Andy Wilson outlines priorities as he begins tenure as Ohio's attorney general

[00:00:00]It's now been a week since Andy Wilson began serving as Ohio's 52nd Attorney General.

[00:00:05]>> He was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine after the resignation of former Attorney General Dave Yost. In his first sit-down interview since taking the oath, Wilson spoke exclusively with 10TV news reporter Lacey Crisp about what he will focus on in his short tenure.

[00:00:20]>> Why did you decide to take this job?

[00:00:22]>> So listen, I I loved public safety. I loved my time at public safety working with the patrol, working with law enforcement. Uh I saw this as an opportunity really to take on a new challenge and move the needle.

[00:00:35]>> New Attorney General Andy Wilson describes himself as energetic, proactive, and has a lot of passion.

[00:00:42]>> The desire to help people on their worst day. And I got it. Through through the prosecutor's office and through handling some of the cases that I got to handle, I really was able to walk shoulder to shoulder with people through the worst experience of their life. Things that people should never ever have to endure.

[00:01:01]I hopefully was able to provide some level of comfort, some level of closure, and some measure of justice.

[00:01:09]>> Prior to taking the AG's office, he was the director of public safety for the state, and previously was a Clark County prosecutor. In that role, he served as a special prosecutor in the Pike County massacre where eight members of the Rhoden, Manley, and Gilley families were brutally killed in 2016.

[00:01:28]Patriarch Billy Wagner is still awaiting trial.

[00:01:31]>> That is a case that I will still be involved with through through my time here as the as the Attorney General. So I I still have contact with that trial team. I still talk to them about where the evidence is. I am I am very in again, I'm very engaged in where that case is going and I I I seek to see that all the way through.

[00:01:52]>> He says his focus in the next 7 months is on crime prevention.

[00:01:56]>> Look, the the the best way to deal with crime is to prevent the crime from happening in the first place. Well, that takes proactivity. And you know, I hope that this 7 months allows us to do that and and allows, again, somehow, someway, for me to inspire those who are around us in our sphere of influence to to just go go go and and and serve serve serve.

[00:02:21]>> In Columbus, Lacey Crisp, 10TV News.

[00:02:25]>> Lacey, thank you. Dave Yost left office to take an executive strategic research role for a conservative legal rights group.