Jason Miyares asks Virginia prosecutor to quit for failing to prosecute “heinous” crimes

FAIRFAX — Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has called for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano to resign, releasing a lengthy report that Miyares says documents case failures, overly lenient plea practices, and constitutional problems severe enough to warrant referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Standing with more than a dozen victims at a public appearance, Miyares argued that Descano’s office had mishandled serious cases and that legislative reforms are needed to protect future victims and impose accountability on prosecutors. The attorney general’s office described a 34-page report detailing alleged misconduct and failures. Miyares said material would be sent to DOJ for possible civil or criminal review—an unusual escalation in Virginia’s traditionally local prosecution culture.

Descano, a Democrat elected on a reform platform, has been a polarizing figure in Fairfax for years. Supporters credit him with reducing unnecessary incarceration and focusing resources on serious crime. Critics, including Miyares, say victims were sidelined by plea bargains and charging decisions that did not match the gravity of offenses. The new report is Miyares’s attempt to move that argument from campaign rhetoric into a documented brief.

Prosecutor independence is a feature of Virginia’s system: commonwealth’s attorneys answer to voters in their localities, not to the attorney general. Asking one to resign is therefore a political and moral claim, not a direct removal power. The DOJ referral is the enforcement-shaped edge of that claim—inviting federal scrutiny where state hierarchy does not allow Miyares to fire Descano outright.

Victims who appeared with Miyares give the press conference its emotional force. Their presence signals that the dispute is not only about ideology but about named cases and named harms. Descano’s office, if it responds in kind, will likely highlight conviction statistics, victim-advocate programs, and specific case facts that differ from the AG’s narrative. Fairfax residents should expect dueling document dumps.

Legislative follow-through matters as much as the resignation demand. Miyares floated reforms to hold prosecutors accountable—ideas that would need House and Senate buy-in and could range from transparency requirements to new avenues for victim challenge of plea deals. Without bills, the report remains a midterm weapon rather than a statute.

For Fairfax voters, the choice stays local. Commonwealth’s attorney races turn on whether people feel safer and whether courts treat victims and defendants fairly. Miyares has raised the stakes by inviting Washington into a Northern Virginia quarrel. Descano must decide whether to answer point-by-point, dismiss the report as partisan, or adjust office practices while denying the premises.

Resignation demands are easy to issue and hard to force. What endures is the paper trail: 34 pages, a DOJ referral letter, and a roster of victims willing to stand on camera. That record will shape Fairfax’s next prosecutor election whether or not Descano steps down this week.

Northern Virginia’s prosecutor races have become statewide proxies for crime policy. Richmond consultants write mailers; national PACs notice. Miyares’s report accelerates that nationalization. Descano’s defenders will say an elected AG is campaigning in a county where he cannot lose a prosecutor’s primary. His critics will say victims waited long enough for someone with a letterhead to care.

Whatever the politics, case-level transparency helps the public. Redacted timelines of charging decisions, plea offers, and victim notifications would let Fairfax residents test the AG’s claims against the office’s defense. If both sides refuse data and stick to press conferences, voters inherit heat without light—and the resignation demand becomes just another clip in a permanent campaign.

Miyares has drawn a bright line. Descano must answer with facts or risk letting the AG’s 34 pages become the unrebutted record. Fairfax’s victims, and its jurors, deserve that much clarity.

Email Steve Descano at:

Steve Descano: stephen.descano@fairfaxcounty.gov