Michael Van Buren

Running for: 22A Judicial District Attorney
Hometown: Fulton, N.Y.
Occupation: assistant district attorney in Rowan County
Education:Graduated from St. Lawrence University with a degree in government and received his master’s degree in public administration from the Nova Southeastern University Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship and a law degree from the Shepard Broad Law Center.

What are the biggest issues facing your constituency?
The biggest issues facing the newly created District 22A is changing a culture in the District Attorney’s Office that has fostered: 1) a dismissal rate of almost 1/3 of the cases in Superior Court; 2) dismissing twice as many cases in District Court than taking guilty pleas; 3) accepting only a fraction of the felony cases submitted by law enforcement for felony prosecution (less than 40%); 4) an outdated case docketing plan; 5) 22 weeks of Superior Court; 6) limited resources and, 7) a tenuous relationship among agencies involved in the prosecutions of cases.

Of those issues, which do you feel is the most important?
The most important issue for newly created District 22A is the acceptance rate of felony cases for felony prosecution. Currently, the Iredell County District Attorney’s Office is only accepting a fraction of the felony cases for felony prosecution (less than 40%).

The Iredell County District Attorney’s Office filed less felony cases in Superior Court this past fiscal reporting year than it did in the fiscal reporting year previous and took less felony pleas this fiscal reporting year than in the fiscal reporting year previous. In many prosecutorial districts that are experiencing growth like Iredell County, the opposite is happening. There are increased felony filings in Superior Court, such as is the case in Rowan County. Naturally, as population increases so does crime.

It appears that the answer to the increase in population growth by the Iredell County District Attorney’s Office is to accept less felony cases for prosecution, which means dismissing and reducing more felony charges. This must change for the safety and security of our children, our community and our future.

What, if any, prior experience do you have that will help you if elected?
I have tried serious felony cases in more than one prosecutorial district, prosecuted juvenile cases for the Iredell County Department of Social Services and have an advanced degree in government management, a Master of Public Administration.

Shortly after graduating from law school, with almost no experience in the practice of law, I was hired as a superior court prosecutor trying serious felony cases in Prosecutorial District 25, Burke, Caldwell & Catawba Counties. I took that challenge to heart and tried my first murder case solo after just one year of joining the District Attorney’s Office, an experience rarely accomplished by an assistant district attorney so early in his career. I spent most of my time in Caldwell County which was suffering from the personal failures of the prior District Attorney, who made Caldwell County his base station. Morale among law enforcement was low, there was a distrust of the district attorney’s office and the court system was in disarray. There were boxes among boxes of unread felony files that cluttered the district attorney’s office. The dismissal rate in superior court was over 40 percent, there were only 20 weeks of court and an outdated case docketing plan. I was instrumental in bringing about change to Caldwell County and I will bring about change in Iredell County.

When I left Caldwell County to work for the Iredell County Department of Social Services, Caldwell County had a dismissal rate in Superior Court of less than 20 percent, a modern case docketing plan that allowed for more efficient and effective prosecution of cases in superior court, 26 weeks of superior court, no unread files hanging around the district attorney’s office, a strong relationship with law enforcement and other agencies in involved in the prosecution of cases and a high acceptance rate of felony cases for felony prosecution. I will use my experience from Caldwell County coupled with my current experience in Rowan County to create a an effective and efficient court system that will accept more felony cases for felony prosecution in Superior Court and will allow for the taking of felony pleas in District Court, a procedure that does not happen in Iredell County currently.

What is one particular thing you think the current board is doing right?
My understanding of Gary Frank, who I am not running against, is that despite not trying cases as a District Attorney, he does talk to all families of murder victims prior to plea or trial, which does not always happen in a multi county district.

What is one particular thing you think the current board is doing wrong?
The Iredell County District Attorney’s office has been neglected to the point that there is lax prosecution of cases in both Superior and District Courts.

What specifically would you do if elected in response to the county’s growth?
In response to the counties growth which will inevitably lead to more crime, I will reorganize court by first establishing a modern case docketing plan in Superior Court that will allow for: 1) more weeks of Superior Court, forty (40) if possible, twelve (12) of which will be non jury administrative court; 2) setting clear principles for the expectations of the District Attorney’s Office for plea bargaining and complying with certain laws such as Discovery; and, 3) allowing assistants to commit to the aggressive prosecution of felony cases and not accept a culture of indifference.

I would then establish a case docketing plan in District Court that will: 1) segregate law enforcement initiated cases from private warrants and from probation violations, so assistant district attorneys can concentrate more effectively on similar cases and law enforcement is not wasting time sitting in court rather than policing; 2) advocate for H and I felony pleas to be done in District Court to help resolve victims cases quicker; 3) establish probable cause court in District Court for all felony cases to go through in order to have a judicial official determine if probable cause exists for felony prosecution; 4) commitment to prosecuting cases that probable cause is found in District Court as felonies absent extraordinary circumstances.

Provided ongoing training and support to agencies involved in the prosecution of cases in order to strengthen relationships and have mutual understanding about job responsibilities.

Get involved with grant writing and other ways to raise monies and awareness of the current limitations in our court system by drawing attention and revenue for attacking ongoing problems.

Posted on 02/11/08 at 09:16 AM
candidates •District Court • (0) Comments

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