Chicago area voters to decide if prosecutor gets 3rd term

CHICAGO (AP) - Voters get the final say Tuesday in the re-election bid of the Chicago area's top prosecutor, whose campaign was dominated by questions about the police-involved shooting of a black teenager.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez sought the Democratic nomination against Kim Foxx, the former chief of staff to the Cook County board president, and Donna More, a former prosecutor in the U.S. and Cook County attorney's offices.

A primary win in the heavily Democratic region would mean a likely third term this November, yet Alvarez's bid has been plagued by questions about waiting a year to charge a white police officer with murder in the shooting death of a black teenager. Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times in 2014, but the officer wasn't charged until late last year, hours after a judge ordered dash cam video of the incident be publicly released.

The video sparked near daily protests throughout the city, with activists showing up to Alvarez's office, home and outside public appearances while she tried to campaign. It put Alvarez on the defensive. She explained the yearlong investigation by calling it complex and meticulous.

"I have no problem charging police officers who break the law," Alvarez said often during campaign stops. She responded by citing nearly 100 cases where police officers have been charged, though mostly for lesser crimes such as theft and forgery.

She focused on portraying herself as a reformer who started a unit dedicated to looking at wrongful convictions and new programs for alternative prosecution and sentencing.

Her critics, however, said she was late to the game on both accounts and at times insensitive to working on wrongful conviction cases in a county that once led the nation in them and has a dark history of coerced confessions by police. The race also coincided with heightened scrutiny nationwide on police-involved shootings.

"The state's attorney right now is reactionary and again doing just enough to say that we're doing something but not having a meaningful impact," said Foxx, who has led in endorsements.

Foxx and More spent much of the time on the campaign trail asking questions about the McDonald case and have vowed reforms of the office.

Foxx, who formerly worked in the juvenile division of the state's attorney's office, said more should be done with outside community partners, while More said additional training is needed for police.

"The police have to know they're not above the law," More said.

Alvarez was first elected Cook County state's attorney in 2008 after a legal career in the office. She was the first woman and first Hispanic person elected to the post, beating five male primary candidates. She said she had won without establishment backing before and would be able to do so again.

"I am a reformer," she said. "I think any unbiased look at my record proves that."

___

Follow Sophia Tareen at http://twitter.com/sophiatareen .