, banning chokeholds
and making it the duty of officers to intervene if they witness a colleague
using excessive force, he said.
Other new laws prohibit “no-knock” warrants and nighttime
service of warrants. Another law, which will take effect next March, will limit
“pretextual” stops by police on minor violations, which in some communities led
to the over-policing of minorities, he said.
Descano said he hoped legislators in the future will address
mandatory-minimum sentences for some offenses, which take discretion away from
judges. He attempted to assure those participating in the event that such
changes would not make the community less safe.
“We’re not talking about just letting people go free
willy-nilly,” he said. “We are talking about finding the appropriate sentence
for the facts of the case.”
A West Point graduate and former U.S. Army helicopter pilot who
later worked as a federal prosecutor, Descano – who garnered significant
campaign cash for outside interest groups, some affiliated with financier
George Soros – last year narrowly defeated incumbent Raymond Morrogh (D) in a
primary and beat independent challenger Jonathan Fahey in the November 2019
election.
Descano continued to criticize his predecessor, saying that upon
taking office he discovered the commonwealth’s attorney’s office was “not doing
the job they claimed to be doing . . . they were not reviewing evidence before
going forward in cases. So I know that innocent people were being put in jail.”
Lack of evidence review in 2019 also caused an attempted-murder
case to be dismissed, he said.
“Instead of just kind of burying my head in the sand, as had
been done by the previous administration, I’ve actively been working with the
[Board of Supervisors] and the county executive’s office to get the amount of
resources that we need to actually do the job right.”
Since taking office in January, Descano has faced criticism that
his office has stopped prosecuting minor crimes. Some Fairfax County police
officers also have been criticial of some of his decisions.
Descano opposes requiring suspects who are not dangerous to the
community to post cash bail while they await trial, saying this created a
two-tier justice system. Those who cannot afford to pay may spend multiple days
in jail, which could cost them their jobs, housing or custody of their
children, he said.
Conversely, “if you’re a danger to the community, no amount of
money should allow you to get out,” he said.
Descano opposes capital punishment, preferring to seek life
imprisonment with no parole in such cases.
“The death penalty . . . doesn’t do anything to keep us
safer,” he said, calling it a waste of time and resources. “Every time an
appeal comes up, that family, that victim, has to relive this horror over and
over again.”
Moderator Patrick Smaldore thanked Descano for fielding a wide
range of questions.
“It’s not an easy job [to be] in your shoes. I can see that
now,” Smaldore said.
To view the discussion, visit www.facebook.com/mcleancitizens/videos/3781744845218045.
