by John Reid

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth knew going into the position three years ago would be a challenge.

After winning the election and taking on the role held by Paul Ebert for decades, there was a lot that had to be done. Recently, she spoke with the PW Perspective about her accomplishments so far, and her continued goals with a new tenure.

Back in April the second Dumfries expungement clinic, and she reflected on why it was so important. “The expungement clinic was something that I talked about with quite a few elected officials before I took office,” she said. “What people don’t realize is when an arrest is made, it is just on the standard of probable cause. Anyone can go to the magistrate and swear out a criminal complaint and have somebody arrested just on their word that’s taken under oath. The standards to get a conviction in a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt, which is substantially higher.”

“Often times, when there’s an arrest made based on probable cause, that is a public record. You can do a statewide search through Virginia’s judicial website, and you can see what people are arrested for. Even if it’s not a conviction, even an arrest will give employers pause, people may not want to be your roommate, you may have housing difficulties, and it can be an embarrassing thing. The person is not guilty to begin with, but it’s out there. The clinic erases it from our office. We are aware a charge exists, but we can’t use it in any way.”

What was it like being able to see so many records expunged?

“There’s a lot of steps to remove it from the record, so the clinic brings everyone together.,” she said. “The commonwealth attorney, the circuit court clerk, the sheriff’s department, and defense attorneys so we can walk people through the process in one day. It was amazing, records that were decades old were removed. A very heartwarming experience.”

There have been several reports of fentanyl cases throughout the county, and she talked about being able to find solutions to help users, while focusing on the dealers.

“Our office works very closely with the police department,” she said. “We’ve been helping them in their crime fighting division and investigating drug dealers, and help guide the investigation so we can arrests the dealers. It’s a problem.”

“I’m a member of the jail board, and we’ve taken a lot of efforts to educate people on the effects of Narcan, which has saved countless lives. I read the police reports every day, and I see the number of lives saved due to Narcan use. Getting it out into the hands of people and showing them how to use it is very important.”

“We’re focused in my office in those who are dealing narcotics. There is a special investigation unit that focuses on those cases and those defendants.”

How are the arrests going?

“That’s the goal. The users are different, most of them are causing harm to themselves and their families but they’re trying to escape a pain of some sort, and this is a coping mechanism. We want to encourage them to get help. Locking them in prison isn’t going to solve the problem. As prosecutors, we want to focus on the people who profit from their pain.”

Despite an FBI report that states Virginia as the eight safest state in the country, on a local level the perception is that it is not so. In response to a recent report by the Prince William County Police Department that violent crime is on the rise, she attributes it to several factors. “There’s a lot of things that go into why crime reports go up and down. You can do a quick Google search and find numerous articles about it. We saw a decrease in crime when COVID-19 hit and everyone went into lockdown, and then we saw increases in domestic violence and child abuse. It wouldn’t surprise me if we saw a rise in suicide.”

Ashworth says that some of the initiatives put together by the Board of County Supervisors will be a tremendous help.

“I’m very excited about Prince William County’s Community Safety Justice Initiative. They’re really focused on what is known as “Before the Bang,” the bang being the criminal act. What we as a community can do to prevent the bang from happening. Strong communities keeps everyone safe, and as an attorney respond to what happens after the bang. We work with the police department to investigate the case and prosecute the wrongdoer.”

“This is a very safe place to live. Our crime rate is low for our area, and hasn’t changed significantly in the last ten years.”

Along with the initiatives, she has been on the forefront of several programs to help alleviate the issues of domestic violence, including the Diversionary Program which was instituted in 2020.

“I’m very proud of our domestic violence prevention program,” she said. “What people don’t realize is that Virginia has a mandatory arrest in domestic violence cases. When police arrive, if they see a visible mark, and can determine who the aggressor is, the code requires them to make an arrest. As prosecutors, we get a report every day on the night before. We find that 1/3rd of them are very serious, and we assign those to domestic violence prosecutors who understand the intricacy of the cases. The other 1/3rd may not get assigned immediately, but they go through he process and we pay attention to it.”

“Then there’s the final 1/3rd, where we see that this is an abnormality for this family. Maybe there’s fights over money, parenting and we created the program to look at the final 1/3rd where they don’t warrant prosecution, but we don’t just turn them around. We provide resources to help them, where it could be a book, video, parenting classes. The feedback has been wonderful and it showed the system cares about them. We’ve had 99 percent of those families complete the program.”

One of her goals is to continue working towards sensible gun safety, and what she believes will help is better education on safe storage.

“It’s definitely concerning, anytime someone uses a gun to hurt another human being. Even if they live, the damage lasts years. It takes away your ability to feel safe, and we as prosecutors take gun violence seriously. We have special investigations unit to handle these cases. What we often see is that people have easy access to weapons, whether by stealing them out of cars, or access to weapons in their own home. Often, these guns are not secured safely, to where young children can get access to it.”

“What is the cause of that? Usually it’s an anger or mental health issue, or a volatile situation. When you combine that with access to weapons, there is the bang that occurs. We need to educate people more on safe storage, and as the community support gun buybacks. Give people a way to turn in the weapons they don’t want.”

As she prepares for her campaign, she reflects on her time as both a defense and prosecuting attorney, and how it has helped her prepare for the position.

“I was a defense attorney for ten years and a prosecuting attorney for eleven years, so it gave me an opportunity to see both sides of the criminal element,” she said. “I learned how to build a case and present it to a jury and then how to poke holes in a case as well. This helped me to determine the best way to make decisions on guiding prosecutors and handle the more serious cases. Since I’ve taken over, there’s been a lot to learn, a lot of tasks that you don’t anticipate like the budget, state compensation board, and the staffing plan. There’s a lot to do that many people don’t know, such as expungements, civil duties, but it’s been fantastic.”

“The change we’ve been able to make sure the criminal justice system is fair for everyone here in the county has been incredibly rewarding and I’m hopeful the people agree with me to do this again for another four years.”

Visit her website for more information.