In his sophomore year of high school, Jonathan Wilson II decided to defend an indigenous chief torn between war and submission to the Spanish conquistadors.
This 16th-century mock trial in world history class — and his love of debate and TV shows like “Perry Mason” and “Matlock” — helped Wilson realize he wanted to be a lawyer. And now he’s running for Durham County District Attorney.
“I have that willingness to continue to fight for people,” said Wilson, 42.
Wilson has practiced law since 2010 and led his own Durham practice since 2017, where he handles mainly criminal defense cases.
He’s no stranger to launching a DA bid. He ran for the same position in 2022 and lost, only receiving about 16% of votes against incumbent Satana Deberry.
The same match-up will repeat itself on Tuesday, March 3, when Durham residents vote in the countywide primary and election.
This election, he’s hoping things will go differently.
‘People in Durham don’t feel safe’
At a Feb. 3 candidate forum, Wilson pleaded his case to Durhamites.
“Crime may be down, but people in Durham don’t feel safe,” said Wilson.
His platform focuses on collaboration with local organizations, being present in the courthouse and community and rebuilding trust with constituents.
Through his participation in the Durham County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Wilson has seen the relationship between absenteeism and juvenile crime. He’d like to affiliate with community groups to combat Durham’s rising truancy rates. He also wants school system truancy letters to note that the district attorney’s office will be involved in efforts to combat absenteeism.
“We need to be more proactive instead of reactive,” Wilson said in an interview. “How about we put some services in place instead of waiting for them to come to juvenile court or wait for them to come to abuse and neglect dependency court. That’s too late.”
Wilson also emphasizes presence, partly in response to criticism of the current DA. Reporting by WRAL last February indicated that Deberry was in the office for 55% or less of work days in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
Deberry denies the allegations, citing issues with the county security system. She also says her physical presence in the courthouse doesn’t convey all the time she spends on a job she describes as round-the-clock.
Wilson agrees that work-related responsibilities can take district attorneys out of the office sometimes, but he says he will do better.
“When you are the district attorney, or any elected official in the community, you are a servant to the community and to the people, and you have to do a service of being there for them, being accessible to them and being available,” he said.
Wilson also emphasizes the need to rebuild community trust.
He plans to improve victims’ services by communicating court dates well ahead of time, acknowledging victims’ presence in court and making sure they’re comfortable.
He claims some crime victims have felt unheard in the Durham County Courthouse and others had not been notified about their court dates, causing dismissals.
Deberry disagrees, saying that while the victim identification system isn’t perfect, few victims aren’t contacted at all.
“When he’s talking about cases getting dismissed for lack of victims, those are generally misdemeanor cases, and when we find them, we bring them back,” she said in an interview.
Wilson has no qualms about moving from defense to prosecution, even though mock trials are the extent of his prosecutorial experience. He maintains that his background in criminal defense gives him what he’ll need to succeed as district attorney.
“Because I’m a defense attorney, it doesn’t mean that I’m just going to let all the people out and let them free,” he said. “I swore to make sure that the community’s safe, but also swore to make sure that justice is done fairly and equally amongst everybody, regardless of who you are.”
Wilson’s genuineness led Josette Ferguson to serve as his campaign manager.
“Folks… don’t want somebody who’s a cookie-cutter,” said Ferguson. “They don’t want somebody who is a person who says all the talking points of the political party. They want someone who’s real.”
From bartending to the Bar Association
Wilson’s father always wanted him to be an engineer.
Instead, Wilson, who hails from Winston-Salem, studied political science at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, with the dream of one day becoming an attorney.
He worked for a year as a bartender while applying to law school, and still remembers the moment in 2006 when he received a phone call relaying his admission to the North Carolina Central University School of Law. Wilson was seated in a barber’s chair at the time, and yelped and jumped for joy, almost ruining his haircut.
Jessica Major, a former classmate of Wilson’s, remembers him well from those days. She said his bartending background helped him connect with people, and she sees that quality in him still.
“He genuinely cares about Durham,” said Major. “It’s very hard to step up and say, ‘I’m going to take this time away from the business that pays me, I’m going to take this time away from my family and I’m going to commit it to running for this office because I believe that Durham really needs some change.’”
Wilson also interned at the Wake County Public Defender’s Office early in his career. Most of the men seeking aid were Black, either around Wilson’s age or younger than him.
“I was like, ‘I have to put what I can to help these people because this could have been me,’” he said. “Had I decided to get in a car, or had I decided to not walk away…that could have been me.”
This experience stuck with him, and Wilson went on to practice law at a downtown Durham criminal defense firm for seven years before establishing his own practice. Among other types of law, he also represents victims in family law cases.
Wilson has participated in Teen Court in the past and has coached North Carolina Special Olympic basketball and soccer teams since law school. Since his 2022 loss, he has become more involved in the community, joining the Durham Juvenile Crime Prevention Council and the Durham County Bar Association and serving as legal redress sub-committee chair for the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.
Wilson wants voters to know that he’s not a politician, but he’ll be an advocate for Durham.
“I’m a husband, I’m a father and I want to continue to fight for the people that I’m either going to be living with or that my kids are going to be with,” he said. “I care for the people here.”
Above: Photo of Jonathan Wilson by Lena Nguyen — The 9th Street Journal
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