By Adam Graham
Independent Correspondent for the Montana News Association
Kalispell and Whitefish-The two candidates for County Attorney both tout their experience as the reason they should be elected.
Whitefish Attorney Jack Quatman (I) is a former Alameda County, California Prosecutor with 25 years of prosecutorial experience, including hundreds of murder cases, including five death penalty cases. Quatman said that this experience will be vital in prosecuting serious crimes, as he has a winning record in murder trials. In recent years, the County Attorney's office has lost several murder cases, none of which the Republican nominee, Deputy County Attorney Ed Corrigan has been on.
Corrigan, for his part says that he didn't want to deal with death penalty cases, which is part of the reason why he lives in the Flathead. He said that with 18 years working with the Flathead County Attorney's office, he's just as good a prosecutor as Quatman, citing a recent case in which he gained an attempted murder convication. In addition, Corrigan says that he has something that Quatman doesn't, the trust and respect of local judges. According to Corrigan, Quatman isn't even allowed to argue before one local district court judge. Corrigan also points to a 2000 case in which Quatman acted as a defense attorney and the case was later thrown out after the court ruled that Quatman, who didn't make an opening statement or call witnesses, provided ineffective counsel.
Quatman's belief is that Corrigan and the rest of the County Attorney's office plea bargain too many cases. While both Quatman and Corrigan acknowledged that plea bargaining is a necessity, Quatman argues that because the County Attorney's office has problems prosecuting serious felonies, that they find themselves plea bargaining from weakness rather than strength. Corrigan insists this is not the case and that the plea bargains obtained are generally exactly what would have been handed down if the case had gone to trial.
Quatman was particularly critical of meth prosecutions. He said that people convicted of the manufacture and sale of meth can be sentenced to as much as 20 years, but that the County Attorney's office will often suspend large portions of their sentences, leading to more sellers being let out on the street, which in turn leads to more people using Meth. Corrigan said that imposing maximum sentences is not a viable option as the state prisons are already overcrowded. Quatman said that its not the County Attorney's job to worry about the state prisons. Rather, the state prisons must respond to the needs of the counties.
The proposed Jail expansion promoted by Sheriff Jim Dupont (R-Kalispell) is supported by Corrigan who said that when the jail was built, the Valley's growing meth epidemic as well as the Valley's large population growth could not be foreseen. Quatman believes that its not the County Attorney's job to worry about the jail. He said, however, that its important for the jail to prioritize the cases it tries. Quatman believes that violent criminals such as murderers, rapists and robbers should be placed in jail first, and that if there's not room for those who write bad checks or shoplift, they shouldn't be incarcerated Corrigan said that if people are placed in jail for minor offenses and they need room for more violent offenders, they work to get people released from jail who are in for non-violent offenses.
Voters will pick either Corrigan or Quatman to replace retiring County Attorney Tom Esch in the November General election.