Gov. Phil Scott has appointed Farzana Leyva as the Orleans County state’s attorney, according to a statement Monday from the governor’s office.
Leyva had been the interim prosecutor for Orleans County since last September, when State’s Attorney Jennifer Barrett was tapped to be a superior court judge.
Leyva then stepped in as interim state’s attorney, and launched a write-in campaign for the job, but Barrett collected more votes than she received, so Leyva continued in an interim role.
Leyva has lived in Westfield since 2014 and has been working at the Orleans County State Attorney’s Office since 2018 — first as a law clerk, then as a deputy state’s attorney, according to the governor’s announcement.
In Monday’s announcement, Leyva said, “I pledge to be transparent, communicative, and accessible to you — when you have concerns, I want to hear them. It is by listening to your voices that we can better serve you. You can count on my team of prosecutors for fair and consistent administration of justice. I am honored to serve our incredible community.”
While working at the State’s Attorney’s Office, Leyva has prosecuted cases involving “domestic violence, sexual assault, DUIs, aggravated assault, robbery, juvenile cases, and Vermont Supreme Court appeals,” according to the governor’s office.
When appointed as interim state’s attorney last fall, Leyva expressed concerns about an increase in drug use in Orleans County, and outlined her plans to combat drug use to VTDigger last October.
“I want to work collaboratively with law enforcement to ensure we are vigorously prosecuting drug activity here, as well as getting addicts through the system faster, rehabilitated, and use the community resources that we have to be able to do that,” she said.
Leyva graduated from the Howard College School of Law in South Africa and was admitted to the South African Bar in 2007. In addition to her time with the Orleans County State’s Attorney Office, Leyva worked for the Vermont judiciary in 2015 and was admitted to the Vermont bar in 2019, according to the governor’s office.
Leyva could not be reached Monday for comment.