This isn’t terribly surprising:
The district attorney who prosecuted Pamela Rogers on charges of having sex with a boy who attended the elementary school where she was a teacher lost his bid for re-election.
Political newcomer Lisa Zavogiannis outpolled District Attorney Dale Potter more than 3- to-1 Thursday in a race where his handling of the Rogers case became a campaign issue. Zavogiannis carried all precincts in the district covering Warren and Van Buren counties to beat Potter 8,668 to 2,822.
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Potter had been criticized over not taking the Rogers case to trial or striking a tougher plea bargain with her. He had told reporters that he couldn’t go to trial because the victim’s family didn’t want him to testify and that he couldn’t have persuaded any male jurors to convict Rogers.
Potter, who was elected in 1998, had been charged with official misconduct and extortion in 2001 but was acquitted.
Zavogiannis, a Democrat, spent more than $52,000 on her campaign while Potter spent just more than $16,000.
Her eight-year term begins Sept. 1. “I’m ready to go to work,” Zavogiannis said.
Potter said he would return to private law practice.
“I’m going on vacation for about 10 days and I’ll decide then what I’m going to do,” Potter said. “I want to congratulate Lisa and challenge her to top our conviction record. If she can do that, she will be a great DA.”