A Democratic candidate for Virginia prosecutor Steve Descano’s seat in June 2027 is attacking the leftist prosecutor’s record on repeat offenders.
Longtime lawyer Brittany Dunn-Pirio highlighted nine cases where she says the Fairfax County commonwealth’s attorney showed undeserved leniency in a new website announcing her primary run. Descano took office in 2020 among other reform-minded prosecutors backed financially by leftist megadonor George Soros and facing similar backlash.
“I’m a Democrat. This race isn’t about whether reform was right,” Dunn-Pirio’s website says. “It’s about whether the office can tell the difference between a first-time nonviolent offender who deserves a second chance and a violent or sexual offender who doesn’t.”
Descano’s office will “welcome” the chance to show voters the fruits of his criminal justice approach, a Descano spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
“Steve Descano has spent his tenure proving that we can reform the justice system while keeping our community safe,” the spokesperson said. “Today, Fairfax County is recognized as the safest large jurisdiction in the country because Steve has prioritized accountability and addressed the root causes of crime rather than returning to failed policies of the past.”
Among the most recent high-profile defendants Dunn-Pirio cited was Ronnie Reel, a child rapist who received a plea deal from Descano’s office that released him from jail on time served in 2022. Reel was arrested in Woodbridge in May for allegedly abducting a 17-year-old girl. He was also accused of molesting a third child in 2021, but the case dissolved after Decano’s office failed to meet a deadline for turning over evidence, WUSA9 reported.
“This isn’t one bad day. It’s the norm,” Dunn-Pirio’s website says.
Dunn-Pirio’s legal career includes experience as a prosecutor for the Frederick County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office from 2020 to 2023 and then for the Department of Justice until November 2025, according to her LinkedIn profile and other reports. She resigned from President Donald Trump’s DOJ last year because she “couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected,” her campaign says.
She also helped Frederick County prosecute juvenile delinquency, “crafting case outcomes to rehabilitate young people rather than simply punish them,” her LinkedIn profile boasts. Nonetheless, Dunn-Pirio argues her opponent is too quick to avoid incarcerating some criminals.
‘I AM GUILTY’: HOW FAIRFAX COUNTY’S STEVE DESCANO KEEPS LETTING KILLERS OFF WITH INSANITY PLEAS
“I have the judgment and experience to recognize when the answer is accountability, when it is rehabilitation, and when it is a combination,” the website says.
Descano also faces a recall petition from the mother of a Fairfax County murder victim whose alleged killer is an illegal immigrant with more than 30 prior arrests. Descano dropped charges in nearly every prior case against the man, the Washington Examiner previously reported. Two other recall efforts over Descano’s lenient policies failed.