Mark Thomas McCullough

For seven years, I have practiced Criminal Law in North Carolina.  For 4.5 years, I prosecuted, first at the Moore County DA's Office in Carthage, NC and then at the Durham County DA's Office in Durham, NC.  In April 2012, I went into private practice as a criminal defense attorney, disenchanted with the influence politics plays in criminal prosecution.  I believe a prosecutor, as the State's attorney in a criminal case, is the attorney who represents all citizens of North Carolina.  Certainly, the prosecutor has a special duty with regard to the victims of crime, but the Prosecutor's Oath requires him or her to "defend, support and maintain" the Constitutions of North Carolina and of the United States.  The DIstrict Attorney possesses awesome power, theoretically constrained by constitutional and ethical duties and responsibilities, but which is too often exercised, either without due regard for these rules, or in conscious and deliberate disregard of them.