Wiley Nickel wants to significantly expand the Wake County DA's office
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Wiley Nickel is the Wake County District Attorney in waiting. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Wiley Nickel, Wake County's district attorney in waiting, says he wants to use the next 10 months before he assumes the role of DA to secure more resources for the office.
- The top priority, he told Axios, is to significantly increase the number of prosecutors working in the state's largest county by population — which could help clear case backlogs and keep violent offenders off the streets.
Why it matters: District attorneys wield significant influence over criminal justice policies in their communities, deciding which cases move forward and which crimes are prioritized.
Between the lines: And in Wake County, historically, once a district attorney is elected, they command that influence for a long time.
- Outgoing District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has been in office since 2014, and her predecessor, Colon Willoughby, served for more than 27 years.
Zoom in: Nickel, a former congressman and state senator, told Axios that he believes Wake County remains under-resourced compared to where it should be.
- He cites Mecklenburg County's 95 prosecutors as a more appropriate figure than Wake County's current total of 45.
- He notes that, on a per-capita basis in North Carolina, Wake has the lowest ratio of assistant district attorneys per 10,000 residents.
State of play: In Mecklenburg County, Nickel noted, both the county and the city of Charlotte help fund the district attorney's office.
- He said he's going to approach the Raleigh City Council, the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the N.C. General Assembly to ask for more funding for his office in the coming weeks. He'd like to see 23 more positions funded locally.
What they're saying: "Number one, understaffing means victims have to wait years, rather than months, for justice," Nickel said, "and repeat offenders stay on the street much longer."
- "If we continue on the current trajectory without additional resources," he added, "we're much more likely to have cases fall through the cracks, and I'm certainly not willing to do that."
Zoom out: Because Wake County includes the state capital, Nickel's potential purview of cases could also include ones related to political corruption.
- He says he believes pursuing state charges for corruption is even more important now, given the Trump administration's previous use of pardon powers to wipe out federal charges for politicians like Republican George Santos and Democrat Henry Cuellar.
- "My hope is that 99% of the time we're going to be business as usual and do everything we can to put bad guys behind bars," Nickel said of collaborating with federal prosecutors.
- "But this Justice Department is not normal," he added. "There are people that could receive a pardon from Trump who are clearly criminals, and we're going to have to bring state charges" to get justice.