Candidates for the next Jeff Davis Parish district attorney revealed why they are running and discussed their experiences and plans for the office Thursday during a candidate forum at the Strand Theater.

Interim District Attorney Elliott Cassidy is being challenged by criminal defense attorney Lauren Heinen and public defender Daniel Sparks in the March 26 election. The election is being held to fill the seat vacated by the death of District Attorney Kevin Millican, who died last July six months after taking office.

A second forum will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Jesus Worship Center, 15430 Hwy. 26, Jennings.

Cassidy said he believes in the hands-on style of leadership and noted that being district attorney is not a 9 to 5, seven days a week job. It is a full-time job which demands full-time attention, he said.

“I shutdown my private practice years ago and I focused my career and my life to be a prosecutor,” he said. “That’s what I have been doing since 2016. That’s what I am going to continue to do. You won’t have to worry about finding me at the other office. I will be at the DA’s office working for the public and the people of Jeff Davis Parish.”

Cassidy is a former teacher and coach who has practiced law since 2013. He has worked in criminal defense, family law, business litigation, personal injury and appeals in his private practice before working as a domestic violence prosecutor in the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office. He also served as first assistant district attorney in the Jeff Davis District Attorney’s Office before being named interim district attorney after Millican’s death.

Cassidy stressed his experience from a private attorney to prosecutor and now district attorney..

“You can’t start at the top of the mountain,” he said. “I worked my way up from the bottom. I prosecuted traffic tickets. I prosecuted misdemeanors. I took them to trial. I got promoted. I prosecuted felonies. I took them to trial. I got promoted. I was the first assistant. I was the head prosecutor for Jeff Davis Parish, right under Kevin Millican my mentor, prosecuting cases, pushing cases, handling homicide and rapes. The most serious crimes I took them on. Now due to his untimely passing I am district attorney, something I didn’t expect to happen. But I didn’t start at the top. It took a lot of hard work. You’re not taught how to prosecute crime or handle victims in law school. “

He said he has prosecuted “thousands” of cases including criminal, misdemeanor and felony cases. He has also conducted four jury trials and more than a dozen judge trials as district attorney.

Cassidy is currently working to expedite cases to avoid backlogs. He is working to improve communications with law enforcement agencies and mayors. He is also pushing the habitual offender bill, has expanded the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, brought the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers program to the parish and continues to incorporate new technology.

Heinen, who has practiced law since 2015, said she will maintain her private law practice, if elected as district attorney.

“I think that maintaining a private practice is something that is very important as a district attorney because it maintains that connectivity to the parish,” she said.

As for her reason for running for district attorney, Heinen said she wants to help the parish and bring leadership to the office.

“In your district attorney you need someone who is going to be a leader, you need someone who is going to manage people, you need someone who is going to manage a caseload and you need someone who knows how to manage an office,” Heinen said. “ I have a very successful practice in town and I have seen the struggle of this parish day in and day out just trying to be heard. Our parish needs a leader in that position.”

She said assistant district attorneys need to be trying the cases and the district attorney needs to be making sure all the cases are managed. If the district attorney is busy preparing for trial, management of the office is neglected.

Being a district attorney is an administrative position as well as a practicing attorney position, she said. It is also one that comes with great responsibility and humility, she said.

“When you’re not trying cases in the parish it’s easy to be a full-time district attorney and say you are a trial attorney, but when you’re trying cases you have to have a full team in place that’s ready to try the cases as well,” Heinen said. “I absolutely believe that being a team leader who understands that we are serving the parish, that should be the core value. That should be the objective of that office. We should all be servant leaders and the team that is in place needs to know that the objective is to serve the public. That’s who we are serving. We are not serving ourselves.”

Heinen said her background in ag business and as well as her experience in family law, criminal defense, real estate law, successions, estate planning and personal injury law makes her a “well-rounded” candidate with a sense of law and business.

As DA, she will work to open communication with the District Attorney’s Office and rebuild trust with law enforcement agencies and the community, work to maintain a balanced budget and make sure the court docket stays full of cases that are ready to go to trial.

“This parish wants to see people prosecuted,” she said. “This parish is going to see people prosecuted, so those case dockets will be loaded up. We will have a strong team in place who understands what the objective is and understands that the office is going to be run professionally and we have a code of conduct that is in sync with that objective.”

She said backlog cases will be managed, organized and plea deals made when acceptable.

Sparks, who has practiced law for 10 years, said he has no prosecuting experience but has dealt with the District Attorney’s Office as a public defender. He also said he is part of the community and knows what is going on which is what will help make him a better district attorney.

If elected, he would be in the courtroom everyday learning and pushing for more trials to show the community that the District Attorney’s Office is not afraid to prosecute criminals.

“The more you prosecute, the more you do, the more you learn, the more you know the better district attorney you are,” he said.

If elected, Sparks said he will continue to have a small civil business to handle real estate, successions and smaller legal cases, but vowed to be involved in the community and work with his staff to serve the public.

“I like to lead, but I like to be there with them,” he said. “I’m not above these people. I’m not better than them. We are working together as a team. I’m not there to be over them. I’m there to work with them. We’re there to be together for the community and that’s how I plan on running it.”

Sparks said he wants to serve as district attorney because he loves giving back to the community.

Sparks said he does free wills and power of attorneys for veterans. In addition, he buys books for  children who can’t afford them and donates to the Council on Aging’s food drive.

“The appreciation that I receive from doing these things for the community are priceless to me so what better position than the district attorney, that’s his job helping the community,” Sparks said.

Sparks said communication with the District Attorney’s Office needs to be improved, plea deals need to move forward faster to reduce the backlog and the budget needs to be addressed to avoid deficits. He also said the public needs to regain its trust in the District Attorney’s Office.

“Recently a parishwide survey found the two main issues people said were roads and crimes,” Sparks said “Something’s not right if that’s one of the top issues and no one I’ve talked to had anything good to say about the District Attorney’s Office and that’s sad. There is a problem that needs to be fixed.”

The forum was sponsored by the Jennings Daily News and Jennings Lions Club.