Editor's note: Assistant District Attorney Philip Weinberg posted the following at the JFP website on Aug. 30 in response to a reader who said that D.A. Faye Peterson is "ineffective with victims and prosecutions and that she "allowed Rankin and Madison residents to be ADAs while denying many Hinds County residents the chance to apply. The reader said her "amazing staff" saved her, and that she ran "last-second negative ads" against Smith."
The election is over; I'm over the election, and it's time for Hinds County to move forward. It might be a good time for the bitchin' to stop, too. Contrary to the assertions of some, Faye Peterson was an outstanding district attorney. While some victims did not get justice as quickly as they wanted, victim satisfaction was/is high on Faye's list of priorities.
None of us is happy with how slowly the system moves, but that's not the fault of the district attorney's office. As part of the "amazing staff" she inherited and a full-time prosecutor for 28 years, I think I'm entitled to an opinion on that. Faye tried more cases herself every year than her predecessor did in the total of his last three-or-so years, that I observed. And she won nearly all of them. I personally tried a half-dozen murder/capital murder cases with her, including three in one month, and we won them all. Of course, the victims in those cases weren't able to express how they felt about how she treated them.
She has not been afraid to take on the toughest cases and do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. Obviously, the consequences were severe, since being opposite the mayor is apparently what ultimately cost her her job.
Now that Frank (Melton) and Robert (Smith) came out of the closet on Election night, you can forget about your hopes and prayers, and start getting ready to watch the show. It's not just a coincidence that both of them used the term "puppet" in their remarks.
Faye's policy has always been to hire the best talent available, regardless of where they come from. Once hired, if they lived outside Hinds County and then changed residences, their move had to be into Hinds. I know of only one exception to that, and that was an assistant D.A. who had been hired by Ed Peters and lived in Madison County and wanted to stay there after she remarried for the sake of stability for her child. Now, if you think she/they should have been forced to uproot for some reason, I can't help you with that.
I've seen people criticize "her last-second negative ads." Well, all of Smith's ads were so positive that I can see how that would offend them. The Freddie Patton ad was especially uplifting—a bereaved couple talking about the loss of a young loved one and blaming Faye for not doing something about it.
One minor detail, as brought out in Mr. Patton's too-little-too-late apology, was that no one ever brought a case on that to the district attorney's office, and there was nothing for her to prosecute, and Patton had been lied to or totally misled into making the ad.
Yes, the power of positive politicking is a thing of beauty. Having supporters who took down Faye's signs repeatedly from locations where the owners had given permission to place them adds to the upbeat image of the victor's campaign as well.
So sit back and watch closely for the next four years. You're not likely to see the likes of it again in your lifetime.—Philip Weinberg, Hinds County Assistant D.A.
E-mail letters to [e-mail missing], fax to 601-510-9019, or mail to P.O. Box 2047, Jackson, Miss., 39225. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
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