Rutland City Mayor Chris Louras on Monday endorsed Rose Kennedy, the candidate challenging incumbent State’s Attorney Marc Brierre.
With six weeks before the election, Louras in a joint appearance at City Hall touted Kennedy, a former deputy prosecutor in Brierre’s office, as the best candidate because she will work closely with police.
“Without casting aspersions on the current holder of the office, let’s just say that there needs to be, in my opinion, a much greater focus on collaboration and partnerships with law enforcement, with the attorney general’s office, and with our (social services) partners,” Louras said.
Kennedy, 44, said Brierre is taking a laid-back approach to prosecution. There is a disconnect between prosecutors and police that leads to weak cases, she said.
“Voters should not have confidence right now in my opponent and his ability to effectively prosecute cases,” Kennedy said.
Brierre has been state’s attorney since 2009, before that serving as deputy since 1983. Kennedy took a job a year ago as a prosecutor in his office. He fired her when she announced her run against him. She is now an assistant attorney general. Brierre on Monday did not return calls for comment.
Kennedy started as a prosecutor in 1999 in Chittenden County, where she handled sexual assault and child abuse cases, she said. She took time off to raise her two children and taught classes online at Bishop Ready High School in Columbus, Ohio.
She didn’t plan on running for office, she said, but almost immediately noticed a difference between how cases were handled in Chittenden County versus how things worked in Rutland and wanted to make changes. State’s attorneys are elected by county residents and operate with a certain degree of autonomy in their approach to enforcing state law.
Kennedy said the lack of prosecution was especially true in cases involving children. Rutland County prosecutors have the highest caseloads in the state, more than 800 per attorney.
Brierre’s office handled the Dezirae Sheldon case, in which the 2-year-old’s stepfather, Dennis Duby, is charged with killing her in February. Dezirae’s legs were broken a year before but that incident was not investigated, a state police report shows.
“[The Dezirae case] was a life-changing moment for me because what I saw from my opponent’s office was really not much done as far as investigating who broke that child’s legs,” Kennedy said.
Brierre’s office lost the Jennifer Berube attempted murder case in June, underscoring for Kennedy a lack of effective prosecution she said she had already noticed.
“I think that the state’s attorney’s office isn’t taking ownership of the investigation,” she said.
Kennedy said she enjoys working with detectives and police and would work closer with them to develop stronger cases from the outset. Prosecutors can ask questions, anticipate what a jury might ask and make the case stronger, she said.
Brierre’s office accepts paperwork but doesn’t engage with police to make investigations stronger, she said.
Louras, mayor since 2007, said he’s willing to assume the “awkward position” of endorsing a candidate in this race because “the public should recognize that my office believes that we need to have a new focus within the state’s attorney’s office.”
The Rutland City Police Department under chief James Baker, a former state police colonel, has implemented a mapping program to pinpoint crime hotspots and target drug crime and those “who create the most chaos in the community,” Louras said. Police also work closely with human service providers and in February implemented a rapid intervention program.
Kennedy said pretrial service programs are important, but when they don’t work, the county needs a strong prosecutor.
Kennedy, the county’s former drug court prosecutor, said that if elected she would reform the rules of the Rutland County Treatment Court so participants would first have to plead guilty to a crime before receiving services and so there would be clearer consequences for those who commit new crimes.
Louras is a former Republican state representative, who endorsed Democrat T.J. Donovan’s bid for attorney general in 2012. Louras was first elected mayor of Rutland in 2007. The general election is Nov. 4.
