A life lost near Notre Dame should be valued the same as a life lost on the west side of South Bend, says John Maciejczyk, the Republican candidate for St. Joseph County prosecutor.
Under a policy set by Prosecutor Ken Cotter, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election, the prosecutor’s office has pledged to make no plea offers in criminal cases arising from crime or violence at Eddy Street Commons. The Democrat Cotter endorsed to replace him, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Amy Cressy, has said she intends to continue the policy if elected.
“In my opinion, that’s ludicrous,” Maciejczyk said in an interview with Redress South Bend on Sept. 22.
On Sept. 19, a woman was shot in the leg and a South Bend police officer was injured at Eddy Street Commons. Hours later, three people were shot in the 1300 block of Bissell Street, less than a mile away. All three victims died.
After the shootings, Cressy told the South Bend Tribune that Cotter made the pledge last year after meeting with Notre Dame, local police, and Kite Realty. Defendants in those cases would either plead guilty as charged or go to trial.
Maciejczyk said a separate standard for one part of town implies that “the lives affected and lost on this side of the community, by Notre Dame, are worth more than the lives affected and lost on the west side of South Bend.”
He said he has worked with many murder victims’ families.
“I don’t think you should value lives more because of their proximity to the school,” he said.
Maciejczyk said his plea policy would apply countywide and depend on the offense and the defendant’s history. His focus would be repeat offenders in violent, drug, and gun crimes. First offenders charged with drug possession, fraud, theft, or drunk driving would get a chance at rehabilitation, as long as no one was seriously harmed.
“After all these years as a prosecutor, I know that most people are not bad,” he said. “They just make bad decisions, usually when they’re under the influence of alcohol or drugs. But if it becomes a pattern, we cannot tolerate that.”
Offenders who victimize children, commit violent crimes including domestic violence, or traffic drugs would get no such leniency, he said. He said drug dealers know they will be treated harshly in Elkhart County and expect a break in St. Joseph County.
“I don’t think that should happen,” he said.
Maciejczyk said he would also change how the office is run. He would try the county’s most serious cases himself.
Maciejczyk shared that his understanding is that Cotter tried cases early in his tenure and has since become more of an administrator.
“That’s not what I would do, for two reasons,” Maciejczyk said. “Number one, the voters would be electing me to do that. And number two, I like it.”
He also said he would make the office’s results public. Every month, he would publish felony statistics: charges, dismissals, guilty pleas, trials, and trial results. Prosecutors have not historically been transparent about those numbers, he said. He would like to add misdemeanors but was not sure the office could keep up with reporting on those as well.
He would also meet monthly with police chiefs across the county. At a Sept. 21 press conference with Republican sheriff candidate Rod Laureys, Maciejczyk said officers from Mishawaka, South Bend, the sheriff’s office, and the Indiana State Police had told him they submit cases to the prosecutor’s office and hear nothing back for months.
“If there’s a problem with a case they’ve submitted, they need to know what else they need to do, or what they did wrong,” he said.
Maciejczyk said Cressy has spent 20 years in an office that “is not doing the job for the people here in St. Joe County.” At the Sept. 21 press conference, he said she “represents the status quo.” Maciejczyk said his experience in three prosecutors’ offices gives him a broader view of how the office should run.
“Politics means nothing to me,” he said. “My only job is to do the right thing for the citizens and the victims, while at the same time safeguarding the defendant’s rights.”
Maciejczyk graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1976 and served on destroyers in the Atlantic Fleet until 1981, according to his faculty biography at Notre Dame Law School, where he is an adjunct professor of law. He graduated from the law school in 1984. He was the county’s chief deputy prosecutor from 1999 to 2002, then worked in the Elkhart County prosecutor’s office before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office in 2004. The faculty biography credits him with well over 100 criminal jury trials and more than 30 appeals argued in the Seventh Circuit. He now works as a public defender in Elkhart.
Maciejczyk said he had never tried a criminal case when he became chief deputy. He said he took the new administration’s first trial himself, a five-count armed robbery, and won convictions on all five counts.
“I found my niche,” he said. “I really felt like I was doing something for the community.”
Logan Foster
Logan Foster is the founder and editor of Redress South Bend, an independent news outlet covering local government, courts, and public institutions in South Bend and St. Joseph County, Indiana. He reports from primary documents: public records requests, court filings, state audit reports, and campaign finance disclosures. His reporting has examined city and school district payments made without competitive bidding, school board spending, and the records of candidates in county races. Redress South Bend obtained the South Bend Police Department's ShotSpotter coverage map after the department initially denied public access. The outlet is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association. Reach him at info@redresssouthbend.com
