Durham DA: Budget cuts could gut prosecutor staffing, dismantle decades of city cooperation

In a letter sent June 1 to Durham City Council members and City Manager Bo Ferguson, Deberry expressed “profound disappointment” with the city’s proposed fiscal year budget, which recommends cutting $313,493 in funding to the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts — funding that supports the Office of the District Attorney, the News & Observer reported. Deberry said the cut would result in a 10 percent reduction in staff and “dismantle almost three decades of cooperation between this office and the City of Durham.”

The two assistant district attorney positions targeted for elimination are stationed daily in District Criminal Court, District Traffic Court and Juvenile Delinquency Court — the highest-volume courts in the system, the newspaper reported. Deberry noted those positions are already severely underfunded, with salaries of $65,000 per year — roughly half the market rate for entry-level attorneys in the Triangle.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Deberry wrote, warning that remaining prosecutors would face heavier caseloads, further slowing the legal system.

Deberry also warned that the cuts would affect the Durham Expunction and Restoration Clinic, which has helped clear the records of thousands of Durham County residents and forgiven more than $2 million in fines and fees, the News & Observer reported.

Ferguson acknowledged the cuts were among the “most grueling choices of an unprecedentedly restrictive budget cycle,” citing a $14 million shortfall caused by successful property tax revaluation appeals that reduced the city’s assessed tax base by $2.6 billion. He said the decision “does not reflect a lack of commitment to public safety or equitable justice,” but rather the reality of the city’s current revenue shortfall.

Deberry pushed back on the city’s simultaneous effort to hire more police officers while cutting prosecutors. “Hiring more law enforcement officers means there must be more prosecutors,” she wrote. “For the city to hire more police while cutting prosecutors simply does not make sense.”

The Durham City Council is scheduled to vote on the budget June 15, the News & Observer reported.