The Real Injustice of Josh Katcher’s “Real Reform”
Lauren Brice, Esq.
Former Senior Asst. Public Defender
for Arlington County & the City of Falls Church
“I can prove my case.” That was Josh Katcher’s response, delivered with a shrug, when I presented him with evidence that my client–the woman he was prosecuting–was a longtime victim of domestic violence and that he was prosecuting her for fighting back against her abusive husband. This is not the Josh Katcher portrayed in campaign literature and on social media, where he now claims the mantle of “reformer.” This was someone entirely different–someone deeply devoted to our broken justice system, who saw no need to repair it.
At the time, I was a public defender in Arlington County, supervising attorneys in all cases arising from the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court. My client was an immigrant woman here on a green card. The case was something we see all too often: a woman fought back against her abusive husband, her husband called the police, and the woman was arrested. We had abundant evidence that the husband was physically and emotionally abusive and that she had just been fighting back, including photos of injuries and proof her husband was tracking her movements.
In my experience, evidence demonstrating the defendant was actually the victim compels most prosecutors to drop the case. I assumed that would happen here, but Mr. Katcher refused. It was like he didn’t care that the woman was a victim or that this charge would make it harder for her to leave her abusive husband in the future.
The woman was too afraid to go to trial: a combination of her immigration status and the fact that her husband cornered her in the courthouse hallway and yelled at her for even considering it. She pled no contest to a downgraded charge. The charge still remains on her permanent record, making it harder to get a job or custody of her children should she choose to leave him.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t out of the ordinary for Mr. Katcher. He often failed to consider context and extenuating circumstances, reflexively pursuing wins, while seemingly indifferent to the harm he might cause.
For example, Katcher prosecuted a mentally ill 14-year-old girl for four felonies after she bit a police officer. The girl had been accused of fare evasion, and a Metro police officer had gotten aggressive with her, blocking her way, getting in her face, and ultimately cornering her against a wall. He pulled out handcuffs to arrest her because she was being “too loud,” and she pushed him to get away. He followed her down the escalator, with two other Metro police officers joining him. A struggle ensued during which the officers punched the girl in the face several times and the girl bit one of them. She wound up with a black eye, bruises on her face, and a cut lip. The officer had only minor injuries.
Katcher not only stacked felony charges against this 14-year-old child, he kept the jury from viewing cellphone video taken by an observer in which the girl lay on the ground, pleading for help, screaming for her family and saying she couldn’t breathe, while the four officers were on top of her. He also asked that the judge not tell the jury the charge was a felony, and tried to prevent jurors from knowing about the injuries the girl had sustained.
When we argued to the jury that it was the police who were the aggressors, Mr. Katcher told them “the focus really is not on who’s the aggressor.” He truly did not care that the police had escalated the situation, that the girl was only fourteen, or that she struggled with her mental health. What mattered to him was whether he could prove his case — he pressed forward simply because he believed he could win.
Prosecutors in Virginia, like most states, have inordinate power to prove almost any case, either by exploiting unfair procedural rules, playing games with due process, or raising the stakes of trial so high through overcharging, with potential punishment so great, that any rational person would plead guilty–even those who are innocent. When Mr. Katcher had that power, he used it enthusiastically and without hesitation. Now that he’s running for office, however, Katcher is exploiting the fact that most Arlingtonians have never experienced the harm of our unforgiving criminal courts and have no idea the role he played while working within them. He claims he’ll bring “real reform,” by prioritizing victims and keeping children out of the justice system wherever possible (or not charging them in the first place). But when he had the chance to live those values as a prosecutor, he didn’t. The community has an important decision to make on June 20, and they deserve to know the truth: Josh Katcher is not a reformer, and his record proves it.
Lauren Brice, Esq.
June 13, 2023