MICHAEL FLEMMING: I WILL BE AN ‘AGENT OF CHANGE’ WITH AN OPEN MIND
Please explain your legal background and why you are qualified to be a judge.
I have been a deputy public defender for the past eight years where I have tried approximately 40 trials to verdict. In 2016, I was awarded the William Fletcher Award by the North County Bar Association for excellent indigent defense. I am a commissioner for the city of Vista’s Community Development Block Grant Commission, which awards funding from a Housing and Urban Development grant to local nonprofits that address homelessness, substance abuse and gang prevention for the citizens of Vista. I have worked with the Resilience Project to help create uniformed police citizens’ review boards throughout San Diego County to provide citizens a forum to report negative encounters with law enforcement. And I have worked with Clean Slate Clinics and Veterans’ Stand Downs to help indigent citizens resolve outstanding cases and clean their past criminal records.
Prior to becoming a deputy public defender, I spent approximately five years as a civilian law clerk for the United States Marine Corps’ Commandant’s Counsel at Camp Pendleton, where I was assigned to the Labor & Employment, Litigation, and Ethics section.
While in law school, I was a legal fellow in then-Sen. Barbara Boxer’s San Diego district office where I was assigned a portfolio comprised of intelligence, defense, foreign relations and judiciary issues. Prior to interning for Sen. Boxer’s district office, I was a legal fellow on Capitol Hill, working for then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office, where I was assigned to the Democratic Policy Committee.
Why are you seeking this position?
As a deputy public defender and the only candidate in this race who exclusively practices in San Diego Superior Court, I am privy to many of our local system’s weaknesses. And, while I am not altruistic enough to believe that when elected, I would be able to right every wrong, I do hope to be an “agent of change” who approaches each case with an open mind and pragmatic solutions.
Often, I see the same offenders returning time and again only with ever more serious charges rather than benefiting from a system that is structured to facilitate a reintroduction. Additionally, jail is being used to house people with mental illnesses rather than incarcerate our most dangerous offenders.
Thus, when elected, I plan to apply a fair and just approach to many of the legal questions challenging our society. I recognize that Drug Court, Veterans Court, Homeless Court and Behavioral Health Court are heavily underutilized despite the real change these courts provide for our homeless, veteran, mentally ill and drug-addicted populations. As such, I would openly consider using these programs, on a case-by-case basis, to stop the “revolving door” of incarceration and “pipeline to prison” that impacts our most challenged populations.
To accomplish this, I plan on seeking the help of probation officers, mental clinicians, substance abuse assessors and community outreach organizations, already in place, to develop creative and effective means of positively assisting those populations.
Has your view of the criminal justice system changed since the racial reckoning that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020? If so, how? No. While growing up in Gulfport, Miss., I witnessed racial bias in our justice system and recognized that our justice system has long needed change. Prior to 2020 and the George Floyd case, there have been numerous incidents both nationally and locally that support change. Yet the George Floyd case has shined light on our criminal justice system and opened a dialogue for meaningful change.
Through the Floyd case, we as a society have begun to recognize that race is an issue in our criminal justice system. As such, we have made strides to reconcile bias and unfair treatment based on race. Yet as a society, we still need to shift from a “tough on crime” stance to a “smart on crime” stance by reserving prison for our very worst and violent crimes. This should be coupled with protecting public safety by using money saved from alternatives to incarceration to rehabilitate our nonviolent homeless population, veterans, people with mental illnesses and addicted offenders. Finally, the Floyd case has highlighted the importance of being vigilant citizens and has also shown that we must hold law enforcement agencies accountable when police officers are accused of breaking the law.
Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election? Unlike both of my opponents, I am not a prosecutor. Instead, I am a lawyer who has spent my career defending the Marine Corps, our neighbors and our most marginalized citizens. So I understand the importance of balancing public safety and individual rights. Currently, the bench is overwhelmingly filled with former prosecutors who bring their experiences and perceptions to bench. I would be the first deputy public defender elected to San Diego Superior Court, bringing a different view and valuable perspective to judicial decision-making process.
Furthermore, because I am the only candidate in this race who exclusively practices in San Diego Superior Court, I am familiar with the weaknesses in our local justice system. Because of my perspective and experience as a deputy public defender, I am aware of the steps needed to address the underlying causes of criminality and the daunting costs of recidivism. And because of my experience, I have the institutional knowledge needed to implement steps that will help members of our community make lasting changes, ultimately resulting in their exiting the criminal justice system so that they can rejoin our community as constructive members of society.
For these reasons, I would be humbled and honored to earn your readers’ vote in this election.