Opinon: Brian Mason is the right choice to be district attorney in the 17th Judicial District.
One thing is certain: District Attorney Dave Young needs to leave his elected office. Mercifully term limits kept Young, a Democrat, off the ballot this fall.
So now the question is who should replace him to regain public trust and restore integrity to the 17th Judicial District in Adams and Broomfield counties. Because the community in and around Aurora is hurting.
A year ago Elijah McClain, a young man who was attempting to walk home, died after an unnecessary encounter with police officers who wrongfully detained him, used excessive force and then oversaw the administration of ketamine by EMTs.
Young decided not to prosecute saying the officers involved “had a reasonable belief that the use of force was necessary.”
It’s hard to see how that belief was reasonable when no crime was alleged, McClain wasn’t armed or dangerous, and the police video shows he was calm and relatively cooperative, requesting that the police officer who had grabbed him almost immediately respect his boundaries.
Neither candidate wanted to weigh in on the specifics of the case given that the incident is still under investigation by other agencies. But decisively it was Brian Mason, a Democrat who works in the office now as chief trial deputy, who articulated a clear path forward for the community and his office.
“We have to do a lot of work in Aurora. We have to do a lot of work with the Aurora Police Department. We have to do a lot of work with the Black community and we have to find a way to meet them where they are at,” Mason told us in an editorial board meeting.
“Elijah McClain did not deserve to die. He was a bright, kind young man and his death is a tragedy, and we at the DA’s office can’t just look at cases through an exclusively legalese lens and not talk about these cases without compassion.”
Mason pledged to ferret out racial bias in prosecution and to increase diversion programs to include misdemeanor cases, giving low- level offenders a second chance at a clean record. Mason said he would still prosecute the worst and most violent and serious criminals aggressively, and will work in collaboration with law enforcement to stem an increase in crime.
The increase in crime throughout the Front Range and in metropolitan areas across the nation has been significant, particularly violent crime like homicides, property crime like burglaries and auto thefts. Mason had concrete plans to address the crime wave, including working with schools to prevent youth crime and stem gang violence.
In contrast, Mason’s opponent Tim McCormack — a Republican who is also quite qualified to run a department — focused very much on tough prosecutions and seeking justice.
It’s always a district attorney’s job to win prosecutions and put bad people who have done horrible things behind bars. But the past few months have brought into sharp relief the importance of a prosecutor’s judgment.
Faith in our system’s ability to enforce our laws fairly has been shaken and a district attorney must be committed to working without prejudice.
But there is another relationship Mason must rebuild if he is elected. At the same time the District Attorney’s office has lost public trust, it has lost the trust of law enforcement. Perhaps the relationship with police and deputies is strained because of Dave Young’s personal scandal.
Young was accused of having a romantic relationship with a 36year- old woman who worked in his office as a victims’ advocate, according to documents filed in her divorce. The woman killed herself in July, a coroner ruled, but astonishingly the Adam’s County Sheriff’s Office was the entity conducting the death investigation and no outside prosecutor was brought in to assist.
The alleged relationship was unethical and inappropriate, and Young should have acted quickly to bring in someone from outside his agency to assist detectives. We could see how Young’s behavior would strain law enforcement’s faith in their top prosecutor.
McCormack, to be completely honest, would excel at rebuilding relationships with police. He is the candidate of choice for many police unions and current and former law enforcement.
Mason will have a tougher road ahead on that front, but he said he will work hard to reconnect the agencies so they work collaboratively to solve and prosecute crime.
Rebuilding those relationships with the community and law enforcement will also take transparency, something the 17th Judicial District has struggled with, often refusing to release information to the public and the media in a way other offices do not do. Mason said he was committed to solving that problem.
We’re convinced he is the right candidate to rebuild trust with the community and with law enforcement.
If elected, he will have a lot of work ahead of him.