‘Dedicated to victims’: York County prosecutor’s office loses advocate leader to COVID
York County had full in-person criminal court hearings Monday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began a year ago. The prosecutors and defense lawyers, the clerk staff and judges, and the victim advocates and the office staff went to work amid tears.
Stacy Strickland would have demanded that the work go on.
Strickland, the supervisor for the victim advocates and paralegals at the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office who doubled as the top administrator for the staff, died Sunday.
She was 51.
Strickland died due to complications from COVID-19, said her husband, Tracy Strickland.
Co-workers said Strickland’s devotion to the victims of crime was so strong that the best way to honor Stickland was to seek that justice Monday in the same courthouse where Strickland worked.
“Stacy has been my strong right arm for nearly 15 years and the office is just shattered over her passing,” said Kevin Brackett, 16th Circuit Solicitor. “She made such a huge impact on the lives of so many people. It is difficult to think about how we will move forward from here, but we will. Things will never be that version of normal again, but we will push on to a different normal. Stacy would expect nothing less and we will not let her down”.
Strickland was a legendary workhorse in an office that handles thousands of cases each year. She was not a lawyer. She was more: A leader who cared most about victims in a legal system where they should never be forgotten.
“Stacy was dedicated to insuring that victims of crime received the care and attention they deserved,” Brackett said.
Strickland started working at the Moss Justice Center in the York County Clerk of Court Office in 1997. In 2003 she then was hired by the solicitor’s office.
“Stacy will be missed by every person who worked at the Moss center, and every person she helped.,” said David Hamilton, York County Clerk of Court.
For years Strickland was often the first face, and the voice over the telephone, that the public dealt with at the prosecutor’s office. She also was crucial in the solicitor’s office moving to a computerized record system. Her title was director of support services.
Stacy Strickland also was a friend and strong shoulder to every worker in the building and to thousands of people who went to the solicitor’s office for help, her co-workers said.
Her husband of 26 years, Tracy, a longtime detective at the York County Sheriff’s Office, said Stacy was committed to justice and held victims in the highest regard.
“Stacy made me a better person by who she was,” Tracy Strickland said. “She cared about people. Victims always came first.”
A graveside service is planned for Thursday at 11 a.m. at Forest Hills Cemetery in Rock Hill. Coronavirus safety protocols will be applied at the service.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 5:33 PM.
