Lee Fisher: Greg Todd the wrong choice for prosecutor

Greg Todd is not qualified to be the next elected prosecuting attorney for Ottawa County.

Greg Todd is not qualified to be the next elected prosecuting attorney for Ottawa County.

I say this as a career prosecutor who has done the job for over 35 years. Since becoming an attorney in 2007, Todd has not spent one day working in a prosecutor’s office. Based upon statements he has made during the course of his campaign, it is clear to me that he lacks the knowledge and experience necessary to effectively perform the duties of the elected prosecutor.

Todd has demonstrated an astonishing lack of understanding about what prosecutors actually do on a daily basis: to ensure public safety; to protect the rights of crime victims; and to effectively and fairly administer justice for the citizens of Ottawa County. To distract voters from his glaring lack of experience, Todd relies on political rhetoric and untrue statements about his exceptionally well-qualified opponent, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Sarah Matwiejczyk.

For the past 33 years of my career, I have worked in the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office (OCPO) prosecuting criminal cases. During that time, I am not aware of any criminal case where Todd has been the attorney of record. I am also unable to recall any criminal jury trial conducted by him. If there were any that I am not aware of, there would be very few.

Lee Fisher

What I do know is that Todd has never worked in a prosecutor’s office handling criminal cases since passing the bar. This lack of experience handling criminal cases is the most obvious example of why he is not qualified to be the next elected prosecutor.

As part of his campaign, Todd touts his time spent as a law school extern in the OCPO. The truth is, whatever time he spent in the OCPO was so unremarkable, I do not recall him being there. It is my understanding that after law school he may have applied for a position in the OCPO a couple of times, however, he was not hired.

Typically, the OCPO prefers to hire people for open assistant prosecutor positions who have distinguished themselves during their time as an intern or extern, which leads to the question: Why was Todd not hired by the OCPO?

In a recent text message sent to voters, Todd clearly demonstrated just how little he understands about prosecution and criminal law in general when he stated, “We now have a 99.5% plea bargaining rate.” This statement is misleading and simply is not true.

Perhaps, if Todd had any meaningful experience in prosecution or criminal law in general, he would not be making such ignorant assertions. This statement makes it very apparent that Todd does not understand what the term “plea bargain” actually means.

There is a difference between a defendant entering a “plea as charged” and a defendant who pleads guilty pursuant to a plea bargain. Every case where a defendant pleads guilty is not the result of a plea bargain. Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges who have any practical experience in the criminal justice court process know this. Todd clearly does not understand that a large proportion of those defendants who plead guilty are pleading guilty as charged without the benefit of a plea bargain.

Any attorney with experience practicing criminal law in Ottawa County knows this.

If he’d taken the initiative to ask questions of prosecutors, defense attorneys or judges, he would have understood how ridiculously inaccurate his claim is regarding plea bargaining.

Again, Todd demonstrated how little he understands about the role of the prosecutor when stating in the text, “28% of crime victims never get any justice-with no transparency as to why.” This is apparently in reference to the percentage of requests for criminal charges that are denied by the OCPO on average each year.

Todd also fails to understand that every time a complaint is made to the police, it will not result in a criminal charge. In most cases where a request for a criminal charge is denied, it is due to a lack of constitutionally admissible evidence to prove the requested charge beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors have an ethical duty to only charge cases when that high burden of proof can be met. So, one can conclude that Todd would be willing to charge cases that could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, thereby clogging an already overburdened court system with unprovable cases.

As for his uninformed claim regarding transparency, for every single request for a charge that is denied, a memorandum is prepared by the OCPO stating the reasons for the denial and then provided to the investigating law enforcement agency. At times, alleged victims will not agree with the decision, so the OCPO discusses the reasons with them personally. This screening process of requests for criminal charges is one of the most important aspects of a prosecutor’s job. Clearly, this is a vital aspect of the job Todd does not understand because of his absolute lack of experience in prosecution.

In this same text message, Todd says that crime has “skyrocketed” since 2021, yet another untrue statement. If he had ever worked in a Prosecutor’s Office, he would realize that crime statistics fluctuate from year to year. For example, he points out that sex offenses increased 38% in 2021. What he fails to mention is that sex offenses decreased by 37% in 2022 and again by 7.6% in 2023. Robberies, another crime referred to by Todd, decreased by 18% in 2022 and again by 44% in 2023. Overall, crime statistics for all categories fluctuate very little from year to year, which is reflected in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Annual Reports dating back to 2014. All of these reports with detailed numbers were and are available for Todd to see; however, he is either too intent on misleading the voters or too lazy to do his homework in order to provide accurate information to his target audience.

In that same statement regarding “skyrocketing” crime, Todd attempts to blame the OCPA, particularly myself and Sarah Matwieczyk, with this ludicrous and false statement. What candidate Todd does not understand is that the Prosecutor’s Office receives cases after the crime has been committed. I have been doing this job for almost 36 years and have prosecuted thousands of criminal cases; during that time, I have yet to see, in any case, where the defendant has considered who the prosecuting attorney is before committing the crime.

Candidate Todd’s final remarks in his text asking for votes on Aug. 6, “to ensure that our community remains a safe place where liberty and justice prevail.” The keyword to notice is, remains, which recognizes Ottawa County is ALREADY “a safe place where liberty and justice prevail.”

Other evidence that Todd is the wrong choice for prosecutor can be seen on his website, where he states: “I did not go to law school to be a lawyer; I went to be a prosecutor.” This disingenuous statement begs the question: If Todd truly went to law school to be a prosecutor, why has he not done so since becoming a lawyer in 2007? I submit, the reason is that Todd was not willing to make the sacrifices, either personally or financially, that it takes to work as a public servant, more specifically, as a prosecutor.

The people I know who have chosen prosecution as a career have been willing to make those sacrifices. They make less money than attorneys in the private sector. Many have moved themselves and their families to different parts of the state in order to pursue their passion for prosecution. They also never gave up on their goal of working in prosecution because of the “limited” number of open positions as Todd did. Since 2007 when Todd became an attorney, there have been at least 15 assistant prosecutor positions filled in Ottawa County. I have been in this office that entire time. If he went to law school to be a prosecutor, why not try for every one of those open positions over the past 17 years.

I am also aware that neighboring counties, such as Muskegon, Kent, Allegan, and others have had numerous assistant prosecutor positions open since 2007. There has been ample opportunity for Todd to have worked as a prosecutor.

Perhaps, if he had made the necessary sacrifices to achieve his stated goal, he would be a more qualified candidate for the position of elected prosecutor. However, despite achieving his stated career goal, he is asking the citizens of Ottawa County to elect him to the top position in the prosecutor’s office without having earned it by gaining the experience required to do the job.

People of Ottawa County should be asking themselves, others and candidate Todd these questions:

•  Am I confident entrusting this very important position to someone with no meaningful experience in either criminal law generally, or prosecution

  specifically?

• Murder, sexual assault, drunk driving causing injury and death cases, as well as

  all other major crimes have a significant impact on the victims, their families, and

  the community as a whole. Why should the citizens of Ottawa County entrust

  these important cases to candidate Todd?

• If I, my child, or any of my loved ones were the victim of a serious crime, such as

  murder, sexual assault, or killed by a drunk driver, how would you feel upon

  meeting candidate Todd and he tells you he has no experience handling these

  types of cases?

• Furthermore, how would you feel when he tells you he has never tried one of

  these cases before a jury?

• Would you have confidence in him trying your case as his first one ever?

• Would you have any confidence that he could provide the necessary leadership,

  advice, and mentoring to one of his assistant prosecutors who will end up trying

  your case because Todd lacks the necessary experience to try the case himself?

• How many murder trials has he conducted?

• How many criminal sexual assault trials has he conducted?

• How many felony criminal jury trials has he conducted? Where? When? What

  was the charge? What was the result?

• How many misdemeanor jury trials has he conducted? Where? When? What

  was the charge? What was the result?

• If candidate Todd were elected, what does he know about the day-to-day work

  performed by the Prosecutor’s Office?

• If elected, what does he know about the current staff in the Prosecutor’s Office

  who do that work?

• What experience does he have managing a professional office with over 30

  employees?

• What plan, if any, does he have to replace the vital personnel that literally keep

  the OCPO running every day who will leave if he is elected?

• How does he plan to provide leadership, advice, and mentoring to his attorney

  staff when they ask him questions about trial strategy when he, himself, has little to no experience trying criminal cases, especially high-level felony cases?

• As someone who claims he went to law school to be a prosecutor, why has he never worked a day in a prosecutor’s office since becoming an attorney in 2007?

Based on the answers to the above questions, the people of Ottawa County should be very concerned about what would happen should candidate Todd be elected. The best way to eliminate these concerns is to vote in the primary election on Aug. 6 for Sarah Matwiejczyk as our next elected prosecutor for Ottawa County. There could not be a more stark contrast between her and her opponent.

Sarah has worked as a prosecutor for over 23 years. She did not give up on her goal of becoming a career prosecutor as her opponent did.

Sarah has experience handling every type of criminal case possible, including murder, criminal sexual conduct, and all other felonies and misdemeanors.

Sarah will not ever have to tell a victim or their loved ones that this is her first trial in any of these cases.

Sarah, who is currently the Chief Assistant Prosecutor for Ottawa County, is already providing leadership, advice, training, and mentorship to the other assistant prosecutors in the office based upon her knowledge and experience.

Sarah has built positive relationships with all of the other stakeholders in the criminal justice system including judges, police officers, social service agencies and departments, court staff, and criminal defense counsel.

Sarah has been in the trenches serving the public, including the victims of crime, for her entire 23 year career. Her opponent, who has never worked a day as a prosecutor, now stands on the sidelines, where he has been comfortably standing since 2007, taking disingenuous pot-shots at Sarah in the hopes he can fool the voters of Ottawa County into electing him to a position he is clearly not qualified to hold.

The job of prosecutor demands an experienced, knowledgeable, ethical, person truly devoted to public service. It is not a position that can best serve the people of Ottawa County when political ideology takes precedence over competence. In this race, there is clearly one qualified, competent, ethical, and experienced candidate. Sarah Matwiejczyk is that candidate. Please make the best decision for Ottawa County by voting in the primary on Aug. 6, for Sarah as your next prosecuting attorney.

— Lee F. Fisher is the prosecuting attorney for Ottawa County.