A Virginia mother whose daughter was stabbed to death at a bus stop is fighting to oust the county's top prosecutor after learning the accused killer had been arrested more than 30 times before the attack. He should be ousted.

     "Stephanie should be alive today," Cheryl Minter wrote in a petition calling for Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano to be removed. "I had to do what no parent should ever have to. I had to bury my daughter."  Stephanie Minter, 41, was found with multiple stab wounds inside a bus stop shelter in Hybla Valley Feb. 23, Fairfax County police said. Abdul Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder. He has not been convicted in her death.

     The Department of Homeland Security says Jalloh, a Sierra Leone national who entered the U.S. illegally in 2012, has been arrested more than 30 times. His previous charges included rape, malicious wounding, assault and theft, DHS said.  "I was shocked. I mean, literally in shock," Cheryl Minter said when asked about his record. "And then this man who's killed her, just is let off like it's nothing. Like it's nothing."  In her petition, Cheryl Minter blamed Descano's decisions for what she called a preventable death.   "Thirty times the system had a chance to stop him. Thirty times," she wrote. "I think about that every single day."

     Cheryl questioned why Jalloh was released after an arrest she recalled from the winter before Stephanie's death. The details of that case and who made the release decision have not been independently confirmed.  "When you let these people back out on the streets, they're not gonna stop. Why would they stop?" she said.  Cheryl Minter also pointed to Descano's 2020 plea bargaining policy. It advised prosecutors to "consider immigration consequences where possible" and weigh how charges could affect a defendant's immigration status, WTOP reported. The outlet reported in May that the webpage detailing the policy was no longer publicly available on Descano's office website. Cheryl Minter argues that prosecutors should put public safety first.

     That policy is under federal scrutiny. The Justice Department announced in May it was investigating whether Descano's office gave defendants who are in the country illegally preferential treatment over U.S. citizens in charging decisions and plea deals. The department said it had reached no conclusions. The investigation does not establish how Jalloh's earlier cases were handled.