Jessica Zaleski, the interim top prosecutor in Caledonia County, is set to take the role on a permanent basis.
Gov. Phil Scott on Friday appointed Zaleski as the county’s state’s attorney, filling a vacancy created when the governor tapped former prosecutor Lisa Warren in September to join the state’s trial court bench.
“Jessica is the right person for this job and is well positioned to build on the strong record left by her predecessor,” Scott said in a press release. “We trust our prosecutors to ensure our communities are kept safe and criminals are brought to justice. Jessica demonstrates a commitment to this work and to doing what’s best for her community.”
Zaleski, who will be sworn in later this month, was one of several candidates who pitched themselves in October to the county Republican committee.
Committee members chose her as their first pick for a list of recommendations to Scott, with 12 votes in support. Windsor County deputy state’s attorney Glenn Barnes and former legislator Janssen Wilhoit rounded out the rest of the list.
“This job isn’t a paycheck — it’s not part time,” Zaleski said during her pitch Oct. 17.
“It’s actually much like parenting: It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said. “We don’t get holidays off. We don’t get weekends off. And in order to do it and do it properly, it takes dedication and it takes commitment.”
Zaleski joined the Caledonia state’s attorney office last year as a deputy prosecutor handling juvenile cases. Before that, she worked for Northeast Kingdom Law, the state’s primary public-defense contractor in Caledonia and Orleans counties.
In her platform, like several other candidates, she homed in on the intersection of drug addiction and crime.
“We have multigenerational criminal behavior and substance abuse,” Zaleski said. “We have an uphill battle keeping the people of this community feeling safe.”
She highlighted the juvenile system as a way to stem future crime.
“It’s in the venue of juvenile law that we can institute change early on, instead of seeing those kids later on as adults in criminal court,” she said.
She also emphasized the importance for prosecutors to have positive relationships with law-enforcement officers.
“This job is one where there absolutely must be a good working relationship with our law enforcement,” she said. “And I can say with 100% certainty that I have that. Ask them.”
Zaleski acknowledged in her October speech that she is a relative newcomer to prosecution, saying she would undoubtedly make mistakes.
But, she said, “What I lack in years of prosecuting, I more than make up for in my heart and my drive for prosecution and plain old simple hard work.”
