Virginia prosecutor Steve Descano faces a third recall effort for lenient treatment of a criminal, this time from a group that helped elect a Republican district attorney in New York.
Murder victim Stephanie Minter’s mother, Cheryl, and the Victims’ Rights Reform Council launched an online petition on Wednesday to recall the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s attorney, gaining more than 12,400 signatures by Thursday. The petition castigates Descano for dropping repeat offender Abdul Jalloh’s charges in almost every case during his string of more than 30 prior arrests until he was charged with stabbing Minster to death in February. Jalloh is an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone who received “sanctuary” from immigration arrests under Virginia policies, adding to the backlash over Minter’s slaying.
Victims’ Rights Reform Council’s executive director is political organizer Jennifer Harrison, who founded an affiliated Victims Rights PAC in New York that supported tough-on-crime Republican Ray Tierney’s successful campaign for Suffolk County district attorney against Democratic incumbent Tim Sini in 2021, according to multiple reports. Harrison’s council calls for an end to cashless bail, “Woke Activist Judges Who Put Ideology Over Public Safety,” and “Sanctuary Policies” on a webpage dedicated to a “Stephanie Minter Legal Fund.”
Descano took office in 2020 as part of a wave of lenient prosecutors financially backed by left-wing megadonor George Soros. Descano faced two recall efforts over his criminal justice approach in his first term by the groups Stand Up Virginia and Virginians for Safe Communities.
The third recall petition can become official if its signatures represent 10% of the votes cast in Descano’s last election, meaning it would need more than 29,000 from Fairfax County residents. Petitioners can then send the request to a circuit judge, who decides whether to recall the politician. The court can remove officials if it finds them responsible for “neglect of a clear, ministerial duty of the office, misuse of the office, or incompetence in the performance of the duties of the office” in ways that have “a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office,” Virginia law says.
“Our office is prosecuting Abdul Jalloh for the murder of Ms. Minter,” a Descano spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “He was indicted last week and his trial is set for January 2027. We are unable to comment further on an ongoing prosecution.”
Law enforcement charged Jalloh with murder after tying him to a theft from earlier that day.
“On February 23, 2026, I received the phone call every parent dreads. Stephanie had been brutally stabbed to death at a Fairfax County bus stop in broad daylight,” Minter’s mother wrote in the recall petition.
“Thirty times the system had a chance to stop him,” she wrote about Jalloh. “Thirty times. I think about that every single day. This was not an unavoidable tragedy. It was the predictable consequence of decisions made by Descano.”
SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTOR IN VIRGINIA UNDER FIRE FOR ACCUSED KILLERS’ INSANITY PLEAS
Former Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares endorsed the petition.
“Stephanie Minter was murdered by an illegal immigrant with 30 prior arrests, & Fairfax prosecutor Steve Descano pushed sanctuary policies that have seen half the murders in Fairfax conducted by an illegal immigrant this year alone,” he said in a Thursday X post promoting the petition.