In a bold move against perceived lenient crime policies, local officials in Maine are taking a stand by proposing a symbolic budget cut for a district attorney. This controversial proposal suggests allocating a mere $1 to Natasha Irving, the district attorney for Lincoln County.
If this proposal is backed by the county commissioners, it could drastically impact Irving’s office. The measure was initially approved by the county budget advisory committee, highlighting the tension between local officials and the district attorney.
“This is a statement that we are dissatisfied with the current administration of the district attorney,” Richard Powell, a member of the advisory committee, explained to the Bangor Daily News.
Despite the dramatic proposal, it is unlikely to be enacted, as commissioners are legally required to provide sufficient funding for prosecutors. Additionally, Irving has voiced her intent to take legal action against the county if this budget is approved.
Expressing her frustration, Irving told the Daily Mail, “It’s an insult to the work that I do and the work that my staff does.” She warned that the proposal should be alarming for the residents of Lincoln County.
‘[The proposal] should be frightening to the people of Lincoln County.’
Powell and locals are upset with Irving’s track record and reject her soft-on-crime policies.
Irving claimed Powell sees charges against defendants dismissed in local news reports and then blames her for it.
‘There are hundreds of reasons,’ she said of the charge dismissals. ‘I don’t think they understand how the criminal justice system works.’
Irving said that 80 percent of domestic violence cases in Maine are dismissed because the victim recanted.
Dismissals of charges or cases can also result from plea deal negotiations or her choosing not to prosecute crimes of poverty, like a suspended license for failing to update a car’s registration.
Natasha Irving, the Lincoln County district attorney, could end up with a $1 budget if the commissioners uphold the county budget advisory committee approved proposal
She also is fond of dismissing charges if the jail time will remain the same, making it quicker and easier for prosecutors to get through cases and prove criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt, but keep the same outcome.
‘Non-violent misdemeanors, you got me!’ she joked, calling the advisory board proposal a ‘ridiculous fiasco’ that is ‘completely unserious.’
‘I’m not the only one that has received criticism about being soft-on-crime,’ she said, stating that Districts 3 and 7 have also gotten the same. ‘This is not new to a district attorney.
‘We win some, we lose some, but we take them to trial.’
Unlike other parts of the state, which has a significant backlog, Irving prides herself on the fact that her office does not face the same fate. Part of that reasoning is her refusal to get ‘bogged down’ on non-violent crimes.
The state as a whole has a lack of attorneys and state law dictates that if a criminal has been sitting in jail for weeks without getting a public defender assigned them, they could be released from jail.
Irving doesn’t agree with this, which is why, she said, she focuses on serious crimes, like rape and domestic violence and kidnapping, rather than traffic fines and suspended licenses, so that serious offenders don’t stand a case of being released.
‘That’s not going to happen in my community,’ the mother told the Daily Mail.
‘It’s a statement being made that we’re unhappy with the present district attorney’s administration,’ advisory committee member, Richard Powell, said (pictured: Wiscasset, ME)
She also said she has invited the advisory board, including Powell, to come to court to watch her office perform their duties, but none of them have taken her up on the offer.
‘Come to court, come to my office, see what we do,’ the prosecutor, who is currently running unopposed for reelection, said. ‘It’s soft-on-crime to be willful ignorant to not known how the process works.’
She also pushes back on having her policies be called ‘progressive.’
‘That’s not the word I’d use to describe myself,’ she told the Daily Mail. Rather, she prefers to call her policies ‘reformative justice,’ which considers incarceration a last resort. Instead, it opts to form a dialogue between the victims and offenders.
However, Democrat Commissioner William Blodgett said the advisory committee ‘asked good questions’ about Irving at the last budget meeting.
The committee, itself, has not provided specific reasons against Irving.
However, Blodgett said that the commissioners will take the $1 proposal into consideration, even if it will more than likely have to deny it.
‘I have personally spoken to Powell, explained what the criminal process is and the prosecutor’s role, I have invited him to attend court and see firsthand what we do,’ Irving told the Daily Mail in a statement.
‘I have invited commissioner Blodgett to see a trial, and no one has taken those steps to learn about what we do and dispel the myths they have created.
Locals are upset with Irving’s track record and reject her soft-on-crime policies. Irving won her seat in 2018 on progressive policies and believes imprisonment should be a last resort
‘When they are ready to have a serious and informed discussion with me, they know how to find me. Until then, they should get to work.’
Irving won her seat in 2018 on reformative policies, which many district attorneys ran on at the time.
‘The role of the prosecutor is to seek justice, not to merely convict people of crimes,’ she told the Penobscot Bay Pilot in 2018.
‘I believe that implementing community-based restorative justice, focusing on the needs of victims and the community, is of utmost importance.
‘I believe that criminal justice is about keeping us safe, righting wrongs, making victims whole, and addressing the root cause of crime, with an eye on preventing re-offense.
‘Mainers don’t care about conviction rates, they care about the safety of their families and communities.’
Irving, who was the first woman and Democrat to hold her seat, is running for reelection, which she announced in mid-August.
She said she was ‘eager to lead my team through another four years’ and wanted to focus on domestic violence, sexual assault, impaired driving, community safety, and more.
She also said she wants to continue ‘expanding opportunities for restorative justice, and maintaining and building upon efficiency in the criminal dockets to ensure speedy access to court time and defense resources for the accused,’ the Midcoast Villager reported.
Irving won her reelection bid in 2022 uncontested.
The Daily Mail has contacted Powell for comment.
