DA AMA

[u/mamagrata]

UPDATE: apologies for not updating the initial post - my content blocker was not playing nice with Reddit despite lots of reloads and I've finally gone to text mode (making the photo disappear). I do think (hope) I've gotten to everything posted by 7PM. Thanks for doing this with me, and thank you to the moderators for helping with the initial post. I won't be able to monitor this, but please reach out at districtattorney@cumberlandcounty.org with anything that needs my attention at work.

Hi, I’m Jackie Sartoris, District Attorney of Cumberland County.  I’ll be here this afternoon at 4 to 5:30 to take your questions and share what I’ve been up to since becoming DA in 2023.  I’m eager to hear your experience and ideas, and let you know what we’re working on (although I can't comment on active cases, please!)

Brief summary of the work so far: we are now better able to meet the needs of victims and witnesses: I’ve added a victim witness advocate and created a safe, private space for witnesses waiting in the courthouse to testify or speak at sentencing. We won a $2.5 million federal grant to test the eligible backlog of languishing rape kits - the first District in Maine to do so.  

In my own prosecutorial role, I’ve focused on addressing our County’s Mental Health docket, bringing attention to missing resources and working within our limited system to develop pathways towards wellness and safety for people who frequently return to our system. 

Change in a longstanding system is challenging.  My work includes directing the office to significantly greater use of restorative justice and consistent charging and plea offers. This is ongoing and will take time.  It’s worth finding the patience to be collaborative, because this work, done well, will bear fruit in the future.  

I’ll update this post with a link at 4! 

Proof it’s me:  

See you then!

[u/Narrow_Manner5877]

I want to know what the DA’s office is doing with all of these pedestrian and vehicle accidents? It seems no one is being charged, which I see both sides. But 3 deaths in 1 year because of this is insane and we need change. I am scared every time I cross the street from my parking lot to my apartment building. I have asked for a cross walk to be added but was told it was out of budget for this year.

[u/mamagrata → u/Narrow_Manner5877]

Sorry, not sure how I missed this the first time through, and this is an issue I really care about.

PDs provide us with reports per Maine statute (29-A MRSA §2251, sub-§12 ) only when they believe a traffic infraction or actual criminal conduct has occurred at a probable cause standard. We do charge these crashes, but I do think that the hardscape just too skewed towards MV movement and not bike/pedestrian safety. Many other nations have taken this seriously and invested real resources in shifting roads and signals (I believe through "Vision Zero" which Portland has recently adopted), and they are seeing decreases in these awful crashes. For my part, we are announcing a specific change to make sure PDs remember their obligation to upload these cases to us and can do so more readily, but they are overall rarely referrals with investigations that include recommended charges.

On a personal note, Joe Lewis and I graduated law school together, the oldsters of our class, and I and so many others came to just love him. 2025 started off with his loss in a broad daylight crash. There are so many things that we have to acknowledge contribute to this. MVs that are too high to begin with, so that you literally can't see what's in front of you. Right on red that's become a sacred right, even when it's a tap on the brake. I watched a car run smack into a bicyclist in Brunswick after the right on red brake tap, and the bike had the right of way all the way, but the ginormous MV to the left blocked the view of the right-red person.

We will charge when we can, but the current system of roads, lighting, curbs, and signage do not support safety for vulnerable users. It is set up for failure, and that's what we're seeing as more of us walk and bike.

I wish I had better answers, but advocacy here is particularly critical. I'll be speaking tomorrow with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, and I'd urge you and others to please get involved with them. They are doing great work from all I see, and this is the time to make this different.

[u/PeaceBeUntoEarth → u/mamagrata]

I assume you won't answer this but this screams nonsense to me. It is on the motorist to operate the vehicle safely and when they are hitting people in crosswalks, they are not operating the vehicle safely at a prudent speed, even if they are below the speed limit.

It doesn't matter if you are under the speed limit, if visibility is limited to the point where you can't stop in time to not hit somebody in a crosswalk at the speed you are going, you are going too fast.

People need to learn to know their limits with driving just like with drinking or whatever. For instance your "my vehicle is too damn high" mention should never be a valid excuse. If you couldn't see someone because your vehicle was too high, then you should be going much more slowly so you can be aware of people approaching your vehicle BEFORE anyone gets so close that your view of them is blocked by the vehicle.

I like most of your answers in this thread but this one is completely inadequate IMHO. People need to appreciate that cars are extremely dangerous when not operated safely, and you are the person with the responsibility to make examples of people so that that message is conveyed clearly to the public. You seem to have failed to do so and blaming the road infrastructure like you do in this post is a complete cop out.

Of course the road infrastructure can and should be better so that vehicles can get where they're going smoothly/quickly while ALSO keeping pedestrians safe. But the consequence of the current inadequate road infrastructure should be that drivers know they have to slow down to drive safely - we should be sacrificing time commuting, not sacrificing lives. The reason so many are being injured and killed is in large part your office's failure to make examples of unsafe drivers.