CHESAPEAKE — When former Chesapeake City Councilman Matt Hamel was elected commonwealth’s attorney in 2021, David Mick was among more than a dozen prosecutors who left the office in protest in the weeks that followed.
Mick was a deputy commonwealth’s attorney at the time, one of the highest ranking lawyers on staff. Four years later, he’s seeking to unseat Hamel in his bid for a second term.
Hamel, 51, a former Navy prosecutor and lawyer in private practice, ran as a Republican last time. He’s listed as a Democrat this election cycle, after a falling out with some local Republican leaders. Mick, 44, is on the ballot as a Republican.
Money raised by the two candidates has been fairly equal, with Mick collecting $54,404 in contributions over the last two years and Hamel taking in $55,470 during that same time period, according to the Virginia Public Access Project’s online records.
“I’m running against him because I think (Hamel’s) doing a poor job,” Mick said during a recent interview. “I think the people of Chesapeake deserve better in their commonwealth’s attorney … It’s not a political job, it’s a professional job.”
Mick, who was hired as an assistant attorney general when he left the Chesapeake prosecutor’s office, said turnover in the office has continued under Hamel’s tenure. About 10 lawyers and a half dozen support staff members hired by him in the past 3½ years have left, he said.
Hamel said turnover with the election of a new commonwealth’s attorney is common, with many prosecutors leaving Norfolk and Suffolk after new leaders were elected there. The Chesapeake office — which has about 28 prosecutors and 25 support staff members — has around a 6% vacancy rate, which is much lower than the overall city vacancy rate of 10.5%, he said.
“Anytime you have a change is leadership there is going to be staffing changes,” he said. “There was a lot of movement in the first three to four months, but it’s been very routine turnover since then.”
Hamel said he’s proud of the staff he has now. “Recruiting and retaining the highest quality of prosecutors is extremely important and we’ve done that,” he said. “They’re all extremely honorable people and people of integrity.”
Mick also accused Hamel’s office of fumbling multiple cases, including a first-degree murder conviction that was vacated for not turning over exculpatory evidence, and a malicious wounding case in which the victim was left paralyzed getting dismissed because prosecutors violated speedy trial rules. He also accused Hamel of repeatedly allowing serious charges to be reduced or withdrawn, overstating his conviction rate, and not doing enough to curb juvenile violence.
Hamel accused Mick of spreading false information about him and his office and behaving unethically during the campaign. Last month, a judge granted Hamel’s request to have a special prosecutor take over a carjacking case after Hamel said Mick interfered in the case, a claim that Mick denied.
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“David Mick tries to make headlines by being careless with the truth,” Hamel said. “He left the office with 7,000 backlogged felonies and sits at home trolling through case files and telling half-truths that suit his campaign.”
Hamel said his office worked hard to reduce the backlog when he took over, which had largely resulted from courts being closed and slowed down during the pandemic. He’s also sought to improve programs like the drug court and mental health docket, which seek to find appropriate solutions for non-violent offenders with drug and mental health issues. And he hopes to expand on the elder abuse task force he created, which consists of members of various law enforcement and social services groups who meet regularly to discuss cases and find solutions for senior citizens who’ve been subjected to fraud, neglect and physical abuse.
“This office is very near and dear to my heart,” he said. “I want to continue to serve the citizens of Chesapeake and keep it one of the safest cities in the country.”
Mick said if he wins he wants the office to refocus on community outreach, especially programs that target young people.
“The office needs to be doing outreach to kids to stop the juvenile violence,” he said. “If I’m elected, I’m going to be hard on criminals, but I’m also going to do as much outreach and crime prevention as I can. And I will be a prosecutor who goes to court.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
