I am an ‘always leading from the front’ type of guy,” said Jason Smith, recently elected district attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties. “Whether at home or while practicing law or serving in the military, I can’t sit back and let someone else lead.”
So when Ben David, the then-New Hanover and Pender County DA, announced his retirement to form the Community Justice Center, Smith knew he didn’t want to sit back.
Smith served as an assistant district attorney in New Hanover and Pender counties from 2010 until 2024 when he was elected DA. Smith has prosecuted cases involving human trafficking, adult and child sexual offenses, homicides, white-collar crimes and criminal low-level misdemeanors.
“I have a bird’s eye view of the public safety needs and the wide range of available agencies. As the DA, I am the common thread, the hub. My job is to find answers, give answers and stand behind answers to a multitude of questions ranging from legal issues to human resource matters,” he said.
Since being elected, Smith said he has been working on a three-fold priority list: domestic violence and homicide; the drug epidemic spanning opioids to fentanyl; and youth violence. The DA’s office now has five employees working in domestic violence and has increased resources fighting those who profit from drug use. Community outreach is currently aimed at curbing youth violence and gun possession.
“Youth violence ebbs and flows here. Now we are flowing,” said Smith. “While we are not ignoring everything else, these issues are at the forefront.”
Smith’s journey to the DA office started on a very different path.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Smith moved to Birmingham at age 10 and grew up playing sports, mostly baseball. His father and grandfathers, both World War II Veterans, had a great influence on him.
“I had a big interest in military history,” Smith said. “Did I want to be a lawyer when I grew up? Absolutely not.”
Smith attended Virginia Military Institute at the suggestion of a family friend. “I was a good kid but not very disciplined in high school,” Smith said. “And I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
VMI was the only school Smith applied to where he studied history for one year, but at his parents’ encouragement, he switched to business and economics. When he received an Army scholarship, he transferred out of his Navy ROTC Program, actually entering the Army after graduation.
As a college junior, Smith met then-Tamara Avis from Roanoke, Virginia, who eventually became his wife. She had decided to study law, so when she applied to law school, Smith followed suit. They applied together to schools all over Virginia, both ultimately accepting offers at Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham. “Even during law school, I figured I would be a lawyer but work on the business side,” Smith said. “I knew I didn’t want to litigate like Tamara did.”
Smith took a semester off for Army Reserve training as a nuclear biological and chemical warfare officer, which delayed his graduation from law school. After considering Charlotte as their next move, the couple chose Wilmington based on a visit during their honeymoon at Carolina Beach. Tamara Smith received a job offer from a family law firm, which she eventually took over when the originating partner retired. She has managed Pennington & Smith, which offers family law services from litigation to settlement agreements to appeals and mediation, for 26 years.
Jason Smith first worked for a local financial brokerage firm and then took a position at Webb & Graves PLLC focusing on business, tax and estate law.
Deployment to Iraq in February 2003 put his career on hold until July 2004. He returned to the firm but eventually started his own practice in Wilmington in 2006. “Having my own firm was eye-opening,” he said. “Everything depended on me, developing client relationships, my reputation and how much money I made. But it just wasn’t my calling. I knew I could do more, and there was something inside me stirring to do something different.”
When David invited Jason Smith to consider joining the DA’s office despite his lack of experience in the courtroom, he accepted the offer. And he fell in love with his work.
In 2014, Jason Smith began managing the Pender County DA office, giving him both management experience and a peek into the role of a DA.
“Kids and their futures weigh heavily on me,” said the father of four children ranging in age from 12 to 21.
He spends time in the community working on changing the hearts and minds of kids who are thinking about and committing crimes and those kids living a lifestyle that could set them up to be victims.
“I talk to kids and parents about gangs, guns and online predators, educating on the dangers as well as the prevention,” he said.
Life at home for the Smiths is a juggling act. “Tamara and I make a very good team. Somehow, we are blessed when I have a heavy work week, she has a light week,” he said.
Jason Smith still loves military history and reading although now he listens to books, 15 minutes at a time, more often than reading them. The couple is enjoying watching their kids grow up. “Hanging at lacrosse games and talking on the phone to our oldest daughter about the crazy experiments she is doing in biology lab in college, dates to the grocery store – our quiet time together – that’s our life,” he said.
Perhaps one of the kids will follow in their footsteps to study law.
“I tell my kids if it makes you happy, do it,” he said.
“I have had the pleasure to serve this community for 20 some years from private practice to the last 15 years as the assistant DA and now DA,” he said. “I love doing this, and I will continue to serve and lead.”
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