Spencer Merriweather

Merriweather was an assistant district attorney prior to becoming district attorney. He says his priorities include protecting women and children (specifically domestic violence and child abuse), making communities safe ("reducing illegal gun possession"), giving second chances (make it "easier for some low-level felony offenders and non-violent misdemeanor offenders to expunge their criminal records") and building community trust. Over the years, media reports have characterized the DA's office as underfunded and understaffed, leading to long backlogs of cases and hasty dismissals of criminal charges. The General Assembly has recently added prosecutors in Mecklenburg, which now has 85 prosecutors, over twice as many as Wake County. Merriweather says the county still needs dozens more.