Prince William Commonwealth Attorney seeks staff boosts, $750,000 Axon upgrade to avoid discovery failures

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth told the Board of County Supervisors the volume and complexity of criminal cases in the county have grown sharply and her office needs more staff and technology to meet discovery and trial demands.

my Ashworth, the elected Commonwealth Attorney for Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, said her office currently staffs 61 prosecutors, 28 administrative staff and 17 victim-witness team members and that filings have risen more than 25% in two years. "Our mission is straightforward: to vigorously enforce the law, pursue the truth, and serve the community with integrity," she said.

Why it matters: Ashworth said the increase in filings means more victims to support and far more digital discovery to review, organize and turn over to defense counsel. She told supervisors that insufficient administrative and paralegal staffing forces attorneys to perform routine tasks, producing burnout and delays that can compromise prosecutions.

What she asked for: Ashworth requested 10 additional attorney positions, 10 paralegal positions, 16 administrative positions and estimated an additional five victim-witness positions. She said administrative hires and paralegals would allow prosecutors to focus on trial preparation and victim coordination rather than case management tasks.

On digital evidence: Ashworth described a longstanding reliance on the police department xon evidence system and the operational risk caused by storing evidence in multiple systems. She said the police department—urrently stores most investigative material in Axon and has provided the prosecutor—ree accounts, but the vendor has pressured the office to sign a paid upgrade. "They have been pressuring me for years now to sign what was an over $1,000,000 contract. It's now gotten down to a $750,000 contract to upgrade to these Axon Justice accounts for prosecutors," she said, adding the figure represents a five-year cost with a larger first-year setup fee.

Ashworth said staff analyzed alternatives and concluded separate systems and prior attempts to maintain multiple evidence repositories created operational confusion and discovery failures. "We don't discover it till we're looking in Axon. We can't find it. Oh, it's over here. Immediately, we disclose it. Judge says, that's too late. You had that for too long. Case is dismissed," she said, describing why consolidation matters.

Program developments: Ashworth said the office is launching a behavioral health specialty docket sanctioned by the Supreme Court of Virginia and intends to use additional paralegal and administrative capacity to support dockets such as veterans, recovery and early diversion. She highlighted a recent cold-case DNA reopening that produced a conviction for a victim who had waited nearly 40 years.

Board discussion: Supervisors asked about the allocation of 70 prosecutor positions funded by the General Assembly and why Prince William County received 10; Ashworth explained the Compensation Board distributes positions iteratively by highest reported need and that the county requested 30 positions. Supervisors also pressed on pay disparities for victim-service roles and asked whether the county could build an alternative evidence-storage solution; Ashworth and staff said prior work showed the operational risk and cost of separate systems would not be feasible.

Next steps: Ashworth said some requested attorney positions depend partly on potential state funding through the Compensation Board and that county-level administrative hires can be phased in over four years. The board did not take a funding vote during the meeting; Ashworth left the board with a staffing plan and a request for the board to consider the technology and positions during the budget process.