SERVICE BEFORE SELF

Mecklenburg County DA Spencer Merriweather dedicates career to public service

Hand in hand with his mother, 3-year-old Spencer Merriweather marched in protest of the brutal lynching of Michael Donald, in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama.

“The Klan picked him up in the middle of the night,” Merriweather said. “They beat him terribly and hung from a tree in a neighborhood not far from where I'm from.”

A friend of Merriweather’s mother was a prominent attorney in the case Donald v. United Klans of America, that resulted in civil remedies and in the bankruptcy of the United Klans of America, which was known as one of the largest and most violent factions of the KKK.

“That was the first inkling that I had about, ‘Wow, this is what lawyers do,’” Merriweather said.

Since his first act of political activism, Merriweather has dedicated his career to public service. As district attorney for North Carolina’s largest prosecutorial district, Mecklenburg County, Merriweather has focused on prosecuting violent offenses, supporting victims, and creating a safer community.

Merriweather grew up with a passion for public service, and political activism instilled in him. Both of his parents worked as public school educators in Mobile, and his father was also a Parks and Recreation director, showing Merriweather firsthand the importance of service.

“My parents, carry a lot of history with them too, they were black people in the state of Alabama who were among the first in a generation of

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African Americans to attend college in both of their families,” Merriweather said. “My dad arrived at Alabama State University in Montgomery in time to boycott buses, and my mother was among the first African American educators to teach in what had formerly been a predominantly white high school.”

After high school, Merriweather went on to attend Princeton University, graduating in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in politics. He then attended University of North Carolina and graduated with his J.D. in 2005.

After finishing law school, Merriweather began his career as a legislative associate in the Office of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of the U.S. House of Representatives. He became assistant district attorney in Mecklenburg County in 2007, where he worked as a felony trial attorney, prosecuting homicide, sexual assault, domestic violence, and drug crimes.

Merriweather has served as the district attorney since 2017 after being appointed by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. He was sworn in for his second full term in January 2023. Since stepping into the role of DA, Merriweather has implemented several programs to confront crime in the community, create accessible resources for victims, and reform the justice system.

“When I got to this office, and I saw the wide spectrum of people that I would engage with and the wide spectrum of issues that one had to confront on a daily basis, it reminded me of what I saw through my dad's eyes and what I saw through my mother's eyes,” Merriweather said. “I could use the skills that I had and the knowledge that I gained in law school, and I could employ the sense of advocacy that I saw from my boss on Capitol Hill, Congressman Norton, but I was still dealing with, ‘real people,’ and that that was something that greatly appealed to me and quite frankly, still does.”

During his time prosecuting sexual assault and domestic violence, Merriweather noticed ways in which the justice system was failing women and children. He recognized the importance of prosecuting sexual violence and the necessity of creating a culture where women feel empowered to report these crimes.

“You see [the victim] for just one moment, be able to reclaim a reclaim this power that was taken from them at their most vulnerable moment,” Merriweather said. “I have never worried about whether or not I was making an impact in my job. I knew by bringing those sorts of things to light and aiding a survivor, or a family, or others in reclaiming that kind of and support to vulnerable victims, including the Survivor Resource Center, the Family Justice Center, and the Umbrella Center, that provide accessible comfort and protection to survivors and their families.

“A common model in the absence of a Family Justice Center, or in the absence of a Survivor Resource Center, you have to go five different places, get on the phone with five different people, and fill out 12 different forms,” Merriweather said. “Each one of those different phone calls, forms and visits are a place where a survivor might decide, ‘You know what, it's not worth it, it's not that big of a deal.’ By making those services available in one place, it increases public safety as a whole. It strengthens and empowers that survivor and makes it strength, that that was important.”

While passionate about prosecuting domestic and sexual violence, Merriweather wanted to create a system where victims are nurtured and protected, rather than retraumatized by the court system. To address this, he created a Special Victims Team, made up of attorneys dedicated to prosecuting these crimes using trauma-informed practices. This team relies on alternative evidence to prove guilt, so the plaintiff is not forced to testify in court.

In effort to protect women and children in Mecklenburg County, Merriweather has established multiple facilities aimed at providing care more likely that they're going to be in a place of protection and comfort, which enables us to hold abusers accountable in the way that's necessary.”

While providing immediate care for victims and families through the use of advocates, counselors, health professionals, and law enforcement, these programs also seek to end the cycle of domestic and sexual violence.

“It is common for people who have been exposed to trauma at an early age, and who have seen patterns of inner interpersonal violence repeated

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