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Janssen Willhoit says the need for criminal justice reform hit home more than a decade ago when he was sitting in a Kentucky prison cell after being raped by correctional officers.

He’s referred to his time behind bars as hell, “a pit, where I was stripped of all decency.”

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Now, the St. Johnsbury Republican wants to take his pursuit of criminal justice reform a step further.

The man convicted in Kentucky of bilking his clients out of tens of thousands of dollars when he worked as a broker wants the top legal job in Vermont, attorney general, and he’s taking on the one-term incumbent, TJ Donovan, a Democrat.

It’s a leadership post, he said, where his voice, which still reveals his Southern roots, will carry greater weight than as a single House member in a large legislative body.

“I do believe that much of the work I try to push for as just one of 150, I can do much more successfully as being our state’s attorney general,” Willhoit said this week.

Since his release from prison in May 2009 after serving five years behind bars, Willhoit has gained a pardon from a Kentucky governor, moved to Vermont, graduated from law school, become a public defender, and has twice been elected to the Statehouse.

However, it didn’t take long for his criminal past to become a campaign issue — again.

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His hometown paper in Vermont, the Caledonian Record, published an editorial earlier this month titled: “Disqualifications.” In it, the newspaper called his candidacy for attorney general “patently absurd.”

The editorial stated that what “most bothers us about this guy” is he hasn’t paid back his victims from his crime in Kentucky.

“He says he doesn’t need to, because he already paid his debt to society. As much as we can’t begrudge the guy a happy life in private practice, we simply couldn’t disagree more,” the editorial stated.

“When Willhoit decided to steal another person’s life-savings, later opting not to pay any of it back, we feel strongly that he disqualified himself from serving as our state’s highest ranking law-enforcement officer.”

Willhoit replied in a response published by the newspaper.

“I am a sinner. I lied and cheated others and served 5 years in prison for my crime. I sought to seek probation to pay back what had been lost, but both at my sentencing and in my later request for ‘shock probation,’ the victims said no. I, again, sought parole after 2 years, then 3 years in prison, but the victims said no. They wanted me ‘to rot,’ as one paper put it, fully knowing that meant no restitution,” he wrote.

“To some, I did rot, and likely got what was ‘coming,’” Willhoit added. “I was raped, multiple times, by correctional staff, and if not for the persistence of my father-in-law, and a Lexington, Kentucky, state senator, I would have never been moved from that hell. But it was in that pit, where I was stripped of all decency, that my life changed. I began to witness what was happening around me, the pain others were facing, and began fighting for them.”

Willhoit said in a recent interview with VTDigger that he had little more to say about the editorial, adding that in past runs for the Statehouse his criminal past became an issue in the pages of his local newspaper and other publications.

And, he said, he still won.

Willhoit is hopeful that will happen again in his latest campaign, this time a statewide one.

“When fellow Vermonters get to know me,” he said, “when we get to talk about issues, I believe, where I stand on the issues that are part and parcel of the job I would have as attorney general, we’re in line.”

While Willhoit has a progressive streak on criminal justice reform measures, he described himself as a fiscal conservative.

He said he takes a “liberty minded” approach to issues, and believes there is room in the Republican Party for his positions, though his views, particularly regarding criminal justice reform, are not always in step with some of his fellow GOP members.

For the past two years, Willhoit has served on the House Judiciary Committee, advocating for changes in the state’s drug and bail laws as well as efforts in rehabilitating convicts and aiding in their transition from prison back to the community.

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Rep. Gary Viens, R-Newport, served along with Willhoit on that panel. Viens said though the two are members of the same party, he estimated they voted together on criminal justice measures only about 60 percent of the time.

On the other 40 percent, Viens said, Willhoit’s positions were “too liberal” for him to support.

Viens, who is not running for re-election, said while he might not always see eye-to-eye with Willhoit on every piece of legislation, he is closer on the issues to the St. Johnsbury Republican than he is to Donovan, a Democrat.

The Newport lawmaker said he’s already cast an early ballot and Willhoit got his vote for attorney general.

Asked what he thought of Willhoit’s chances of winning, Viens acknowledged that defeating an incumbent in Vermont is no easy task.

“Let’s say I’m hopeful,” he added.

A VPR-Vermont PBS poll released this week shows just how daunting a task Willhoit is facing. The results showed Donovan with a 39-point lead over Willhoit.

Another fellow committee member, this one from across the political aisle, Democrat Martin LaLonde of South Burlington, said while it’s no surprise he’ll be voting for Donovan, the incumbent attorney general and Willhoit are more closely aligned on criminal justice issues than they are opposed.

“On certain policy issues it doesn’t seems like TJ and Janssen are that far apart,” said LaLonde, who referred to Willhoit as one of the more progressive members of the committee when it came to criminal justice reform.

The South Burlington lawmaker said among the candidates’ differences — a major one — is Donovan’s “broader” legal experience. The attorney general started his legal career in Vermont as a deputy state’s attorney in 2002. Willhoit started in private practice in 2012.

LaLonde did find himself on a different side from Willhoit on the hotly contested firearms debate this year in the committee on S.55, a measure that made historic changes to the state’s gun laws and which LaLonde served as a prime supporter. Willhoit opposed the legislation.

It became too much of “a hodge podge” bill, Willhoit said this week of the legislation, which passed the Legislature last session and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Phil Scott. Among other things, it expanded background checks to private gun sales and set limits on magazine sizes.

Lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the legislation are pending in both Washington and Windham counties.

Campaign trail

Willhoit arrived at the community center in Fairfax on a recent Sunday afternoon in a packed minivan, with his wife at the wheel, five children in the back, and campaign signs stuffed further in the rear.

As they all exited the silver Toyota Sienna after the vehicle’s doors burst open, each had on different sizes of the same light blue shirts that let everyone know Willhoit was running for the post of attorney general.

Once inside, Willhoit spoke briefly to a crowd of about 75 people gathered for a Republican candidates event in the small Franklin County town.

He stood in the front of the room, microphone gripped tightly in hand, with several decorative pumpkins placed behind him. Willhoit had on the same blue shirt as his family members, his beige pants held up by a belt that featured all the schools of the Southeastern Conference — including one from his home state, the University of Kentucky.

During his short address, a wide smile would often spread across his round dimpled face. His amplified words came out at a rapid-fire pace. The delivery was familiar to anyone who has watched him on the House floor over the past four years.

The focus of his remarks was what he said was a lack of transparency in the attorney general’s office, with Willhoit pledging to take a different stance from his opponent when it came to releasing state records linked to the Jay Peak EB-5 fraud scandal.

He said rather than blocking the release of those documents by citing exemptions to the state’s public records law, he would push to make them open.

“It goes more back to the first answer being yes than being no,” he said.

In a later interview, Willhoit said Vermonters have a right to know who in state government knew what, when and whether state actions, or lack of them, helped facilitate the fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars from immigrant investors that played out in the Northeast Kingdom.

“You follow the facts where they lead,” Willhoit added. “If the facts lead to something that was criminal or negligent on behalf of the state, then it’s our chief prosecutor’s obligation to prosecute.”

Asked what he did as a lawmaker to push for greater transparency regarding the state EB-5 records, he said there wasn’t much a single lawmaker could do with no access to the documents.

“What I can do as attorney general far exceeds what I can do as one of 150 asking for more information,” Willhoit said. “Folks in my neck of the woods want to know what happened … they deserve answers.”

Reform measures

At another campaign event earlier this month in Burlington, Willhoit spoke of legislation he backed to eliminate cash bail for nonviolent drug offenses. However, Donovan eventually recommended setting a cap at $200 and that’s what eventually passed and became law.

“The unfortunate reality is for so many that are still in the throes of addiction, and battling those struggles, even a dollar, five dollars, will keep them held because there’s no one that’s going to bail them out,” he said at that event.

Willhoit also highlighted his work with Rep. Selene Colburn, P/D-Burlington, on several bills. Among those proposed measures was one making it so felony charges could not be brought for drug possession offenses. The proposal failed to make its way into law, though Willhoit said this week it is something he will continue to seek to advance, if elected.

“These are the low-level cases,” he said. “We really need to focus our attention on those violent folks and really work on rehabilitating and supporting to those battling addiction.”

Willhoit added, “If we just send them to prison, we’re just going to turn them into hardened prisoners who are going to be institutionalized.”

On another drug-related hot button-issue, he said supports the move toward a tax and regulate market for marijuana in Vermont.

Though Gov. Scott has said he’s not ready to support that legislation until highway safety measures are in place, such as a test to determine if a driver is under the influence marijuana, Willhoit said he’s optimistic that a tax and regulated marijuana market will come to fruition.

“Times are changing,” he said, adding that such a system would ensure the safety of the marijuana that now must be grown at home, purchased out of state or bought on the streets.

Last session, lawmakers approved, and the governor signed, legislation legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.

As the top prosecutor in the state, the attorney general is also responsible for reviewing investigations in officer-involved shootings. Willhoit said there was little he could say about Donovan’s decisions in such cases since taking office two years ago.

“It’s hard for me to speculate, I haven’t been privy to any of those investigations,” he said. “I’d hate to make a rash judgment without knowing more.”

Decisions, decisions

The two-term GOP lawmaker earlier this year announced he would not be running for re-election to his House seat from St. Johnsbury so he could focus more on his law practice and supporting his family.

The GOP’s initial nominee for attorney general was H. Brooke Paige, who won the Republican primary as the only candidate on the ballot. Paige also won GOP primaries for five other offices, including three where his was the only name on the ballot.

Paige had said that his plan for the start was to step aside for willing and qualified GOP candidates rather than allow Democrats to gain those spots through write-in votes. He vacated his spot on the general ballot in five of those races, including the attorney general’s position, and opted to focus on his run against Democratic Secretary of State Jim Condos for that position.

At a Republican Party meeting in late August, Willhoit stepped forward to take the GOP spot on the general election ballot for the state’s top prosecutor position.

Willhoit said while he had planned to exit politics, at least for some time, the full-time attorney general’s post would allow him to meet the financial needs of his family. Willhoit, 39, and his wife, Sarah, hav five foster and adopted children, ranging in age from 3 to 16.

Before jumping into the race, he said he had a long talk with his wife. “She told me, ‘If you are going to do it, then I want you to run to win,’” he recalled. “That’s what I’m doing. I’m going to every function opportunity I can.”

Willhoit is currently a contracted attorney with the state’s Office of the Defender General.

Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio said Willhoit handles criminal and juvenile cases for indigent clients in which public defender staff may have a conflict — if two people are charged in a burglary, for example, the public defender staff can only represent one of them.

Willhoit had previously done work for the Defender General’s Office for several years in northern Vermont, closer to his St. Johnsbury home, but earlier this year he was hired as a contracted conflict attorney in Windham County that involved more cases and more hours.

And more travel — a two-hour drive each way from St. Johnsbury to Brattleboro.

“He definitely knows the law and he’s still relatively new in practice,” Valerio said of Willhoit. “He’s on pace to do what he’s supposed to do given his experience.”

Valerio added that Willhoit has 60 to 90 cases pending at any given time, a “full lawyer’s caseload.”

The defender general, who spends a great deal of time in the Statehouse when the Legislature is in session, often in both House and Senate judiciary committees, has had an up-close look at Willhoit’s work as a lawmaker.

He described Willhoit as a “creative” legislator who isn’t afraid to support new ideas, though in some instances he may charge ahead too fast.

“There are times, from my perspective, when some of the things he tried where a little cringe worthy,” Valerio said.

For example, though Valerio doesn’t recall all the specifics, he remembers Willhoit, in his first term as a lawmaker, pushing late in the session for an amendment that would have boosted funding for the Defender General’s Office.

However, Valerio said, the last-minute maneuver could have caused more harm than good when it came to his department’s budget. “In a way he kind of thought he was helping me out, but he really wasn’t helping at all,” Valerio said.

Valerio added, “It was just a matter that he didn’t have any fear of going forward. On the one hand it’s a strength to have no fear and to just try things. On the other hand, if you know the process, it wasn’t such a great idea.”

The defender general said he was surprised when he learned that Willhoit would be running for attorney general, though he also was surprised when he first ran for a House seat.

“He was relatively new to Vermont, he had just finished law school and lo and behold he runs for office and he won,” Valerio said. “So he deserves credit for that.”

The defender general wouldn’t say whom he supports in the attorney general’s race, adding that he doesn’t weigh in on political contests.

“I give him some respect for throwing his hat in the ring,” Valerio said of Willhoit. “I think the Republicans had to put somebody up. He won two races. It’s hard to get a lawyer to run for those office unless they have designs on other things.”

Valeiro added that Willhoit brought a unique perspective to debates at the Statehouse.

“I mean, he spent some time in jail and I’m sure there are few legislators who have had that experience,” he said. “I can’t see how going through something like that doesn’t change you.”

A felon no more

So what landed him jail?

Here’s how the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky covered the story on Sept. 8, 2004.

STANFORD, Ky. — Janssen David Willhoit was the kind of guy who could get his fiancee to pay for her own engagement ring, which his last girlfriend did.

The kind you thought you could trust with your nest egg, which the mayor of Stanford and others did.

He seemed the real thing, girlfriends and investors said — personable and charming, a churchgoer.

Too late, they found out that a girlfriend in Lexington once charged him with trying to run over her with a car. That he had no license to sell securities. That their money was gone.

And off to prison he went, serving five years.

Willhoit said after his release from prison in May 2009 he began volunteering and advocating for prisoner rights through a Christian-based group, and worked a slew of part-time jobs from a paper route to Chick-fil-A.

He said based on the support behind bars he received from his wife and his in-laws while in jail, he knows how important it was for inmates to have connections beyond the prison walls. (Both he and Donovan oppose sending Vermont’s prisoners out-of-state. More than 200 were recently sent to a private prison in Mississippi.)

Willhoit testified at the Kentucky Statehouse about his time behind bars and the effect it had on him, and eventually was appointed to a state panel working to find better ways to transition prisoners to the outside world.

Also, Steve Beshear, the Kentucky governor who named him to that panel, granted him a pardon in September 2009, affording him a new lease on life by wiping out his felony record.

At one point, he was visiting the prison in Beattyville, Kentucky, to meet with inmates and it was there that he learned about prisoner rights services available to incarcerated Vermonters. That’s because the facility in Beattyville, Kentucky, is where Vermont was housing its out-of-state prisoners at that time.

Willhoit said he was impressed with Vermont’s “progressive” prisoners rights staff and services and began looking into moving to the Green Mountain State and attending law school there, a big move from Kentucky, where he was born and raised on a tobacco farm.

He said the first time he took the Law School Admission Test he scored miserably on it, and Vermont Law School wanted a much higher number before allowing him in.

Willhoit had paid a visit to the law school in South Royalton and decided that’s where he wanted to go. His in-laws had taken over his paper route back in Kentucky for a few days, allowing him and his wife to make the trip.

He said he took the LSAT a second time and scored much better and was admitted.

“I’m a person of faith,” Willhoit said, “and it’s only by faith I got the score I got.”

Following graduation from law school in 2012, he moved north to St. Johnsbury and began to practice criminal defense work, and took a contract with the public defender’s office.

He wrote recently in the Caledonian Record that he couldn’t have turned his life around on his own, crediting his wife and her family for their support.

“I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior through their love,” Willhoit wrote. “I know it is hard for non-believers to understand what happens when a heart is transformed through God’s love, but that is what happened to me.”

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