Professional and personal

Asbell has been the elected district attorney for the past 13 years in Bertie, Hertford and Northampton Counties. She is now serving her fourth term as the elected district attorney for District 6B.

Asbell has prosecuted for the past 21 years in 6B and was an assistant district attorney for seven years before becoming the elected district attorney.

Asbell graduated in 1989 from Emory University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology.

She graduated from Tulane University School of Law in May of 1992.

She is married to Jimmy Asbell who is employed as the major with the Ahoskie Police Department and they reside in Ahoskie.

She is the proud mother of two children, Cole and Ethan.

They are members of Center Grove Baptist Church. Recently, Asbell was honored by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly with a 2013 Women of Justice Award which is given to women across the state who have demonstrated leadership, integrity, service, sacrifice and accomplishment in improving the quality of justice and exemplifying the highest ideals of the legal profession.

As the district’s head prosecutor, and being sworn to uphold the constitutions of both the State of North Carolina and the United States of America, what is your interpretation of the 2nd Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, specifically, the phrase “shall not be infringed?” How would your office proceed with enforcing any law passed by the federal or state legislatures which restricts access, or possession of firearms by law abiding citizens, without a preceding amendment to the constitution allowing for such law?

As the elected district attorney, I am sworn to uphold and enforce the law as it is written. When making laws, the Legislature, whether Federal or State, has to consider whether a newly written law violates the 2nd Amendment. I cannot pick and choose which laws to prosecute. We have to rely on the Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court to decide whether a newly enacted law violates the Constitution.

With the consolidation of the two prosecutorial districts, how do you plan to make yourself available to both the citizens, and law enforcement officers of each county?

As the elected district attorney, I have had an open door policy to everyone in my district.

Being District Attorney is all about people and a successful prosecutor must be able to communicate effectively with individuals from all walks of life, whether witnesses, victims, defendants, or law enforcement officials.

Since I began working as an assistant district attorney in 1993 in Bertie, Hertford and Northampton counties, I have had to make myself available to the citizens in all three counties equally.

For the past 13 years as the elected district attorney, I have had an open door policy in my office and in the courthouses.

At this point, my main office is in Ahoskie and I have three offices in each of the courthouses which are used for court days and for meeting with law enforcement officers and witnesses in cases in that particular county.

We have District Court at least two times a week in each of my counties, therefore, I or my assistant district attorneys, are available and accessible to the citizens in each of the counties on those dates. Because I run a multi-county district, I understand that some citizens may want to handle a minor infraction like a speeding ticket or seat belt ticket before their court date.

I accommodate those citizens by allowing citizens to come to my office in Ahoskie or to come to the courthouse where we amend the tickets even outside of their court date.

Having this open door policy allows hard working citizens to take care of minor traffic violations on a day they might not be working to keep them from having to take a day off work.

I do not have a policy that makes citizens come to court on their court date to get a ticket amended.

If elected in Halifax, I will implement this same policy in the Halifax County Courthouse to better serve the citizens. As far as law enforcement is concerned, my assistant district attorneys and I meet with our law enforcement officers on a daily basis either in the courthouses or in the main office in Ahoskie.

I understand the working operations of law enforcement departments and I understand that sometimes we have to meet with officers during their night shift or a swing shift.

We often go to the officer’s department after hours to discuss cases to accommodate a shift they might be working.

As district attorney, I understand that it is very important to have strong working relationships with all of the law enforcement agencies.

To that end, I frequently meet with all of the department heads of law enforcement agencies at one time at a joint meeting to discuss issues the agencies may be having and to share information.

These meetings allow all of the officers from different counties to get to know each other and understand that people who break the law do not respect county borders; therefore, all departments need to be aware of things going on in each county.

Because Northampton and Bertie Counties adjoin Halifax County, I already have a relationship with some of the Halifax County law enforcement departments and enjoy working with these departments. Since I am already familiar with the law enforcement officials in Halifax County, I believe it would be an easy transition.

Will you make any attempt to repeal the consolidation of the two judicial districts?

Once the consolidation bill became public record, I, along with many other elected officials, fought hard to stop the bill from passing because there was no logical reason why the Legislature chose these two districts to consolidate.

After researching other prosecutorial districts, I found that there were many Prosecutorial Districts which were smaller that could have been combined without placing such a hardship on four counties that have such a large land mass.

Obviously, we were unsuccessful at stopping the consolidation.

I do not think the Legislature would consider repealing this legislation when it eliminated jobs within the District Attorney’s Office and eliminated the positions of two elected district court judges that were elected to serve the people of 6B.

Because the Legislature has taken three positions from my office over the past three years, we have learned how to successfully handle three different counties with six attorneys and five support staff members.

After the consolidation, the Halifax office will still be housed in the Halifax County Courthouse with at least eight employees, five assistant district attorneys and at least three support staff.

If elected, I will carry a caseload in Halifax as I do in my three counties.

Halifax County is not losing any assistant district attorney positions; therefore, those same five assistant district attorneys will be handling the same caseload they handle now.

Because I am used to working more efficiently with less resources, having five assistant district attorneys under one roof of one courthouse in Halifax will be a luxury that I have not had before.

What do you feel is the District Attorney’s role in ensuring that each law enforcement officer throughout your district is adequately trained and proficient at performing their daily duties?

One of my constitutional duties as district attorney in the North Carolina General Statutes 7A-61 is to advise the officers of justice in his/her district.

I take this duty very seriously because the majority of cases that are filed in the court system involve a law enforcement officer either as the charging officer or a witness.

It is imperative that the officers be trained continuously because the laws change every day.

Every law enforcement officer has to be certified by the appropriate Commission whether that be Sheriff’s Training and Standards, Police Training and Standards, or the appropriate supervision entity. Each officer has to train a certain number of hours during the year to keep their law enforcement certification. Although, there are a number of in-service hours each officer has to complete, I do not think that is enough to keep up with the changing laws and landscape. For that reason, I offer trainings in my district to all of my Law Enforcement Officers on a variety of topics.

I inquire of each department as to what deficits they may have and I find a way to address it.

My investigator constantly finds trainings outside of the District as well and informs the different departments so they will have the option to attend those trainings. I am an Instructor for the North Carolina Institute of Government and an Instructor for the Conference of District Attorneys and I teach joint courses that involve the local prosecutors and the law enforcement officers.

These trainings foster relationships that are invaluable to help all of our citizens. As far as performing their daily duties, I make it a priority for the law enforcement officers to have the cell numbers of all of my staff in the event they have a question outside of business hours.

My staff and I are available 24/7 for law enforcement officers and often take calls at 3 a.m. to help with charging decisions if necessary.

The key to having good cases is to keep the lines of communication open on a daily basis between officers and my staff.

With decreasing resources and increasing case loads, how do you plan to balance trial vs. plea bargain to ensure that justice is served for the victim in each case?

My prosecution philosophy is to hold defendants accountable for their actions as the law provides while taking into account the strength of evidence and the input of the victims and the officers. I have worked diligently over the past 21 years to make my community a safer place to live by asking for and receiving substantial active sentences for murderers, habitual felons, drug dealers, child molesters, sex offenders and other serious felony offenders.

Deciding whether to prosecute someone accused of a crime, possibly resulting in that person’s loss of liberty, is a grave responsibility. In reality, some cases just have to be tried because of the nature of the case but if all cases proceeded to trial, the justice system would become backlogged to the point of collapse. Instead, most cases are resolved through negotiations known as plea-bargaining.

Some people think that plea bargaining means giving the courthouse away. That is not true. In order to move cases in a timely manner, we have to look at each case individually and decide on an appropriate plea offer, if any, and move forward.

We discuss the facts of the cases with the victims and the law enforcement officers and if we decide to offer a plea bargain, we make sure the victims and law enforcement officers are aware of these decisions. Plea bargains do not always mean that a defendant gets a probationary sentence. Many Defendants also receive active time pursuant to a plea arrangement depending on the their crime and their past criminal record.

Halifax County, currently has three women reported missing that have not been located. What is the District Attorney’s role in ensuring that every avenue of investigation has been explored in each of these investigations to ensure that each of these women are brought home safe, if possible. I cannot comment on these cases in Halifax County because I am not involved at this point.

As District Attorney, when cases like these arise in my District, I stay in contact with the Law Enforcement Departments to see if I can help in any way.

In some cases, I have been able to concurrently call in the State Bureau of Investigation or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to aid the local departments to exhaust all possible avenues.

How do you ensure you give the best prosecution possible to prevent mistrials? Is there a need for closer review of law enforcement's work in these matters? Is there a need for closer review of staff work in these matters?

In my District, we prepare each case for trial and do not leave any stone unturned to make sure that the jury will get to hear all the admissible evidence.

A mistrial results when all twelve jurors cannot agree to a unanimous verdict; therefore, the Judge declares a mistrial and the case goes back into a trial posture.

I have not had many mistrials in my District over the past 13 years.

If a trial did result in a mistrial, it was not because of any deficiency of the prosecutor or the law enforcement officers but simply because all twelve jurors could not agree to a verdict.

In my office, we do everything in our power to put the best case before a jury so that the families of victims do not have to go through a trial more than once.

Having to try a case twice is particularly hard on families of murdered victims. I have never had a mistrial on a homicide case. I have a 100 percent conviction rate on homicides and my families have not had to endure the painful process of going through a trial two times.

In the past two years in Halifax County (District 6A) , there have been two mistrials in First Degree Murder Cases in the cases of the State of North Carolina vs. Tavares Ivey and the State of North Carolina vs. Richard Demello

How do you work with the sheriff's office, particularly in Halifax County, to ease jail overcrowding?

I cannot comment on how I work with the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office regarding jail overcrowding because I do not serve Halifax at this time.

I have learned during the last six months that there are plans to build a new detention center in Halifax County due to jail overcrowding.

Once I learned that information, I had a conversation with Sheriff Wes Tripp about this matter and I explained to him how I handle the jail populations in my counties to avoid overcrowding.

In the Northampton County Jail and in the Hertford County Jail, I work closely with Sheriff Smith and Sheriff Vaughan to keep their jail populations low by handling jail cases in a timely and efficient manner.

By trying the jail cases in a timely manner, both Sheriff Smith and Sheriff Vaughan have been able to be involved in the program offered by the Department of Adult Correction whereby these Sheriffs can house inmates who have received active misdemeanor sentences from other counties across the state. When the Sheriffs house these out of county inmates, the county is paid to house them. Over the past couple of years, both Northampton and Hertford County have been able to house these inmates and actually make the county money which is usually around $150,000 to $200,000 a year that goes to the county general fund. By moving the jail cases in a timely manner, Hertford and Northampton Counties have free beds to house the misdemeanant defendants.

The jail in Bertie County is a joint jail with Martin County; therefore, the Sheriff in Bertie County does not control the jail.

I also explained to Sheriff Tripp, that if I was elected, I would be glad to assist him in controlling the jail population so that he could possibly participate in the Misdemeanant Housing program and earn the county money.

In light of legalization in Washington and Colorado, do you support lesser sentences for adults charged with user amounts of marijuana? Do you support legalization in North Carolina?

I do not support the legalization of marijuana in North Carolina and I do not support lesser sentences for adults charged with small amounts of marijuana. In North Carolina, when a person has less than an 1/2 ounce of marijuana or a user amount of marijuana, it is a Class 3 Misdemeanor which is the lowest class of sentencing.