Williamson County district attorney candidates

Q. What makes you the best candidate for the position?

A. I think that I've got a lot of experience in Williamson County and the justice system. I've been a lawyer since November 1984. I was a prosecutor in Williamson County prosecuting misdemeanor cases for Billy Ray Stubblefield in 1985 and '86. I've been in private practice doing criminal defense work and family law cases since 1986, continuously running a law practice and being involved in the local judicial system. Previous to that I graduated from [The University of Texas] law school in 1984 and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in marine engineering in 1976. I served over five years of active duty in the Navy as a commissioned officer and several years as a commissioned officer in the naval reserves.

Q. What experience would you bring to the job?

A. I've been a prosecutor, and I've been a defense attorney. I think having seen things from both sides gives you a little bit better perspective. I've had clients before who were put in terrible positions where they might have been guilty of something, but they weren't guilty of exactly what they were charged with, or they didn't deserve the punishment that was being offered by either the county attorney's office or the district attorney's office. You're put in a rock-and-a-hard place situation where you have to decide to go to a jury trial and risk 10 years or 20 years or take some kind of punishment that may be excessive but is less than 10 years or 20 years. Having been a defense attorney and a prosecutor, it gives me a better perspective.

Q. What will be your first order of business if elected?

A. Well, the first order of business would be getting ready to take the oath of office on Jan. 1. I've had a private practice for 26 years, and I would have to transfer my cases to somebody else or shut down my business and hopefully take a little time off. I'm sure I'll need a vacation by Nov. 6. Nov. 6 to Jan. 1 is only about seven weeks. It'll be a busy seven weeks.

Q. How will you tackle tough or controversial cases?

A. I would educate myself with as many facts about the case, the victims and the defendants as possible. If there have been similar cases in the past, I would try to find out how those cases were handled by this DA's office and why. If I think it might help, I would call another DA's office and see if they have some insights into the type of case we are dealing with here.

I would like to think I would never insert politics or how it might affect my possible re-election when I am making tough decisions. I would rather do the right thing and lose the next election than do the wrong thing and have it help me in the next election. The voters hire a DA to make tough decisions and rely on his/her experience and judgment to make the tough calls.

Q. Williamson County has a reputation of being tough on crime. Is that something you would continue, or how would you change that?

A. We need to be smart on crime, not just tough on crime. There are a lot of factors that go into how you deal with a particular crime. Being smart on crime doesn't necessarily mean you throw the book at everybody for every crime. You have to keep in mind that you should really use genuine prison as a last resort. It costs $100 to $150 a day to keep somebody locked up. The taxpayers have to pay for that, and that gets expensive. So if you have some pretrial diversion program that you could use for certain types of crime and criminals where somebody goes on the pretrial diversion program for 18 to 24 months and has lots of rules they have to follow similar to the felony rules of probation, that might be a good way to deal with it.

Jana Duty-R

Jana Duty has been the Williamson County attorney since being elected in 2004 and has lived in the county since 1998. Duty lives in Round Rock and has three children. Duty declined an in-person interview. All questions were answered by email. www.janaduty.com

Q. Why are you running for district attorney?

A. As a wife, mother and now as a grandmother, I want to make sure that Williamson County remains a safe and secure place to live, work and raise a family. I believe the people of Williamson County deserve a district attorney with a proven record of prosecuting criminals and keeping our community safe. I have committed my life to the pursuit of justice, and as our next district attorney, I will continue to prosecute those who do harm to our families and community with toughness and tenacity.

Q. What makes you the best candidate for the position?

A. I have a proven track record of prosecuting misdemeanor and felony crimes in Williamson County as the county attorney for the past eight years. When it comes to the question of who is the best candidate to serve as our county's other chief prosecutor, I will defer to the judgment of the brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep our community safe. I'm proud to have the endorsements of the Williamson County Sheriff's Association, the Cedar Park Police Association, the Austin Police Association, the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, the Travis County Sheriff's Law Enforcement Association, the Texas State Fraternal Order of Police, former Williamson County District Attorney Ed Walsh, former District Attorney Grant Jones, the Williamson County Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, the Round Rock Firefighters Association and the Austin Firefighters Association.

Q. What experience would you bring to the job?

A. I have served as the elected Williamson County attorney since 2005. During that time, I have more than doubled the amount of protective orders for victims of family violence and brought in expert attorneys to represent Child Protective Services so that vulnerable children get the best representation possible. I have saved taxpayers over a million dollars by handling civil litigation and county contracts in-house rather than outsourcing them. I have also implemented new paperless and direct-file systems that have saved taxpayers well over a million dollars since their implementation. My office has collected over $7.2 million in hot checks and fees for area merchants, an exponential increase over my predecessor, and I've worked closely with the purchasing department and the auditor's office to implement several checks and balances to ensure that all county business is conducted in the open, [in a] fair and equitable manner.

Q. What will be your first order of business if elected?

A. One of the first things I will do is create a true open discovery policy which will help prevent another Michael Morton case from ever happening again. I will also seek justice for victims of family violence. Many serious crimes against women and children are currently being reduced to misdemeanors, and that practice must come to an end. Victims of crime deserve better.

Q. How will you tackle tough or controversial cases?

A. I will handle the tough or controversial cases the same way I handle any other, by seeking justice and the truth. As a career prosecutor, I have taken an oath to follow the law and to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Every case will be evaluated on its merits, and my office will work hard to ensure that those who prey on the innocent in our county face stiff punishments.

Q. Williamson County has a reputation of being tough on crime. Is that something you would continue, or how would you change that?

A. My record speaks for itself. Over the last decade, our population has almost doubled in size, yet we have maintained the lowest crime rate of any county our size [in the state]. As the county attorney, my office has handled roughly 85 percent of all the criminal cases that have come through the criminal justice system. But, it goes without saying, most of the credit for our low crime rate goes to our law enforcement officers who do the heavy lifting out on the streets to keep us safe.