Allegheny County Chief Public Defender Matt Dugan announces run for district attorney

Matt Dugan has worked in Allegheny County’s criminal justice system for 16 years, holding nearly every attorney position in the Public Defender’s Office during that time.

He has been among the youngest in the room as a pretrial attorney, and he’s been among the most experienced, trying homicide charges before a jury.

For the past three years, Dugan has served as chief public defender, appointed by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald in 2020, working to bring more diversity, training, equity and resources to the office.

But Dugan said he wants more.

“The truth is that the system is not designed to be run by a Public Defender’s Office. The true leader of the criminal justice system is the district attorney,” Dugan said during an interview last week.

Dugan, a Democrat, is looking to unseat long-time incumbent District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., who announced last month that he will seek a seventh term in office.

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work for us. It’s impossible to deny that he (Zappala) has a name that is recognizable. He’s been in the position for 24 years, but there’s a huge appetite for change in this county,” said Dugan, 43, of Moon Township.

In the last race for district attorney in 2019, former assistant public defender Lisa Middleman challenged Zappala in the general election. She entered the race in June after Zappala won the primary on both tickets and, despite her late entry into the race, earned 43% of the vote in November.

As district attorney, Dugan said he would increase the office’s accountability and transparency, work to “reverse inherent racism in the criminal justice system” and try to create a real diversion for low-level offenders to stop them from even getting to criminal court in the first place.

While Dugan acknowledged Zappala’s successes early in his tenure in creating specialty courts such as mental health court, veterans court, drug court and others, Dugan said those models are now outdated.

“These aren’t true diversion,” he said. “We need to do everything we can to get people back on their feet. We need to give people real off-ramps in the criminal justice system.”

Dugan added: “I’m not saying that we don’t hold people accountable. We will, but we give them the opportunity to work through programs and take advantage of resources that the court and Department of Human Services can offer. And we can give folks the chance to get their lives back without necessarily always seeking a criminal conviction.”

But Dugan said he would vigorously prosecute serious crimes while working to improve relations between the DA’s office and law enforcement.

“We want more resources to help officers do their job, to help the most vulnerable people in our society,” Dugan said. “I think one of the resources that we can offer to police officers across the county is a better relationship with the District Attorney’s Office — to know that we will, effectively and reliably, prosecute serious crime when those arrests are made.”

Dugan said he would focus on building partnerships with all stakeholders in the criminal justice system, including mental health professionals, community leaders, political bodies and law enforcement.

Zappala has had a difficult relationship with city leadership in the past, including openly criticizing former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and current Mayor Ed Gainey.

Dugan said the criminal justice system needs to address the core drivers of what brings people into it, including substance abuse, untreated mental health disorders and poverty.

“We’re talking about preventive measures, about getting ahead of these issues,” Dugan said. “We need to rethink the purpose of a criminal conviction — a lifelong stain on someone’s record that will prohibit employment, that will impact economic prosperity in the future, that will impact taxes paid to Allegheny County and the state.”

Dugan agrees with Gainey that violence in the city should be viewed as a public health crisis.

“We know that violent crime is really pocketed in certain areas. And we also know that those areas share certain characteristics, which is lack of resources, lack of stability,” Dugan said. “We have the opportunity in 2023 with a new county executive coming in, with a relatively new mayor … and a dedicated Department of Human Services.

“For the first time potentially ever in Allegheny County’s history, you can have those four entities working together to get upstream on crime,” he said.

Dugan was critical of Zappala — particularly with regard to comments he made when announcing his reelection bid. Zappala noted that violent crime in the city is up and that something must be done about it.

“They’ve had the opportunity to comment and offer solutions (for) it prior to election season,” Dugan said. “But we’ve not heard anything from that office. And more to the point, we’ve not heard any new ideas about how to address these issues.”

Dugan said he believes the district attorney needs to have a strong presence in the community and build relationships with the necessary partners to make change.

“We need to build trust in the neighborhoods such that when violent crime occurs, people feel safe and confident that they can come to police, come to the District Attorney’s Office and work to address those issues,” Dugan said.

“That only comes after you’ve put in the hard work of being present and gaining people’s trust,” he added. “It’s not more boots on the ground. It’s not the same ‘tough on crime’ policies that we know have failed in the past.”

Dugan said he would change how low-level crimes are handled.

“The district attorney has broad discretion to choose what and how crimes are prosecuted in the county,” he said.

He does not support prosecutions for low-level marijuana possession. And he thinks there needs to be treatment options for people battling heroin and fentanyl addiction.

Dugan also emphasized the need for transparency.

“That office, unfortunately, no longer has the benefit of the doubt with the public and their trust,” he said.

In his first 100 days, Dugan said his administration would create a “conviction-integrity unit” to review convictions where there are questions about guilt or new evidence.

“Conviction integrity is key to the public’s trust in the criminal justice system,” he said.

Dugan said he acknowledges that systemic racism exists — in policing and in the courtroom.

To address that in the Public Defender’s Office, Dugan said he implemented implicit bias training and made a concerted effort to have diversity among attorneys in the office.

“Diverse representation is absolutely essential in today’s workforce, and I can’t think of a place where it’s more important than the criminal justice system where we see an over-representation of people of color in the system,” he said.

Dugan said he anticipates being labeled a progressive prosecutor, but he sees himself as running “more of a reform-minded campaign.”

“I don’t feel the need to own any type of label, but we are coming in with new ideas, and we are coming in looking to change this system.”