Hartsfield holds press conference to discuss DA’s ads spreading false information

BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE

The race for the Forsyth County District Attorney is heating up. Last week Denise Hartsfield, the Democratic candidate for Forsyth County District Attorney, held a press conference to address campaign ads and mailers sponsored by incumbent Republican Jim O’Neil and his supporters.

During the press conference held outside the Forsyth County Hall of Justice, local attorney Eric Ellison, who serves as Hartsfield’s campaign manager, referred to O’Neil’s recent commercials and campaign mailers as false and misleading. He said O’Neil’s campaign tactics were troubling.

“We find that these mailers are false. They’re misleading and they’re trying to intimidate the voters of Forsyth County and now is the time to address those mailers,” Ellison said.

The ads, which are sponsored by the N.C. Republican Party, Defend US PAC and authorized by Friends of Jim O’Neil, contend that while serving as a district court judge, Hartsfield bypassed a 48hour cooling off period and released a Wake Forest University basketball player, who was charged with assaulting his girlfriend in 2010.

When discussing the incident involving the 48hour hold, Hartsfield said that the mandate only applies to magistrates and she had the power to lift the hold. Under the law, magistrates can order that defendants in certain domestic violence crimes be held for 48 hours, but a judge has the power to set conditions of release sooner.

Hartsfield said she had the authority to use discretion and did so. She said when she received the call from local attorney Michael Grace, he promised to take the defendant home with him and make sure he showed up in court.

“He promised that he would take this defendant home … and he would stay at his house that night and he would have him in court Monday morning,” Hartsfield said.

The defendant, Tony Woods, did show up to court. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and received a suspended 60day jail sentence. Hartsfield contends the night that she lifted the hold, she called the district attorney’s office as a courtesy.

The campaign mailers that have been mailed to hundreds of voters already, lead readers to think that Hartsfield was suspended from the bench for lifting the hold, but that is not true. Hartsfield was suspended in 2012 without pay for two months for fixing traffic tickets, but she was re-elected by voters two more times before retiring in December 2021.

After reading one of the mailers to the small crowd gathered on the sidewalk near the corner of Liberty and Second Street, Hartsfield said these statements are unacceptable. “They are knowingly and purposefully designed to put a bad light on the candidate,” she said.

When asked if she was surprised when she first saw the ads and campaign mailers, Hartsfield said she knew the attacks would come. She said it was a tactic commonly used by Republicans.

Hartsfield said if there isn’t a retraction, it could lead to a court case. “Possibly what needs to happen is the same treatment that he (O’Neil) asked for our Attorney General Josh Stein, that there be an in- ternal investigation,” she said.

In 2020 O’Neil ran against Democrat Josh Stein for attorney general. O’Neil later filed a complaint claiming that one of Stein’s ads circulated false and derogatory information. The N.C. State Board of Elections is currently investigating the claim.

O’Neil has served as Forsyth County District Attorney since 2009. A graduate of Duke University, O’Neil received his law degree from New York Law School. He started working in Forsyth County in 1997 as a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office.

According to his website, his mission is to continue to make Winston-Salem one of the safest cities in North Carolina and the country, by prosecuting dangerous criminals to get them off the street.

Hartsfield attended Spelman College, where she graduated in 1976 with a degree in English. Hartsfield returned to WinstonSalem after undergrad and earned her law degree from Wake Forest University.

Before she was elected to serve in the 21st Judicial District in 2002, Hartsfield worked for the Legal Aid Society of Northwest NC, a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters.

During an interview with The Chronicle last month, Hartsfield said if elected she will return the DA’s office back to the “Office of the People.”