Photo: Elias Funez
For Jesse Wilson, prosecution is not simply an impersonal, bureaucratic service performed on behalf of the state.
Prosecutors, he said, have a duty and a moral obligation to protect crime victims, and as Nevada County’s new district attorney, he wants to make it clear that, first and foremost, he’s taken the job to fight for victims in this community.
“My number one goal is the protection of the public and holding those accountable who compromise that goal … I’m someone who approaches this position from a very victim-centric approach, which I think is the proper way to to look at prosecution,” Wilson said in his first sit-down interview with The Union.
By George Boardman | Columnist
District Attorney Jesse Wilson doesn’t need any advice from me, but he’s going to get some anyway. I have a column to write, and the advice involves a subject I know something about.
The advice involves the duties of the assistant district attorney Wilson is about to hire, a spot left vacant when predecessor Chris Walsh resigned after losing the contest to replace former DA Cliff Newell.
My advice: Don’t use your new ADA as a shield between you and the press and public. Look what happened to Newell.
Newell was essentially a ghost to the public during the 15 years he held the DA’s job. The exception was when he had to resurface every four years to run for re-election. Walsh and his predecessors in the ADA’s slot were tasked with explaining to the public prosecutorial decisions and other matters pertaining to the DA’s office.