Why You Need to Vote for Me on November 5

By Toni Cavanagh Dimonte

You deserve a district judge who already knows the law and won't be learning it on the job when decisions need to be made immediately and correctly.

I am the most qualified candidate for the job and the only one with a working knowledge of how the entire court system works with regard to the cases that begin (and sometimes end) in our district courts. After reading Mrs. Krull's letter as published in both TownTalk and the Daily Times, I realized that some items I read in that letter need correction explanation or elaboration as follows:

It's true that the district courts are "where ordinary people can seek justice" - but only for claims up to $12,000.00. The district court does handle traffic tickets - but it does not handle the appeals involving traffic tickets because appeals are handled in the Court of Common Pleas.

In the list of areas covered by the court Mrs. Krull included the term "preliminary hearings in criminal matters" but she did not explain that those preliminary hearings can and often do involve, homicide, attempted homicide, arson, rape, robbery, drug dealing, assault and theft. So while the district court is a place where ordinary people can seek justice, it is also the place where accused criminals first enter the judicial system. A district judge makes serious decisions. I have practiced law for 17 years and have spent the last 9 ½ of those 17 years working as an assistant public defender serving the underprivileged (and sometimes wrongly accused) residents of Delaware County.

So please don't hate me or refuse to vote for me because I am a registered Republican. Instead, why not consider that as your next district judge I will know the right decision to make when presented with an application for a search warrant seeking to allow police to search your home against your will. Or maybe I will be presented with a search warrant application for the property of a drug dealer who is endangering your loved ones each time more drugs are sold. If the drug dealer's house gets searched prematurely he'll probably go free. If your house gets searched improperly, you can't ever reverse that breach of privacy. Decisions concerning your constitutional rights should be made by someone with the legal knowledge to make not just any decision, but instead make the right decision.

I have litigated the types of district court cases described in Mrs. Krull's letter: small claims, traffic tickets, landlord tenant cases, underage drinking and truancy. Unlike my opponent, I have also first-chaired felony jury trials, bench trials and juvenile court proceedings. As your next district judge I have firsthand knowledge of what can happen to the cases involving those "ordinary people" when they leave the district court. Sometimes there's a wrongful conviction of an innocent person. Sometimes criminals go free because the judge dismissed the wrong charges or refused to allow an amendment adding the appropriate ones. Other times a party gets "spent out" of court because they had only enough money to seek help in district court and could not continue on to the Court of Common Pleas after the wrong decision was made by the district judge simply because the judge did not know any better!

You might want to know that I'm from Delaware County and that I was born, raised and educated here. I, like Mrs. Krull, am a wife, mom and community volunteer.

But for the purpose of convincing you to vote for me on November 5, I would like you to know this: I am a trial attorney who's spent the last 23 years working in the court system as district court clerk, common pleas judge's law clerk, prosecutorial intern, private practice trial attorney, federal judge's law clerk and now assistant public defender. I know the law and I will make the right decisions. Decisions that may affect you, your community, your friends and your family. Vote for me because I am the most qualified candidate with the experience and knowledge relevant to properly perform the duties of district judge and to protect the rights of the residents in District 32-1-28.

On November 5 don't just vote your party. Vote for the person who's right for the job.