Commonwealth Attorney’s Race Heats Up

Stafford, Va. ––Eric Olsen says he is the clear choice for Stafford County’s next Commonwealth Attorney.

Olsen made his campaign announcement on a cold, damp Thursday afternoon on the steps of the county’s courthouse in front of about 80 supporters.

“The primary function of local government is to keep people safe. There are a lot of other things that local government does, and all of them are necessary, but let me tell ya, they don’t amount to a hill of beans unless people are safe inside of their homes, people are safe when  they go to their schools, people are safe when the go to the grocery store,” said Olsen.

During his speech, Olsen spoke of his time on the job prosecuting murder and domestic violence cases since he was hired to work in the commonwealth’s attorney’s office in 1989.

Olsen wants at least one change to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, saying he would assign someone from the office to each magisterial district to be a liaison to community groups and home owners associations.

“There’s a movement across the county to move to a different type of an approach to prosecution, and it’s called community prosecution. Most law abiding citizens have two experiences with the criminal justice system: if they’re a victim they have an experience with it and if they are sitting on a jury they have an experience with it. Other than that they don’t know what a prosecutor does,” said Olsen.

His opponent, defense attorney Jason Pelt, is also seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for the position. Pelt charges Stafford’s Commonwealth Attorney’s office spends too much money to combat crime, and says he could do the same work for less money.

Olsen says you can’t put a price tag on justice because not punishing criminal behavior and incarcerating those who commit crimes only encourages more crime.

“You can’t measure the criminal justice system in terms of dollars. You can measure it in the competence of a prosecutor, you can measure it terms of your passion to present cases, but you can’t measure it in terms of dollars and cents,” said Olsen.

At the podium next to Olsen for his announcement Thursday stood retiring commonwealth attorney Daniel M. Chichester and Stafford County Sheriff Charles E. Jett.

Olsen was hired by Chichester in 1989, and was handpicked by the outgoing prosecutor as the candidate to be his successor.

Olsen described himself as a local man who has only been away from the Fredericksburg area for three years, long enough for him to go to law school. He got his undergrad from the Mary Washington College.

A long-time resident of Fredericksburg, Olsen said he is selling his house there and has rented an apartment on Poplar Road in Stafford County. Changing his residence to Stafford allows him to run for the position.