Gavin Holihan. Lehigh County DA Jim Martin's Successor?

I've been so heavily focused on Northampton County DA's race between Terry Houck and Steve Baratta. that I've ignored another important DA's contest in Lehigh County. Fortunately, there's only one candidate. Barring an unlikely write-in, Gavin Holihan will be Lehigh County's next chief prosecuting attorney. 

In many ways, this really bothers me. I'm sure that, once I tell you about Holihan, most of you think he'll be great. But I hate to see Jim Martin step down.  He has been in office since January 1998, and is the longest serving District Attorney in Lehigh County history. Yes, even longer than George Joseph. Longer than Bill Platt, whose withering gaze still scares the shit out of me.

Martin's counterpart in Northampton County during much of this time has been John Morganelli, They had different styles. John was deceptively tough. Nothing pleased him more than mixing it up in the courtroom. Martin could come at you like a bull. I swear I saw steam coming out of his nostrils at a Lehigh Comm'rs meeting many moons ago. Despite his gruff exterior, he's been the wonk, the driving force behind just about every technological advance in Lehigh Valley crime fighting over the past 25 years. It is Jim Martin who established the Regional Crime Center, which uses data from police incident reports and even prison logs to track down criminals and detect trends. It's solved several murder cases. He also helped establish a forensic center at DeSales University to expedite matters that simply take too long at state police labs. I hope to sit down with Jim at some point before he leaves office, hopefully when he's in a good mood. 

Who is Gavin Holihan? He's originally from Piermont, NY, and must have driven through the Lehigh Valley during his days as an undergrad at Franklin & Marshall. He went to Fordham Law, and after he graduated, was hired as an Assistant DA by then Lehigh County DA Bob Steinberg. He fell in love with the Lehigh Valley and stayed. He gained experience under Hank Perkin as an assistant LC Solicitor and then went into private practice with prominent defense attorney John Waldron. From there, he started his own practice in downtown Allentown. 

You may remember him as the lawyer who gained an acquittal for a police officer who shot an unarmed man at Dorney Park. But even as a criminal defense lawyer, Holihan drew attention to the "ugliness of sex trafficking" ... . [T]he damage it does affects the entire community. Illegal drug use and violence often accompany trafficking. The broken lives of the victims and their families cause a devasting ripple effect across generations. This is not just occurring in exotic locations. It is happening is Fogelsville, Hanover Township, Lehighton, Reading, and every local community."

As District Attorney, he'll be able to do something about it. 

It's a good thing he's running unopposed. He had to text me his largely unfinished campaign webpage after our conversation. "I'm not very much political and never have been," he confessed. "My career has been in a courtroom and my skeletons are on the record, not in a closet." 

Opioid Crisis. - With respect to the opioid crisis and the dangers of fentanyl, Holihan made clear that he plans to pursue charges against drug dealers, not co-users, who sell the poison killing people. These overdoses claimed 82 Northampton and 140 Lehigh County lives last year. But these are difficult cases. How do you prove that a heroin addict who might use 40 bags in one day died from the one bag that contained fentanyl? How do you prove that it was fentanyl, and not some other drug, that caused the death? What do you do if the drug report comes back and says multiple toxicity, asked Holihan. How do you prove that the dealer knew that the drug he sold contained fentanyl? Given the months it takes to get a toxicology report, how do you know anything other than that there was an overdose? Assuming you have answers to all these questions, the next obstacle is a two-year statute of limitations.

Holihan acknowledged these hurdles, but said police have learned from experience to recognize fentanyl. If a person has overdosed on just one pill or one needle, they start thinking fentanyl.

He mentioned that Lehigh County, like Northampton, has a blue guardian program. Those are programs in which a recovering overdose victim receives a visits from a police officer and a recovery specialist with the hope that a person who nearly died just might be receptive to treatment.

He added that Jim Martin (I told you he's a wonk) is considering expanding this program so that co-users receive visits as well. 

Problem solving courts. - Like Northampton, Lehigh County does have a post-conviction drug court. These are problem-solving courts that target defendants who are alcoholic or addicted. They take a multidisciplinary approach to help someone break his dependency through mentoring, with sanctions and assistance in finding jobs and housing. Holihan said he'd certainly consider a pre-conviction approach if possible. 

Lehigh County has no mental health court, but does have a MISA (mental illness substance abuse) program. There's no judicial oversight and outcomes vary from case to case. It also has a veteran mentoring program that assists veterans seeking to adjust to civilian life. 

Death Penalty. - As an Assistant DA, Holihan sent two people to death row. They're still there. He called it a "waste of resources, except for killing people, and it doesn't do that." He argued there's no evidence that it has any deterrent effect and, like NorCo DA candidate Steve Baratta, he notes that states who impose the death penalty tend to have the highest number of murders. He added that its application is overwhelmingly racist. According to Holihan, a black man who kills a white woman is seven times more likely to receive a death sentence than a white man who kills a black man.

I asked him about the Ballard case, which involved a defendant who was released on parole after a homicide, and within two months, killed four more people. he was sentenced to death by a jury. "I will not, under any circumstances, put a moratorium to that," said DA Terry Houck at a recent candidates' night. But Holihan countered that Ballard could get four consecutive life sentences. "Other that vindictiveness or spite, I don't see the purpose [the death penalty] serves." 

Possession of Small Amount of Marijuana. - Both Terry Houck and Steve Baratta have pretty much the same view on this crime. Houck diverts these cases and Baratta has said he'd do the same thing. But Holihan will prosecute. He stated that he has discretion to decide against seeking a death penalty, but has no discretion in deciding which laws he will enforce. 

Diversity. Holihan argued that most prosecutors are white males. He argued, like Terry Houck, that there are very few persons of color in the local bar. 

Holihan is running as a Republican.