Natasha Irving (LCN file)
District Attorney Natasha Irving, D-Rockland, hopes to seek reelection for Prosecutorial District 6, which covers Lincoln, Knox, Sagadahoc, and Waldo counties.
Irving is on the Tuesday, June 9 ballot for the Democratic primary, facing challenger Barbara Ann Cray, D-Westport Island. The winner will appear on the ballot in November.
If reelected, this will be Irving’s third term in the position.
Irving said she has made progress on her platform to reform the system, use resources to prosecute serious offenses, divert lower level offenses, seek rehabilitation for offenders of lower level offenses, and use restorative justice practices.
“I’ve got a great staff, a great team, we’ve made a lot of progress over the last eight years and we want to keep the work moving forward,” she said.
Irving said prosecuting serious cases of domestic violence, including nonfatal strangulation, has been a focus of her office.
“Those are the types of cases we’re really focusing our resources on prosecuting,” she said. “Folks are getting the resources they need to address those root causes of crime and keep them out of the system.”
Irving said she thinks criticism around offenders receiving deals is founded in people not having all of the information about how a case is prosecuted.
“I would just ask folks to look at the data and then maybe come to court, if you have a concern that this office is being run a certain way,” she said. “I think that people’s eyes may really be opened if they actually came to see what happened in a court case.”
Irving said the fact that she is from the area and has deep connections to the community have been beneficial to her work as the DA.
“I do know what it’s like to live here and grow up here,” she said. “I know I’ve grown up with folks with no money whose parents or families have been in and out of the system, and I’ve grown up with people who had resources and were able to go to school and often leave the state.”
Irving said her experiences before she was the district attorney have also helped her work.
“I know what it’s like to care about a client and I know what it’s like to sit with a person who’s looking at potentially going to jail or prison,” she said. “I know what it’s like to sit with a person and counsel them who may have their children taken from them.”
Irving said she thinks it is extremely important for a district attorney to be able to center themselves in empathy and consider what the community needs from a case. They cannot consider only what a victim wants or what a defendant needs, she said.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. See the list of Lincoln County polling locations in this edition.
