Quote

At the risk of sounding really corny now, I'm a career prosecutor. I've been doing this for a very long time. And I believe in holding people responsible when they violate the law. But our sole responsibility is to seek justice. And sometimes that means a very lengthy sentence for people who are dangerous and from which society must be protected.

When I was a prosecutor in Kansas City, my job was to fight for justice and safety for all citizens in my community. Equal access to justice under the law is an American value embedded in the fabric of our legal and political system - the idea that anybody, powerful or not, can have their day in court.

When I went to the prosecutor's office, I wanted to be one of the good guys that the defense could trust. I'd try fair, clean cases, pull no punches, no below-the-belt stuff. Honorable. Because that's the kind of prosecutor I wanted to deal with.

I went to law school. And I became a prosecutor. I took on a specialty that very few choose to pursue. I prosecuted child abuse and child homicide cases. Cases that were truly gut-wrenching. But standing up for those kids, being their voice for justice was the honor of a lifetime.

As a former attorney general. I have the greatest respect for the criminal justice system. But it is not good at intelligence gathering.

I think there is no greater job anybody can have than having been a prosecutor.

My job is to interpret the law based on how the legislature and the court has done it and then, of course, to use our system of justice to develop some new legal tools and new concepts.

The great joy of being a prosecutor is that you don't take whatever case walks in the door. You evaluate the case; you make your best judgement. You only go forward if you believe that the defendant is guilty.

The reason I like the criminal justice system is there aren't Republican or Democrat victims or police officers or prosecutors. It's about respect for the rule of law!

In contrast to what most prosecutors do, we try to treat all individuals with complete fairness. We do not go out and hold press conferences and the like.