Franklin County prosecutor candidates debate over handling of officer cases, murder backlog

Four candidates running for Franklin County prosecutor disagreed Thursday night over how to handle some of the major challenges facing the office, including criminal cases involving police officers and a backlog of about 250 unresolved murder cases.

Three of the candidates are Democrats — Delaware City Attorney Natalia Harris, who resides in Columbus; Columbus City Council member Shayla Favor, a former assistant city attorney; and Anthony Pierson, deputy chief counsel in current Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack's office — who will battle for their party's nomination in the March primary. Tyack is retiring and not seeking relection to the office.

The Democratic primary winner will get to face John Rutan, the unopposed Republican ballot candidate, in the November general election.

The candidates forum on Thursday at Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus' Bridgeview neighborhood was the first where the Democrats faced Rutan, who was not at a forum Sunday when the three Democrats debated at Vintage Grounds Church in Columbus' Argyle Park.

The three Democrats were often united against Rutan on Thurdsay, disagreeing with Rutan's stance that more juveniles need "tough love" and to spend more time behind bars for alleged crimes.

Favor pointed to reporting by The Dispatch exposing that Ohio's youth prisons and jails are not effective at restoring youth.

'This is not Starbucks. You got to have skill.'

All three Democrats appeared to take offense at how Rutan responded to a question about considering diversity in hiring at the prosecutor's office, which also riled up the audience more than anything else during the forum.

"I'd love to sit here and tell you I'm just gonna go out and hire every African American I could, but ladies and gentlemen, this is a prosecuting position. This is not Starbucks. You got to have skill," Rutan said.

While the majority-Black audience audibly made their displeasure known, Rutan continued, saying, "if everything's equal, you go toward diversity."

The event moderator, Rodney Dunigan, assistant news director at WSYX-TV (ABC Channel 6), then stepped in. "Obviously, you'd have three qualified African Americans here," he said, referring to the three Democrats, who are all Black.

"I'm a tad bit offended at the idea that people who look like me cannot be qualified to do this job," Harris said of Rutan's remarks.

All three Democrats said they want to hire more attorneys of color and make a prosecuting attorney's office that reflects the community.

Other than the comments about hiring at the end of the forum, there were few fireworks.

Mother of shooting victim says prosecutor's race important

The event began with Tamala Payne, the mother of Casey Goodson Jr., speaking about why the Franklin County prosecutor's race is important. Former Franklin County SWAT deputy Jason Meade fatally shot Goodson on Dec. 4, 2020, outside his grandmother's Columbus home and will go on trial on charges of murder and reckless homicide later this month.

The fatal shooting of Payne's son is part of two hot-button issues for the prosecutor candidates: the backlog of untried homicide cases and how to handle criminal charges involving law enforcement officers.

Harris said when people ask her why she’s running, she tells them “251 — that’s the number of backlogged murder cases in the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office.”

There are about 250 untried homicide cases in Franklin,County, but the number fluctuates frequently with more indictments, trials and pleas almost every week. The backlog grew during the COVID-19 pandemic when jury trials couldn't be held.

“It is time for new, experienced, tried and true leadership and this backlog of murder cases shows it,” Harris said.

Pierson said more than 160 of those cases are recent indictments and these cases require time and thorough investigations.

Dunigan asked the candidates a lot of questions about working with law enforcement and how to handle prosecuting law enforcement officers when necessary.

All four candidates agreed that when an officer breaks the law, they should be prosecuted. But they disagreed on when to bring in special prosecutors from outside the office.

Harris and Pierson both said using an outside prosecutor on cases involving law enforcement agencies that the prosecutor's office works closely with can help build trust and make the public feel the process is objective.

Rutan said if there’s a high-profile case, as prosecutor, he would be the one to handle it.

“I am special counsel,” he said.

In answering a question about transparency and the case of a Blendon Township officer fatally shooting Ta'Kiya Young, Favor said Tyack's office appears to have no set policy on when to turn a case over to outside counsel. Tyack’s office has brought in the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office to handle the fatal Blendon shooting case in exchange for the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office handling a law enforcement shooting case in Montgomery County.

“It appears from the outside, there is no consistent policy as to when a special prosecutor might be assigned to a case, the timing of a case and no transparency over all,” said Favor, a former assistant city attorney for Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein who won reelection to Columbus City Council in the Nov. 7 general election before making her candidacy for Franklin County prosecutor public in December.

When Dunigan asked Pierson about issues with transparency in the county prosecutor's office, Pierson said the office does need to do a better job of getting community buy-in, and offered ideas that would increase transparency as part of a five-point plan he has for the office.

Pierson said that if an officer shooting is not indicted, the entire case file should be placed online within 48 hours.

“The public deserves to know exactly what happened,” said Pierson, who faced questions himself in early December about whether he is a resident of Franklin County or Delaware County. Pierson and his wife own a house in Lewis Center, Delaware County but he changed his voter registration in October 2022 to a condo he owns in Columbus while she is still registered to vote in Delaware County.

The candidates event was hosted by Columbus Stand Up, Ohio Families Unite for Political Action and Change, and the National Council of Negro Women's Columbus Section. The Ohio primary election is on March 19, and the voter registration deadline is Feb. 20. Absentee and early in-person voting begin Feb. 21.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County prosecutor candidates debate over cop, backlog cases