On today’s show, we’re sitting down with Jason Smith, district attorney for Pender and New Hanover counties. A year ago, Smith won a contentious race to replace Ben David, who’d served as DA for twenty years.
Smith had "big shoes to fill," as many told him, but also serious challenges: restoring morale, implementing e-courts, a new state-wide digital court management system, and dealing with new state and local legislation, including Iryna’s law (a statewide criminal justice reform bill inspired by the murder of Iryna Zarustka in Charlotte) and Wilmington’s new anti-camping ordinance.
And, there’s the persistence and thorny issue of youth violence — a deeply complex and difficult issue that Smith has made his mission to take on.
