From Staff Reports 

ENKA — Newly elected Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams outlined his ambitious plans for his first year in office in 2015 to the Council of Independent Business Owners in a Jan. 9 presentation at A-B Tech.

“This is my fifth day on the job,” Williams said. “I’m here to present a forecast on what I hope are our aspiractions for the next year... As I go around the county and talk to people — I don’t want to insult anyone — but it’s amazing how many people don’t know what a district attorney does.”

He quickly noted that the DA does not “have anything to do with the civil service board.”

Further, Williams said, “I want to make (city manager) Gary (Jackson) and mayor (Esther Manheimer) feel a little better — we’ve had a pipe burst in the courthouse. There’s a lot of glass in the new courthouse. So we also had our pipes burst in the courthouse.”

Returning to the issue of what a DA does, Williams asserted, “I see my job as one ensuring that we bring cases to court based on probably cause, based on the evidence, reasonable likeliness of success.... One of the biggest duties I see for myself is to ensure we have the right people. 

That said there has been some press on one of my employees — Rodney Hasty— I have to say he’s a very competent attorney. He is certified by the state bar in both state and federal criminal law That’s very’s important. All issues regarding the DWI have been resolved.”

(Williams’ reference was to his hiring of Hasty as an assistant district attorney. Hasty wrecked his car six years ago while taking prescription drugs. He was later convicted of driving while impaired. Williams had told the local news media that Hasty was taking the drugs — carisoprodol and meprobamate — for a medical condition. He described Hasty as a solid prosecutor with years of experience.

(However, one major crime victim advocate has been questioning Williams’ decision — Ellen Pitt, of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. She said some crime victims and law enforcement officers “view this decision as an insult.”)

Williams told CIBO that “I, myself, have been certified in the past year in state criminal law. Rodney and I have recently completed that process. In addition to Rodney, I feel we have a very competent staff in the district attorney’s office.

“We generally think of a district attorney as a prosecutor, taking cases to trial in front of a jury of 12,” Williams said.

However, he noted that Buncombe also has some innovative specialty courts. “The first specialty court is the juvenile court,” Williams said. “The primary point of juvenile court is to get the juvenile back on track. (former) District Attorney Ron Moore started the drug court, which has been very effective. Those specialty courts have multiplied. If you can address the defendents’ needs and restore them back in society,” it provides a great savings for the taxpayers

“We also have nuisance court, which handles lots of graffiti issues.... We also have veterans treatment court. Veterans have very particular issues. Many have PTSD ... traumatic brain injury. A lot of vets don’t report there’s a problem and, number two, culturally, they just don’t want to report dysfunction. So I’m excited about getting veterans treatment court online.... This is in process, right now. This is an endeavor I’d be happy to talk about next year.”

Williams added, “So I see my job as one where we’re going to do the best, most competent job we can do. It’s not about ideology. It’s about getting convictions. That said, I’d like to bring a broader vision of justice to the office. I’d like to create an advisory council, where MADD, neighborhoods” and others “will have some forum to express themselves.

“I’ve just started a Twitter feed. I want to find new and different ways to reach out to our community. Another really big proposal is the advancement of a child advocacy center. The purpose is to bring a child (with problems) in, sit them down in a room,” so that experts “can do a one-stop competent interview of the victim... I think it will improve prosecutions of child abuse cases. I’m very excited about that,” Williams said.

At that point, CIBO’s Swicegood told Williams, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do. You said in specialty court your’e going to deal with veterans — and I think that’s very admirable. Also, in specialty court, we have the problem with graffiti... Ron Moore tried hard to resolve the graffiti situation” and Swicegood said he had information about continuing major graffiti concerns.

The meeting concluded with Williams asking Swicegood to give him the information on graffiti, so that he could look into the problem.