Who is running for the Wake NC DA. What are the key issues?
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Defense attorney Damon Chetson is challenging incumbent Lorrin Freeman for Wake County district attorney.
For nearly eight years, Lorrin Freeman has served as Wake County’s first female district attorney, a high-profile and powerful county prosecutor.
The daughter of former N.C. Supreme Court Associate Justice Franklin Freeman, Lorrin Freeman has built her own name across the state during a 16-year relationship with Wake voters. She has been an assistant district attorney to assistant attorney general, a two-term clerk of court and two-term DA.
First elected as DA in 2014, Freeman said she wanted to bring change.
“Now, I am the people’s lawyer in these courts,” Freeman told The News & Observer after she was sworn in the minutes after midnight 2015.
Fast forward to 2022. Freeman’s measured approach has brought some change to criminal justice in Wake County. But her Democratic primary opponent Damon Chetson and supporters of more progressive reforms say much more needs to be done to bring equal justice to the courthouse.
In an election year in which murder rates have risen across the nation, Chetson and Freeman agreed that the key election issues are how to make Wake safer and the justice system more inclusive and equitable.
They disagree on how to get there.
Damon Chetson
Chetson, a defense attorney for more than 12 years, has criticized a lack of diversity in Freeman’s office. He also said he supports not seeking the death penalty, not prosecuting low-level marijuana offenses and dismissing charges that originate from traffic stops for minor incidents such as a broken tail light.
Chetson mainly works in Wake County and the federal Eastern District of North Carolina, where he has been appointed to represent defendants who can’t afford an attorney in federal cases.
At a forum last year, Chetson spoke about how those facing misdemeanor marijuana charges don’t get a public defender, who he said could make a difference by challenging common flawed police practices.
”We can focus on applying our resources appropriately,” Chetson said. “And that means focusing on violent crime and crime that really hurts other people and thinking differently about how to approach crimes of poverty and crimes of addiction.”
Chetson also called for making diversion and other programs more affordable and accessible.
Freeman, whose office does seek the death penalty in certain cases, disagrees with dismissing low-level marijuana charges. She points to county programs to defer them.
“We need to get behavioral health issues out of the criminal justice system,” she said at the forum. “But we need to do that by linking people with the appropriate resources and not just leaving them unhelped within our community if we really want things to improve.”
Lorrin Freeman
Freeman says her office has made strides in reform by revising the pre-trial release policy, providing diversion programs to people with addictions and mental health problems, and collaborating to help people who re-enter the community after incarceration.
She is most proud of expanding teams prosecuting domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault; working with partners to expand mental health and substance abuse treatment; and assisting with restoring driver’s licenses and criminal expungements, she wrote in an email.
“My commitment to our community has remained steadfast and I have worked daily to meet the promises of working to keep our community safe and find ways to address underlying causes of criminal behavior to minimize recidivism,” Freeman wrote.
Freeman is heading into the primary after a successful prosecution of a Granville County deputy resulting in a jury finding him guilty of 12 felony charges. But she also faces criticism for not charging a fired Raleigh detective who was tied to the wrongful incarceration of about a dozen Black men in what a successful federal lawsuit called a fake heroin scheme.
The Wake district attorney makes $140,834, and oversees nearly 73 positions, including 42 assistant district attorneys, and 100,000 criminal infractions each year.
The primary is May 17.
Early voting for the primary runs from April 28 through May 14.
▪ Lorrin Freeman
Age: 50.
Address: Raleigh
Occupation: District attorney
Political experience: Wake County District Attorney 2015-present; Wake County Clerk of Court 2006-14
Website: www.FreemanforDA.org
Quote: A criminal justice system that is fair, keeps our community safe and works to hold those who abuse their authority accountable is critical to supporting our quality of life. As your district attorney, I’ve worked every day to further these goals. Under my leadership, the Wake County District Attorney’s Office is committed to preventing crime and reducing recidivism by not only aggressively prosecuting those who pose danger, but by identifying and helping to solve the underlying behavioral health issues that might lead to criminal behavior.
▪ Damon Chetson
Age: 49
Address: Raleigh
Occupation: Criminal defense attorney, The Chetson Firm PLLC
Website: www.DamonforDA.com
Quote: Wake County for too long has ignored common sense criminal justice reforms and basic transparency in our DA’s office. We can create a safer and fairer community by building a DA’s office that is responsive, shifts resources to preventing violent crimes and away from crimes of poverty, no longer seeks the death penalty, and builds programs that address the racial and social disparities in our county. Wake County is over 1.1 million people and grows larger and more diverse by the day. Our community deserves a world class justice system that works for all of us.”
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