KEET-TV and the League of Women Voters o County present a forum for candi running for the office of Distri Attorney of Humboldt County.

Viewers may submit questions during this forum by calling 707 This forum is also being streame at our KEET.org website.

And now your moderator from the League of Women Voters.

Byrd Lochtie Good evening.

I'm Byrd Lochtie with the League Voters of Humboldt County.

I'd like to welcome all our view tonight for a live candidates fo with the three candidates for th of district attorney candidates.

With us this evening are Michael Adrian Kamada and Stacey Eads.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organiza encourages informed and active participation in gove works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

The league never endorses candid or political parties.

We do take positions on issues a extensive study and member conse The league is dedicated to providing impartial informati about voting and the political p Before we begin our forum tonigh I'd like to share something with our candidates and the viewing audience.

32 years ago, it was suggested to the league b that we have television candidat Board President Judy Bennett met with St Clair Adams, executive director of Wkyt at th and he agreed.

And so began our partnership with Wkyt on candidate forums.

A few years later, Carol Masters also a league board member, took over the job of facilitating these events wit This past January, we lost Carroll to leukemia.

So I want to take this moment to express our gratitude for all she did to make these forums a s We now have a committee doing what Carol did by herself for over 25 years.

Thank you, Carol.

And thank you, League members are serving tonight as phone volunteers, question sorters, timekeeper and Since our program tonight will include the use of question called in from viewers, I encour to begin calling in your questio 27074450811.

Our volunteers are waiting to take your calls.

The format for tonight's forum will be as follows.

Each candidate will be given a maximum of one m to respond to questions previously sent to the league or phoned in by the viewing audi at the end of the question perio Each candidate will have the opp to make a two minute closing sta The candidates have drawn lots t determine the order of closing s The district attorney is the public prosecutor of the with authority extending throughout Humboldt Co in initiating and conducting the prosecution of public offens that occur within the county on of the people of the State of Ca He or she assists and advises th jury on criminal matters oversea A victim witness and child servi team offers support services to victims, their families and w during criminal proceedings, and collaborates with other agen to operate special programs focusing on child abuse and on anti-drug abuse enforceme The basic salary range is $185120 to $209435.

Remember call 7074450811 with your questions for the cand For our first question, we will begin with Michael Acost And the first question is, why do you think you should be the next day?

Well, I think that there needs to be r in the district attorney's offic transparency, equal justice and And I think the property crimes have been made a lower priority than they should be.

I think our communities are suff from thieves who go unprosecuted because their cases are traded o for more lucrative revenue opportunities in the controlled substance case I think that sex offenders have also not been made a priority, and I think that I will straight the priorities of the district attorney's offic in the next administration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Stacey, it's your answer, please Thank you.

I should be the next district at because I am the only qualified to be an effective district atto for Humboldt County.

I currently serve as assistant district attorney a ability I assist in the overall and running of the office.

I deal with personnel issues as well as scheduling and handli administrative duties, such as b and management of the office.

Furthermore, I am currently the lead prosecut on the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Crimes I have over 20 years of experien prosecuting crime.

I've handled nearly every type of case in Humboldt C I have a very successful trial r I bring justice for victims.

I treat victims with compassion and I treat them with respect.

I will continue to serve Humbold with the integrity, the ethics and the ability that I have done from the beginn of my career here in Humboldt Co where I was born and raised.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Adrian Kamada.

Your answer, plea Thank you.

We have a skyrocketing crime over the last.

Six years.

We need to look at new ways of addressing it.

The old ways are not working.

So what I am proposing is adapti And putting in.

Gap stops through leadership.

Leadership that I have proven over time.

As the head of the Environmental Task Force, I brought together numerous agen so we could work together to find solutions.

And we did that.

And I was proud to be named pros of the year for the state of Cal I'm also the only person here th been a prosecutor and a public d So I've seen both sides of the criminal justice system, which I think gives me the abili to have an effective message that will result in finishing the job.

Thank you.

We will stay with you, Adrian, for the next question.

Please state your views on citiz oversight of law enforcement and the composition of members of a citizen's law enforcement review board.

Thank you.

I am in favor of having a review I think the more transparency that we can have in the criminal justice system, the better.

And I think that builds trust with the community.

And that is very much what my campaign is about buildi trust through transparency, buil by having collaborative relation with very different groups throughout the community.

So I think that there should be law enforcement on a committee that someone that has the experi of being a law enforcement offic someone that has proven to be su through their career.

A retired officer would be great I also think that there should b from public health and there should people that are medical doctors, teache It should be a diverse cross-section of our community.

Thank you, Michael.

Your answer, please.

Well, the citizens review board of the law enforcement agencies of our county needs to and to have some teeth.

It needs to be combined with the grand jury process.

I think we should have a more ex grand jury.

I think that all cases of egregious police misconduct and any officer involved shootin should be brought before the gra And the D.A.

should be in consultation with the grand jury to decide if should be brought against office rather than having the police de review their own cases through internal affairs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Stacey, your answer, please.

Thank you.

I believe that Citizen Oversight Communities for Committees for L Enforcement is a very valuable resource and that we can all benefit from a g The Eureka Police Department, in has their own citizen oversight and it's proven to be very effective and benefic And there's currently a little bit of a change that's place in terms of the compositio I think in terms of the composit of a citizen oversight committee that it would be imperative to have representatives of all p of our county.

We live in a very large county geographically, and it's important to ensure that everyone is fully represent Additionally, I think it would be imperative to have individuals that were from the business comm people that were from the govern people that were homeless, peopl that were from various economic and social economic bac Furthermore, to have all genders and identities represented on the committee.

Oversight Committee.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll stay with you, Stacey.

What do you consider being soft and how do you feel you address that concern?

I consider being soft on crime is doing nothing to address the and the behavior of the offender So I think it's really important that when we address criminal ac that we look at the individual circumstances involved in a particular case, the crime that was conducted as well as the particular offend and taking into consideration the unique set of circumstances that are presented.

So for example, are we dealing with a serious and violent offen someone who has a history of acting out in a violent manne Is this a person who hasn't resp previously to attempts to rehabi and change their behavior?

Is this a person that we need to from the streets and protect our community?

Alternatively, is a person who has never offended before and perhaps their youthful and they would be amenable to treatment and rehabilitation.

That might be someone that we would address with, you know, diversion programs or other alternatives to help divert them out of the criminal justice syst So being soft on crime is ignori Thank you, Adrian.

Your answer, please.

Thank you.

Being soft on crime means not having a strategy to prioritize the different crim when every case is treated like an assembly line.

Then they're not getting down to what is going to prevent the behavior in the future.

What is going to hold the defendant accountable?

That's being soft on crime, not having a plan and not having a bigger strategy what is necessary to keep our pu With a 30% increase in violent c We need different ideas.

And the way that we do that is by prioritizing cases.

And we don't hang onto cases for that we end up with a worse resolution down the road.

It is about considering the fundamental job of a D.A., which is to have a strategy and consider society's interest as the most paramount thing.

Thank you, Michael.

Your answer, please.

I think being soft on crime has a lot to do with our o of the probation department.

I think people, offenders should serve their sentences mos upfront, should not rely on prob I would eliminate the use of no no opposition to probation.

Plea bargains and also quid pro quo plea bargains and ensure that every set, every prosecutio that is worth prosecuting will involve some amount of jail If it's a small amount or a larg depends on the gravity of the cr But the over use of probation is what powers the revolving door that people talk about.

Because what happens is, instead of making people front the time they owe society to pay their dues, they end up being violated over and over again for smaller things like not being in the rig at the right time, having a dirty drug test or not checking in, which aren't even criminal behaviors to begin So we need to make people serve their sentences upfront.

Thank you.

Next question.

We'll start with Adrian.

We had a couple of questions about budgeting and your experti in hiring, delegating and and bu and staffing in the DA's office as part of the job of the DEA.

Can you talk about your experien in that area, please?

Absolutely.

So I don't have any experience in staffing whatsoever.

What I do have experience in is leadership.

Leadership to.

Make an entire plan come through by recognizing people's strength and weaknesses and bringing them like I did with the Criminal Env Task Force.

And in terms of budgeting.

What I plan to do is have a very strong business m that actually does the accountin and using that business manager to do the accounting part.

That's a job that I'm not as str and I'm not an accountant, but having a good accountant that can help what I ultimately make the final on how the resources are used and those resources are used in that is going to prioritize my a which is to implement plans that are going to make our communities safer because they've been proven to work in other places and get away from the same old t Thank you, Stacey.

In your answer, please.

Thank you.

So I've had a lot of experience working on the budget and in par in recent past we were able to address realloca funds and resources so that we could pay our support a higher level of what they dese in light of the really high stress, high impact job that the they undertaken.

The fact of the matter is that without our support staf we couldn't do the work that we for the community.

So the budget within the distric attorney's office is very large.

About half of it comes from the general fund.

The other half comes primarily f and as well as measures the fund in terms of personnel issues, I've unfortunately had to deal with a number of personnel issue and I've even had to address per issues, conflicts among folks within the district attorney's o And in terms of the leadership t Commodity's referenced in terms of the Environmental Ta I think it's important to note that the Environmental Task Forc existed long before Mr. Camarda was a deputy D.A.

So that is something I do feel that needs to be pointed out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Michael, your answer, please.

Proactive.

51 years old.

I'm the oldest candidate.

I'm also the most experienced overall attorney, having practic well over 20 years in more than and several tribal jurisdictions Federal courts, federal appellat courts, state appellate courts.

I've been a managing attorney at Code Plains Legal Services in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and Indian Reserva I've been the executive director of the Bear River Gaming Agency here locally with and budgetary concerns, I've had to do hiring, firing, performance evaluations and all aspects of human resource management.

I think that retention in the DA office is best served by a more egalitarian income or salary range.

I think the district attorney's is too high and should be redist at least half.

I would redistribute to the othe DA's in the office in order to promote their retention and s that we're all on the same team.

Thank you.

We'll stay with you, Michael, for this next question.

There have been controversial cases in the past.

How would you handle these types of cold cases?

Questions about controversial cases or col I'm not sure how the two relate necessarily, but controversial cases would be handled as any others.

I don't think that the attorney's office should be press releases on controversial I think it poisons the jury pool We have an ethical duty not to d I think that we should keep case out of the limelight as much as If a case is newsworthy, the independent free press should approach the district attorney's office and ask for co It shouldn't be the case that the district attorney's off is proactively putting out press press releases and prejudicing the jury pools of controversial cases.

And.

Thank you.

Your answer, please.

Adrian.

In terms of controversial cases, I think it is the role of the district attorney to take and not pass that on to a deputy The controversial cases need to to have a signal to the communit that this is really important.

This is what happened during the murder of George Floy We saw how the attorney general of the state of Minnesota sat at counsel table to symboliz this is an important case to the And I think that's a very import in terms of press releases, as M Acosta was talking about.

Obviously, there shouldn't be an press releases or anything that in any matter, prejudice the defendant ever.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Stacey, your answer, Thank you.

Any case should be handled appro Filing by following the law.

So in assessing a case and evalu whether it's something that we c on prosecution, we have to asses the admissible evidence and make a determination regardi whether a crime can be proven based upon the admissible eviden So controversial or not, it doesn't impact the the rules and the laws that we must file i to ethically handle and prosecut We shouldn't make our determinat based upon public sentiment or e I think it's also important to n that since Mr. Commodity's termination from the District Attorney's Off we have a team of experienced, q ethical prosecutors, each of who well equipped to handle serious murders, homicides, sexual assau I'm very proud of the team that and I have full faith that they will be able to handle the most complex of prosecutions Thank you.

I was going to stay with you, St for the next question.

What is the case that you have p handled that had the most impact It's absolutely impossible for m to make a determination which cases had the most impact I've handled a number of cases that are of the most sensitive n Primarily, my caseload involves as well as sexual assault and child sexual assault and mol cases.

Each of those is very sensitive, involving individuals whose lives have been deeply imp the criminal conduct of their of I've had the benefit of working very closely with a number of fa and victims and survivors, and I've gotten to see them grow and heal and move through.

The criminal justice system is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job to help support and treat victim and survivors with compassion and the respect that they deserv Sadly, they don't always get tha in our criminal justice system, and that is something that I have been committed to pr from the beginning of my career, and I will provide it throughout as district attorney, and I will.

Expect that of all of my deputie and everyone that appears on beh of the people.

Thank you, Michael.

Your answer, please.

I think the case that's affectin the most in practice has been the People versus Nicho which was a murder case.

My client was charged along with three other co-defend He was falsely charged.

He was guilty by association onl He didn't have he didn't have an in the stabbing of a young man.

And despite two judges who are visiting judges in Humbo dismissing the case, the district attorney's office filed that case three times against this young m And anyone that knew that knew Nick knew that he was not the le of a of a criminal enterprise like they were alleging.

He was a very nice young man.

And he is free today because we to get that dismissed a third ti But it just highlighted what happens when personal vende get involved with prosecutorial decision maki because after two judges had dismissed the case, there's that a third bite of the apple should have been given.

And Marylin Miles agreed with that assessment.

dismissed the case a third time.

Thank you.

Adrien, your answer, please.

Yes.

So homicides I've got for me are situation where you're dealing with family that are grieving and you have to carry them through a that is often cumbersome and dif and has a lot of rules that they don't understand.

So being able to shepherd them t the system is one of the most important dut that a district attorney can hav And I did that in People versus the murder of Robert Holtzclaw each date, the daughter of Mr. Holtzclaw, as well as Mr. Holtzclaw sister, were there.

And I made sure to spend a lot of time with them let them know what was happening at each step.

Same thing in the case that I di in the homicide of Jesse Simpson when he was murdered by Eric Liv Those cases where you have to he through the system that have los Those are very, very difficult.

And so it comes from a position of being empathetic.

As well as smart about how you h Thank you.

Remember the number to call with your questions.

7074450811.

For our next question, we will start with you, Michael.

What is diversion and do you sup Well, there's several types of d When they see the term diversion there's a statutory deferment of which is something like PC 1000 that's been on the books and is for first time drug offenders.

There's a deferment of prosecuti which is a little is much less used.

And so either either of those can be a form of diversion.

Diversion is when we do not pros the case in exchange for or in favor of some some sort of utilitarian betterment of the offender.

The diversion is fine.

It's offender centric.

I still am a believer firmly in the retributive theory of justice that if you do the crimes, do yo So it's not my first choice.

If something's worth prosecuting people should be doing jail time If they're if there's no jail ti eligible for it, it shouldn't necessarily be prosecuted at all It's not a social service agency It's not a 12 step program.

It's the prosecutor's office.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Your answer, Stacey.

Thank you.

So diversion is essentially where the district attorney actually files charges within the criminal justice syst A case is created.

And then if there's a statutory for diversion that might be triggered, for example, mental health diver veterans diversion, child abuse diversion as well as diversion programs to geared towards drug substance possession and users.

Also in the works, we have the tribal diversion pro that we're working on developing a memorandum of understanding wi your tribe, as well as we're hop we can incorporate other tribes once there's a legal agreement t acceptable from the court's pers So with diversion, rather than g through to the point of being co an offender can have an opportun to receive treatment and service to change their behavior and ideally not have a convictio that it lands on their record.

So it's a great opportunity for and it's a great opportunity for Thank you, Adrian.

Your answer, please.

So miscast or sorry, Mr. Acosta and Ms.. Higgins both talked about the st diversions, and, yes, there are those statutory d that exist.

There's also a way, as a district attorney, of doing diversions before filin You can also do diversions after filing by using their discretion, pre filing div They should have an agreement.

There should have a victim.

If the victim is involved, that should have to agree to the dive But a pre filing diversion can be very effective.

I plan to implement a community where we look at elements of restorati for low level and misdemeanor cr Again, trying to steer people out of the criminal justice syst Those will also be very consiste with the tribal court diversions where they can have culturally a programs and resources that they can again try to keep from having convictions, which often perpetuates crime when you're in the system.

Thank you.

We'll stay with you, Adrian, for the next question.

What is your approach to addressing repeat offenders?

So with repeat offenders, one of the main things is that we're going to have to have specific agreement with the courts, with the judges This is one that can't be handle that is profiling, like I was discussing before.

We're going to have to figure ou that comes with an agreement, also with the public defender's It has to be all the criminal ju partners coming together to figure this out.

What I would propose is that when somebody has commit a theft or vandalism multiple times within a year.

Once we get to three offenses within a single year, that there be a time that is actually asserted into the jail.

So they're actually spending tim if they cannot find exit ramps, through treatment or elsewhere.

There needs to be actual punishm There needs to be jail time.

Thank you, Michael.

Your answer, I think it's really simple.

We eliminate probation entirely.

The legislature has already star this process last year with the passage of AB 1950, which lowered felony probation t from 5 to 3 years and misdemeano probation terms from 3 to 1 year I think that's a step in the rig direction, but didn't go far eno I think district attorney's offi has a lot of a lot of.

Discretion in settling cases, the 90% of cases which are settled by plea bargains in those, none of them should involve prob If the D.A.

has any say about it, they should involve jail time up If the case is worth prosecuting if it's really something we should be prosecuting, that's give some jail time upfro not rely on probation, because probation is the gateway to the revolving door.

Thank you.

Your answer, Stacey, please.

Think it's a repeat.

Offenders are exactly what it so And one of the things that we at the district attorney's offic Fleming and myself have proposed in collaboration with the sheriff, Sheriff Hansel is a chronic offender pro where those offenders that we id that are low level offenders.

So they're committing misdemeanor offenses, but they'r repeatedly while out on the stre and there's minimal accountabili for the commission of their crim crimes by the courts.

So for those identified chronic but we're asking the courts to do is to impose significant jail ti We know who the offenders are.

We know who are repeatedly commi the rampant theft throughout our community, targeting our bus and our community members.

And we think those folks need to sit some time in jail.

Thank you.

Please remember to call in your 7074450811.

We'll start with you, Stacey, with this next question.

Please share.

The organizations that are supporting your candida I am supported by the labor unions, two separate labor union I am also supported by a number of individuals that for the district attorney's offi And why that is so significant and important to me is that those are the people that see me on a daily basis.

They work with me, they've known my demeanor, they know how to ha people in the work environment, and they know how I handle my ca They know I work hard.

They know that I'm ethical.

So having the support of all of experienced prosecutors, as well as the vast majority of support staff, our chief investi her senior investigator, Sheriff Billy Hansel, retired Sheriff Mi as well as retired Detective Ron Those are some very valuable end that I have, as well as members throughout the community, people from all spectrums of the politi This is a nonpartisan race, and I think it's very important everyone is fully represented by Thank you for your answer, Adria What I agree with this is that it is obviously a nonpar and that we should have a a we're going to be doing the jo for everybody.

And so having broad support is i I am supported by and endorsed by the York tribe, the Democrat Central Committee, Progressive Democrats, the Green also some of the most conservati leaders in our community, as wel as environmental groups and their coalition has also end The Central Labor Council of Hum in Del Norte County has endorsed asked me the union group for all of the county workers has also endorsed me.

I'm also proud to have endorseme within the district attorney's o including a majority, I believe, of the investigators, as well as Deputy Diaz and lots of law enforcement offi I have more law enforcement supp than my two opponents combined.

Thank you.

Michael, your answer, please.

Well, I think my base of support comes from the poor, the disenfranchized and the downtrodden in Humboldt and certainly anyone who's been to the criminal justice system of Humboldt County, whether they guilty or not, maybe particularl those who are not guilty, who had to suffer the system and the stigma of the system when they were falsely accused.

I also have support from individual tribal leaders that I've come into contact with, Eileen Meyer.

They're of a tribe.

Richard Haberman, the first chai of the IRC of your tribe.

But I really think that is my base of support would be anyone who believes that the system is broken and that priorities need to be c that money is conservatively spe on putting violent criminals and probably criminals in jail.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll stay with Adrian for the next question.

It's about drug offenders.

What will be your approach to drug offenders, particularly?

How would you deal with low leve drug offenders?

So we're talking about low level drug offenders.

PC 1000, which Mr. Costa had mentioned earlier, is a statutory diversio that's mandatory that the district attorney's off when charging a simple possessio of drugs, tell the at the time of arraignment the f of the criminal proceedings.

Tell that defendant if they're eligible for.

PC 1000.

PC 1000 essentially diverts the person from the prog and they have to do some educati and as well as get an assessment If they successfully complete th things, then their case is dismi I do think that there is a numbe level street dealers that I think that are su supporting their habit that woul from a similar type of diversion that is more strenuous.

But we really need to try to get as many people out of the system as possible.

And I think those programs do th Thank you for your answer, Stace So PC 1000 the diversion program for posses Narcotics is is simply what happens now in co And I don't see any reason why we would change that.

So it certainly gives offenders the opportunity to engage in rehabilitation and to address their substance use and to have the opportunity to not have a criminal record based upon their simple possessi So I think it's a successful pro and I don't see a reason why we would change that.

I think it's different when we'r about dealers of narcotics and a when we're talking about dealers in particular that are dealing f As we all know, the overdose rat for fentanyl is extremely high, it's very dan and it's plaguing our community and killing members of our commu And so I think that's an issue that we really need to address h Thank you.

Your answer, Michael?

Well, once we start talking about reha and diversion and all of these other things, we're really not talking about prosecutorial functions.

We're turning the prosecutor's o into a social service agency.

I think if cases are worth prose they should be worthy of jail ti And I don't think low level offe should receive jail time.

I think that policy of confiscat of the drugs straight off the st accomplishes the goal of removing the drugs from the street, and at the same is the cheapest alternative.

Because once you talk about pros you're talking about many tax do Once you talk about putting a lo offender of drug laws into jail, you're talking $106,000 a year that we pay for inmates h If we want to spend any of that of those beds and the cost of th low level drug offenders, this a disorder is a medical issue.

Let's put it back where it belongs in the medical and keep the prosecutor's office reserved for prosecuting cases which deserve jail time.

Thank you, Michael.

The next question, our community hit by ACS adverse childhood exp How do you think you can address that as the D.A.?

That's a that's an interesting q I think that certainly taking into account.

First of all, a victim's faces is important so that we are sensitive to thos and give them a voice in the cou That's the first job of the district attorney's offic with respect to offenders.

I think that there is some room for adjustment or deviation from what should be standardized jail sentences for people who get prosecuted .

And that deviation should be, if they do have documented child that there should be some consideration of that in se but it should also be standardized.

Thank you.

Thank you, Adrian.

Your answer, please.

I think when we come to this iss we really need this is a critica in our community.

We have far too many children in our community that are.

Falling through the cracks.

I think that when we talk about.

He says we should be thinking ab solutions that are addressing things like addressing things like economic opportunities and So therapy, education, health ne That is where we need to be focu when it comes to that, because it gives us an opportunity, again, to have an opportunity to get rid of this generational cyc of families that have engaged in criminal behavio criminal conduct.

So let's do everything we can with therapy and education.

Thank you, Stacey.

Your answer, please.

Thank you.

Aces is a tremendous problem here in Humboldt County.

So for ACS, it can be all sorts of circumsta from violence in the home, the lack of stability, a caregiv who abuses substances, the absence of a parent, the absence of a caregiver being subjected to violence.

Sexual abuse.

Physical abuse.

Emotional abuse.

Neglect.

The result of ACS for folks that higher numbers of experiences, can be ultimately education insecurity, high housing insecur but chronic illness, substance abuse, lifelong challenges.

But with intervention, like we do with the child abuse team, removing the violence from providing security, providing emergency shelter, providing eme services and food and transition and security for a child.

We can have a direct impact on a who may be suffering from ACS ex Thank you.

We'll begin with you, Stacey, with this question.

What would you do to prevent white supremacist violence in our community?

Any incident of white supremacis that comes across my desk that's investigated and reported would absolutely be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law I would handle that as a hate cr And there would be.

Absolutely.

No.

Forgiveness for those types of c So I would handle those types of by serious for prosecution based upon the e that was admissible before court as well as what the particular types of violence we could prove and what the particular crimes w But there is no room for that type of hatred.

In violent crimes.

All violent crimes are to the full extent of law.

With hate crimes, there are enha that can be applied.

I think it's important to look o in the area of white supremacy c that are not only committed, committed against people of colo but can be committed against peo of different sexual orientations and against white people who are supporters of people of We need to be looking out for th proactively to make sure that we're not missing any hate and to be able to be ensuring that we're applying those enhanc where they're appropriate.

Thank you, Adrian.

Your answer, please.

I agree with both of my opponent This has to be you know, obvious whatever the underlying offense there needs to be the enhancemen for hate crimes.

Those can be difficult to prove.

So I think one thing that I woul is train law enforcement about the elements of hate crime and go over the legal standards that we must prove.

And I think that is one thing th a little bit of a gap right now we really need to paint a bigger picture of that person' and look at the specific facts that can help us prove that the crime that was committe was based on a desire to hate, based on someone's either ethnicity, their race or religion or gender Thank you.

This will be our last question.

And we begin with Michael.

What are the most important chal facing the prosecutor's office?

Most important challenges of the prosecutor's office are p Priorities are screwed up.

We have the most incarcerated co in the world.

We are we have the world record for incarceration that another w We have four times the incarceration of Russia at t We have more incarcerated people than China, and they have a population that is four times our size.

Reconciling that with the fact that we're not in the top ten of the safest countries in t is the major job.

The prosecutor's office.

We are the most incarcerated cou in the world, should be the safe in the world also.

And we're not And that has a lot to do with our priorities.

It has a lot to do with transpar It has a lot to do with too many going towards nonviolent crimes and not being focused on violent making our communities safer, and property crimes which really lower the quality o for all of us in Humboldt County and which are often traded off f lucrative revenue opportunities of drug cases.

Thank you, Stacey.

Your answer, please.

I think the priority of the dist attorney's office is to enforce the laws to ensure public safety.

In doing that function, the district attorney in large p the duties and obligations are outlined and dictated by the law.

So we enforce the law based upon and we must do so with integrity with ethics, and applying good, logic and experience based upon a handling of cases.

Working with families.

Working with victims, hearing li Gaining input, gaining insight.

So it's very important that as the district attorney that we hear from our community and prioritize and enforce the laws of our comm to ensure that our public is saf And what county is our home?

We need to feel safe and protected here in our home.

Thank you, Adrian.

Your answer, please.

Yeah, thank you.

I think that one of the key thin is prioritizing cases, having a strategy to do that.

With the skyrocketing crime, we cannot continue with the old of doing things.

We need to adapt programs that will cut off people from continuing into the system, being in that revolving door.

That is where it has to be key and that's where we need to focu Those efforts is in young adults and children.

We really need to put all of our there to get those folks out.

The systems can have a long term I think that is what we is essen to looking at a long term impact on reducing crime and having a strategy to priorit So prosecutors aren't sitting ar waiting to do low level felonies when they have murders, rapes, s assault towards children cases.

There really needs to be a strategy, a clear strategy.

Thank you.

Now we will hear closing stateme from each candidate.

We had questions that we didn't have time for, questions involving cash, bail, reducing costs in the DA's offic law enforcement, fatal use of force, and local po and child offenders being tried adult court.

Candidate you may wish to addres these topics in your closing sta We'll now hear a closing stateme from Michael Acosta.

Thank you.

I am a reformist candidate.

That is not like the other refor candidates you've seen nationall I am not a de carceral in form a reformers candidate.

I believe that it's not about ha less people in jail.

It's about putting the right peo jail.

We do need to reconcile the fact that we are the most incarcerate in the world.

We're not the safest, but there are plenty of crimes in th and plenty of people that should be subjected to inca for committing egregious crimes against persons and property.

Unfortunately, many of them go u because of trading that goes on behind the scenes.

This is information the public n because there's no transparency in these areas.

But there is significant trading going on between the DA's office, law enf and criminals who can provide in for more lucrative revenue opportunities of forfeit eligible cases.

And I think that that needs to be addressed.

The reality is, I'm here to tell until that's addressed, the public will never understand why we have rising crime and so many people in jail.

And that is one of the key factors is transparency of the g The federal government does prod statistics on how many criminals they work with and how many authorized crimes that they've that they authorize called otherwise illegal activity.

The local government does no suc The public has no idea how many are on the payroll of this local government.

And until that is exposed, you w understand why crime is going up And we have so many people in ja but we don't feel any safer.

So a vote for me would be a vote for transparency and straightening out the priori People who do the crime will do regardless of who they are or who they tell on.

And if it's not worth putting so jail, we're not going to prosecu Thank you.

Thank you.

Stacey, it's your closing statem now, please.

As Assistant District attorney, I'm the only candidate who has over 20 years of experie prosecuting crime.

I'm the only candidate who has an untarnished record of serving ethically with integr I have the support and the recog of a well established reputation of serving and appearing professional, working compassionately with the courts, compassionately with the victims I will continue to serve compass seeking justice with respect.

I have administrative and manage experience as well.

I'm committed to serving with in and the only candidate who has e prosecuted a law enforcement off Nobody is above the law.

I will uphold the law.

I will enforce the law.

And I will do that to ensure that Humboldt County is a safe p Since Mr. Cameron's termination from the D Attorney's Office, we have a goo of experienced prosecutors who are able to obtain convictio Mr. Commodus conviction record is deplorable.

When he was working as a deputy he had a 33% conviction rate.

That means nearly 70% of his cas resulted in acquittals.

He wants to talk about transpare He doesn't share that informatio He wants to take over the lead c and big cases as the prosecutor.

He doesn't have the experience.

He doesn't have the ability to successfully try serious case This is dangerous.

Ladies and gentlemen, if Mr. Kamada is your district attorney You will not be safe.

As your district attorney, I am to continue to serve with integr Upholding the law.

Following the Thank you.

Your closing statement, Adrian K thank you.

And thanks for holding this even and giving us an opportunity to speak to the public about this important decision.

First, just a couple of things really quick that you had raised on the questions about things th addressed for child juvenile cas I think we should treat children like children.

Most children or most people's b don't develop until they're 25.

There's very limited circumstanc where I think we should moving j into a dock, into adult court, i In terms of racism, I think that we have a very big here and we need to use the trib as much as possible.

About 6% of our population is Native American and about almost 25, 26%, I thin to 26% of the people in the jail given time are Native American.

So we have a big problem there.

So we need to use those tribal c I'm asking for your vote because we need ch We need we have skyrocketing crime all around us.

And Massey just wants to put our head in th pretend that doesn't exist, and with the old ways of doing thing and is basically hoping that her attacks on me with numbers that are not true, 33% is not a true number.

I am the only person out of her I'm the only person that's done homicide cases, homicide jury tr and I've won all the ones that I So that is a misrepresentation.

And I think it's very interestin she spent most of her time this attacking me rather than giving what she'll do as a day.

We need change.

We need it now.

And I'm going to be it in a decisive accountable.

And I'm accountable to the peopl And I am going to make sure that our system is more equitabl more effective and more efficien Please vote for change.

Please vote for me.

And I will prove to you folks that it is the best decision to Thank you.

This concludes tonight's program I'd like to thank TV for airing airing this forum to help voters be better informe about their voting choices.

Membership in the League of Wome Voters is open to all women and men 16 years and older.

If you would like more informati about the league, please call 7074449252 or go to our website at LW VA C Our website includes a complete of upcoming candidate forums as well as additional informatio about our league.

KTVT will be airing candidate fo on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p The next forum is Monday, May 23 for Recorder County Clerk Registrar of Voters.

Following that on Wednesday, May 25th, Arcadia City Council and in conclusion on Wednesday, the Superior Court Judge, I'd like to urge all of our view to consider contributing to TV.

It is through viewer memberships and contributions that TV can co to present these programs which are so important to our co I'd like to thank those of you who took the time to email or phone in your questions.

We have all gotten a clearer pic of the issues in our community because of your questions.

And finally, I'd like to thank t candidates themselves for taking from their very hectic schedules to answer the questions of the v Thank you also for having the de to democracy to run for this important office Thank you all for watching.

And please return your vote by m through the US, mail into a secu drop box or any polling place or vote at your precinct on June Power is in your vote.

Good night.

Thank.