Incoming chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney is longtime Loudoun prosecutor | 1news
Longtime Loudoun County prosecutor Nicole Wittmann will take over as chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney on Jan. 1, when Commonwealth’s attorney-elect Robert D. Anderson takes office.
Wittmann worked in the Office of the Commonwealth attorney from 2004 through 2019. She served as a lead prosecutor on child abuse cases and sex crimes and headed the Victim and Witness Assistance Program.
In 2012, Wittmann was named chief deputy by then-Commonwealth’s attorney James E. Plowman. She succeeded Plowman, a Republican, when he was appointed a 20th Circuit Court judge and served two months.
After a judge ruled she made numerous attempts to become a Loudoun resident and was eligible to be on the ballot, Wittmann ran for commonwealth’s attorney in 2019 as a Republican. She was defeated by Democrat Buta Biberaj by about 2,000 votes.
Wittmann earned her law degree at Michigan State University College of Law after graduating from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 1998. She will work for Anderson, who was commonwealth’s attorney from 1996 to 2003. He defeated Biberaj by 300 votes in November.
Since January 2022, Wittmann has served as deputy attorney general for criminal justice and public safety in the Virginia Office of the attorney General. Virginia attorney General Jason S. Miyares said in a Dec. 6 written statement that Wittmann has been an “invaluable team member.”
“Virginians are better off because of her commitment to the rule of law and public safety,” he said. “I look forward to seeing the positive change she’ll bring to Loudoun County as the chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney, returning the office’s focus to prioritizing public safety and protecting victims, which has long been missing,”
Wittmann replaces Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s attorney Shaniqua Clark Nelson, who was hired by Biberaj in 2021 and was previously a deputy commonwealth’s attorney in Portsmouth. Clark Nelson earned her law degree at the University of Richmond School of Law in 2010 after graduating from George Mason University.
In a written statement, Clark Nelson said she prioritized crime victims “to ensure their voices are always heard” and fostered a “culture of collaboration” with local law enforcement agencies.
Loudoun County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s attorney Shaniqua Clark Nelson speaks at an April 28 ceremony to mark National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
“Additionally, I have worked collaboratively with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office to fundamentally change how evidence is received by our office, processed, and disseminated to defense counsel with a focus on digitization and cloud-based sharing,” she said. “This was a departure from several thousand compact discs (CDs) that were previously submitted to our office with body worn camera footage for discovery.”
Clark Nelson added that she was proud to have been part of “the most diverse office in Loudoun County” under Biberaj and said Biberaj’s leadership embodied Loudoun’s diversity. “
Although to date, I have not been invited to serve Loudoun County in the next administration in any capacity, it is my expressed goal to continue to serve Loudoun County now and in the future,” she said.
County prosecutors serve at the pleasure of commonwealth’s attorneys. Anderson said in an interview that he was in the process of giving employee notifications and plans to announce who his staff will be in a news release later this month.
At least one staff member will be defense attorney Elizabeth Jean Lancaster. In court documents seeking to withdraw from a case, Lancaster said she will join the office on Jan. 2.
Lancaster, an attorney since 2004, spent 15 years as a public defender. She worked primarily in Loudoun Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court before becoming a defense attorney specializing in family law. She lost to Biberaj by about 3,000 votes in the Democratic primary in June.
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