For Wake D.A. – Lorrin Freeman
It’s easy to be a lock-’em-up prosecutor. It’s hard to also take account of the circumstances around a crime and decide who merits leniency or a second chance. The latter course can expose a prosecutor to charges of being soft on crime and prompt grumbling from law enforcement.
Wake County District Attorney Nancy “Lorrin” Freeman isn’t deterred by those risks. Since being elected in 2014, her leadership has been marked by a willingness to do what she thinks is right and just. She declined to prosecute several N.C. State football players accused of sexual assault because she said an investigation did not find evidence to support a criminal case. And she agreed to a relatively light sentence in the embezzlement case involving former Wake County Register of Deeds Laura Riddick because most of the money had been returned.
Freeman has also made public accountability a particular concern, an important step for the prosecutor in the state capital’s home county. She recently asked the State Bureau of Investigation to review whether House Speaker Tim Moore may have improperly mixed his public duties and his private law practice. She successfully sought the grand jury indictments of a Wake County deputy and two State Highway Patrol troopers who were involved in the violent arrest of an unarmed Raleigh man who was also attacked by a K-9 dog.
Of the officers’ indictments, she said in an interview with The News & Observer, “Any use of police force is not pretty. When it is not reasonable, it’s important that law enforcement — like everyone else — be held accountable.”
Freeman, a Democrat, does more than prosecute. She seeks to reduce the incidence of crime — and the backlog of the courts. She supports programs that divert the mentally ill out of the criminal justice system and programs that help treat addictions that can lead to crime. She also supports helping teen offenders turn their lives around rather than have them routed into a cycle of criminality through early incarceration.
That’s not to say Freeman isn’t a tough prosecutor. She is. As D.A. she has personally prosecuted three first-degree murder cases . But that’s not all she is. That’s why we highly recommend Freeman for re-election.
This year’s election presents a rematch between Freeman and her 2014 opponent, Republican lawyer John Bryant. He’s a colorful candidate who offers sayings from his rural upbringing in Scotland Neck and emphasizes his empathy with ordinary working people. A graduate of Wake Forest University, where he played football, Bryant worked as a dock loader, truck driver and salesman before going to law school in his early 30s.
“I have not forgotten what it’s like to be hungry and I have not forgotten what it’s like to be given a second chance,” he said in an interview with The News & Observer.
Bryant’s common touch is an appealing quality in a prosecutor and he has extensive trial experience, but in this case he doesn’t make an effective argument for why an incumbent should be replaced. He does, however, make points that Freeman should note. One is that the D.A.’s office’s should increase its outreach to the community by speaking more often to schools and civic groups. Another is that the D.A. should tend to relationships with law enforcement agencies that have been strained by charges against officers. Finally, he said the processing of misdemeanor cases should be handled in an more efficient manner than having lawyers line up at the courthouse to meet with prosecutors.
Wake County is fortunate to have two worthy candidates for district attorney, but its especially fortunate to have Freeman already in office. Voters should keep her there.
This story was originally published October 23, 2018 at 11:34 AM.