Primary Race Will Decide New Commonwealth's Attorney for Arlington, Falls Church

The winner of the Democratic primary for the Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney Office on Tuesday will essentially be the winner of the seat.

The Arlington office also has jurisdiction over felonies in the city of Falls Church and at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

With sitting Commonwealth Attorney Richard Trodden opting not to run for re-election and no Republican candidates, the race comes down to Theo Stamos and David Deane.

Stamos, 53, is a 25-year veteran of the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and has been chief deputy to Trodden since 2002. She's running against Deane, 39, a partner at the Albo & Oblon law firm in Arlington.

Both candidates say they want to keep the streets of Arlington County and the city of Falls Church safe, but have different views on punishment, especially when it comes to the death penalty.

“I’m opposed to the death penalty,” Deane said. “You can punish people by seeking life without parole.”

Stamos said she follows the law when it comes to the death penalty and allows the jury to decide if the death penalty is warranted.

Stamos has successfully prosecuted several murder cases. She won five life sentences plus 168 years in prison in 2010 for Jorge Avila Torrez, who was found guilty of abducting and raping a University of Maryland graduate student, among other charges, according to the Washington Post.

“It’s the law in Virginia,” Stamos said of the death penalty. “We’re lucky in Arlington that we have not had to deal with this much.”

Trodden, who has served as the local commonwealth's attorney since 1993, said he will be 65 in October and thinks it’s time to step down.

He said he is familiar with Deane’s DUI casework but is more familiar with Stamos’ work on big criminal cases. Stamos has received several endorsements, including those from the Arlington Coalition of Police and the Falls Church Police Association.

If elected, Deane, who comes from a law enforcement family, said he would work to add more Spanish-speaking prosecutors to the office to help communicate with victims instead of using interpreters.

Both candidates have similar approaches to handling first-time offenders.

This fall, the Second Chance program championed by Stamos is set to begin. That's a diversion and early-intervention program for first-time drug and alcohol youth offenders.

Deane wants to create Drug Court to help deal with first-time, non-violent offenders. Drug Court, which exists in several states, offers education and other programs aimed at turning non-violent offenders into productive citizens.

“I think Drug Court is good and it has a good reputation around the country with working with first-time offenders,” Deane said.

As the Tuesday primary contest nears, the two candidates have spent their time making a final push getting their names and platforms out to the communities they would serve. Both believe their campaigns have gone well and will wait it out to see who wins Tuesday night.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.