"The community at the time was just furious with me for charging any of the counter-protestors with anything. And I was very sympathetic to the ideology of the counter-protestors, and was mortified by some of the viewpoints of the alt-right individuals. But I said, 'I have to prosecute conduct, not content,' and if you start picking sides, that's a scary thing."
Joe Platania, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Charlottesville, joined us for a candid conversation about what it truly means to serve as a prosecutor.
From starting as a public defender to leading the prosecution of high-profile cases—most notably those arising from the 2017 Unite the Right rally—we explored the immense power and responsibility of prosecutorial discretion, the balance between victim advocacy and fairness to the accused, and the importance of proactive engagement with the communities prosecutors serve.
It was a privilege having Joe join us.
Courtroom Stories & Tactics | RVA Trial Lawyers
Available on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and at RVATrialLawyers.com
Based out of Richmond, Virginia, Courtroom Stories & Tactics by RVA Trial Lawyers exists for lawyers who try cases to juries on behalf of people. Through our podcast, we hope to learn from them, support them, connect them, inspire them, and preserve their work for future trial lawyers.
If you are willing, we would greatly appreciate it if you left us a 5-Star Google Review by clicking here. Your review will help people find us.
Also, if you would like to subscribe to the RVA Trial Lawyers Newsletter, you can do so here.
Thank you!
Sharif Gray and Nael Abouzaki
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com