DA Tom Keith

Elected district attorneys often have almost as many critics as supporters. That's been the case with Tom Keith, who retires next week after almost 20 years as Forsyth County's top prosecutor. We've often disagreed with him on this page, but we've also recognized his accomplishments. In the final analysis, he's been a strong district attorney, especially in the last few years. And his best work could just come in "retirement."

Keith, a 65-year-old Republican, has smoothed operations so that his assistants can concentrate on the most serious cases, and reduced the backlog and dismissal rates. He created Safe on Seven, a program composed of several organizations that has helped reduce the number of domestic-violence crimes in the county. He's promoted innovative strategies to fight gangs and drugs. He's increased his staff from 18 to 44, adding more female and black prosecutors.

Voters, no doubt recognizing his good work, have continued to return him to office. After he announced his retirement last week, even some of his adversaries noted his strong points. For example, the Rev. John Mendez told the Journal that Keith has had "a genuine interest in developing programs to keep young people from going to prison and becoming felons."

The outspoken, dedicated Keith can be, by turns, charmingly open and frustratingly stubborn. Much of the criticism of his office has come from his handling of the Deborah Sykes murder case and the Jill Marker beating case. Both cases involved white victims and black defendants, and supporters of those defendants have charged that they were railroaded because of their race.

Keith's office inherited the Sykes case. When DNA testing in 1994 showed Darryl Hunt didn't rape Sykes, Keith fought defense efforts for a new trial. Hunt spent more than 18 years in prison for Sykes' murder before more DNA testing in 2003 led to the real killer.

After reviewing those test results, Keith joined defense attorneys in moving for Hunt's exoneration. We believe he should have recognized much earlier that the bungling of the case by police and prosecutors warranted his full attention and a thorough review.

Keith said the Hunt case was "a consciousness-raising experience." Mark Rabil, the lawyer who finally won Hunt's freedom, said that Keith is "not as sensitive to innocence issues as I am, but he's a lot more advanced in his thinking on innocence claims."

Soon after Hunt's release, Keith had his office send letters to more than 2,100 inmates convicted in Forsyth County whose cases might be affected by improved DNA testing. One letter was sent to Joseph Lamont Abbitt, who was in prison for life on convictions of raping two girls in 1991. Abbitt contacted the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, and it worked with Keith's office, Winston-Salem police and the State Bureau of Investigation to start new DNA testing that cleared Abbitt. Keith's office worked with the innocence center to have Abbitt freed in September.

Keith should have brought the same energy to re-examining the Marker case. Marker was severely beaten in the Silk Plant Forest store where she worked. Kalvin Michael Smith, who has been in prison since his 1997 conviction, maintains his innocence. The Journal, the Duke Law School Innocence Project and a Winston-Salem citizens' committee have all raised serious questions about the case, especially in regard to its handling by police. But Keith, while cooperating with the Duke project in the beginning, hasn't been as committed to answering all the questions raised by this case as he was in the last stages of the Sykes case.

On other cases, such as Michael Charles Hayes, he's been refreshingly pragmatic. Hayes killed four people and wounded five others during a psychotic craze in 1988 that was aggravated by alcohol and marijuana. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, is under the loose supervision of a state hospital, and could be released without any supervision within the next few years. Keith has proposed changes in state law, such as creating a verdict of guilty but insane that would allow for long-term supervision in such cases.

Keith's chosen successor, Jim O'Neill, is one of his top lieutenants and a fellow Republican. O'Neill, steady and low-key, will be appointed by Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue to finish Keith's term and will run for election next November.

Keith has several plans for his post-retirement days. He wants to expand the Safe on Seven program to other cities, help establish a local forensic crime lab, and develop programs to assist parolees to become productive citizens, among other things.

He wants to press the legislature on several concerns, including creating investigative grand juries for gangs, financing domestic-violence programs from court fees, increasing prison time for felons who use guns and strengthening drug-treatment courts.

Keith has sometimes seemed a work in progress, a smart prosecutor with innovative approaches to reduce crime, and one who has in recent years learned to open his mind to new theories on old cases. His push for an array of improvements in the criminal justice system could amount to an unofficial final act of a strong career.