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Ryan Mears
2019 - Present
2026
5
Ryan Mears (Democratic Party) is the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney in Indiana. He assumed office on October 5, 2019. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.
Mears (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney in Indiana. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Mears completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ryan Mears earned a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph College in 2003 and a law degree from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law in 2006.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: City elections in Indianapolis, Indiana (2022)
General election
General election for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney
Incumbent Ryan Mears defeated Cyndi Carrasco in the general election for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ryan Mears (D)  | 59.4 | 132,590 |
 | Cyndi Carrasco (R) | 40.6 | 90,638 | |
| Total votes: 223,228 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney
Incumbent Ryan Mears advanced from the Democratic primary for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney on May 3, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ryan Mears | 100.0 | 40,675 |
| Total votes: 40,675 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney
Cyndi Carrasco advanced from the Republican primary for Marion County Prosecuting Attorney on May 3, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cyndi Carrasco | 100.0 | 22,336 |
| Total votes: 22,336 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ryan Mears completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mears' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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After completing law school, he began his public service career at the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. During his 15 years as a prosecutor, he has tried over 100 jury and bench trials and prosecuted various crimes such as domestic violence and murder.
Prosecutor Mears has drawn together support from many community partners across Indianapolis with the vision of changing behavior, not criminalizing it. In 2019, Mears announced he was working to decriminalize marijuana by stopping the prosecution of low-level marijuana possession charges. By reducing resources to these prosecutions, more resources have been poured into Mears’ number one priority–addressing violent crime.
Prosecutor Mears believes in second chances and runs a robust driver’s license reinstatement and expungement program to help people find better employment and housing. He also created a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Indiana to provide second chances to juveniles after their first, low level offense.
Prosecutor Mears is striving to create a criminal justice system worthy of the community’s trust.
- Addressing Violent Crime: During his years in the courtroom, Mears has served on the front lines of prosecuting violent crime. That experience has helped put the Prosecutor’s office on a path of hitting record high conviction rates. However, violent crime won’t be solved overnight and the lack of trust between the community and the criminal justice system presents challenges to solving violent crimes. That is why as Prosecutor, Mears has invested in building trust through taking a different approach to non-violent issues such as no longer prosecuting marijuana possession and restoring suspended driver’s licenses.
- Protecting Reproductive Rights: As Prosecutor, Mears will not waste resources prosecuting pregnant people, doctors and nurses who seek or provide abortion care. Mears vows to stay focused on what’s truly important and that’s keeping our community safe.
- Decriminalizing Marijuana: The first thing Prosecutor Mears did when he got in office was announce that his office would no longer prosecute low-level marijuana possession. By not charging for minor possession of marijuana, the prosecutor’s office has reallocated resources to make our community safer and reduce barriers for those returning to society after experiencing the criminal justice system. The savings realized from ending these prosecutions goes beyond the prosecutor’s office, reducing the jail population, eliminating court hearings, and leaving officers available to address more serious needs.
As the office looks to proactive ways to help its community, Mears’ also appreciates the importance of ensuring any injustices of the past are also addressed. That is why he established Indiana’s first Conviction Integrity Unit, an independent team within the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office that works diligently to prevent, identify, and remedy wrongful convictions by conducting fact-based reviews of past convictions.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 1, 2022
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Terry Curry (D) |
Marion County Prosecuting Attorney 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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