ALFRED — Two colleagues, the long-time deputy district attorney and the lead prosecutor in a new domestic violence unit, are vying for the nod from Democrats for nomination to be York County District Attorney.
Kathryn Slattery, a York County prosecutor since 1987 and deputy district attorney since 1991, said she’s ready to take on the county’s top prosecutorial job.
Slattery said she’s tough on crime.
“I really, really do like to put the bad guys in jail,” she said. “You can never undo the harm that has been done (to a victim) but you can address the wrong that has been done.”
Assistant district attorney Jamie Guerrette, who prosecuted drug crimes in York County for the attorney general’s office for three years, said he’s the right choice and pledged, in his words, “to restore the working relationship with the county’s various law enforcement agencies and victim advocacy groups.”
Whoever the caucus nominates will face no opposition on the Nov. 2 ballot. Democratic incumbent Mark Lawrence, who was running for a third term, dropped out of the race a week ago and because he withdrew after the primary, only county Democrats may nominate a candidate to be listed on the ballot.
The York County Democratic Committee will caucus Thursday at Conant Chapel of Alfred Parish Church.
Slattery, 50, a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law, clerked for Gov. Joe Brennan and was a special assistant toward the end of Brennan’s administration. She then became an assistant attorney general, dealing with boards and commissions, but left to become a prosecutor.
“I feel I have strong qualifications for the job,” she said. “And I have lots of energy to bring (the office) to the next level.”
Married, Slattery lives in Old Orchard Beach with her husband and six children.
Guerrette, 34, worked in the Cumberland County Legal Aid Clinic during his last year at the University of Maine Law School, where he graduated in 2001. In 2004 he was hired by the Attorney General’s Drug Crimes Task Force to prosecute drug crimes in York County and in 2008 took a two-year stint as a special prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office, handling federal drug and gun cases. This May he became the lead prosecutor for a new Domestic Violence Prosecutorial Team at York County District Attorney’s Office. Married with three children, Guerrette lives in Biddeford.
Slattery said she’s eyeing a vertical prosecution model, where one assistant district attorney is assigned to a case and follows it through from district to superior court.
As well, she said she’ll continue to focus on juvenile crime and with the current direction of dealing with domestic violence cases with a dedicated prosecution unit. And she added, she’s looking for some organizational innovation.
“We’ve done the same thing the same way for so long it is time to stand back and take a look,” Slattery said.
Slattery said she is also looking for ways to juggle schedules so prosecutors can spend the time necessary to deal with labor-intensive cases.
Slattery said she believes there will be a push for a unified court docket in York County within a year, where all defendants get jury trials. According to the Maine Judicial Branch a unified docket reduces duplication of clerical work associated with the transfer of cases between district and superior courts and reduces the number of court appearances.
Slattery said that will be a challenge in York County, with district courts in York, Biddeford and Springvale and the Superior Court in Alfred.
“I feel my experience with the courts puts me in a better position to deal with it,” she said.
Guerrette said he will “focus the office’s attention and resources on victim-related crimes, restore its working relationship with the county’s various law enforcement agencies and victim advocacy groups, and conduct a review of every system in an effort to improve the office’s efficiency and working relationship with the various participants in the criminal justice system.”
Guerrette said he would work with judges and the court clerk’s office to move toward originating all domestic violence cases in superior court. In the meantime, as much as possible, the domestic violence prosecution unit is practicing vertical prosecution, where either he or assistant district attorney John Burke, handle all domestic violence cases.
Guerrette said there is currently a lack of confidence in the district attorney’s office and said he has the confidence of the law enforcement community.
He said his first task, if successful in winning the nomination and election, would be an audit of the system from top to bottom ”“ sitting with police chiefs, staff and others to determine what is working correctly and what isn’t.
He said that while a drug prosecutor for the attorney general’s office working with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, it was not uncommon for him to get up in the middle of the night to assist in cases.
“You need to be able to come into the office and make a difference. You’ve got to be willing to put in the time,” he said.
Working first for (former) Attorney General Steve Rowe and later U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby has shown him ways in which an office can be run, he said.
“I can bring in new ideas and make the process work better,” Guerrette concluded.
Other candidates who have not publicly expressed interest may also choose to appear before the caucus.
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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