The three Democratic candidates in the June 28 primary for the Denver District Attorney Offices traded ideas and barbs during a freeform debate in northeast Denver Tuesday night.

The debate, put on by community organizer Jeff Fard, better known as brother jeff (CQ), brought Michael Carrigan, Kenneth Boyd and recently term limited Rep. Beth McCann together in northeast Denver and handed the floor over to the trio to see what they had to say and how they’d interact with one another. While the topics were essentially up to the candidates, the conversation stayed mostly on how they’d handle issues such as in-depth custody, police brutality and racial disparities in the justice system.

“We didn’t want them to repeat what they’ve been saying at other debates,” Fard said. “We really wanted them to engage each other and have long-running conversation like you find in a barber shop or a beauty shop. We wanted them to talk about what they would do for this community.”

For the first part of the debate, the three stuck to talking points outlining how they’d perform in the DA’s office and how cases would be prosecuted. But without a moderator to move the debate along to another topic, candidates began to question each other on their record, plans or lack of experience in addressing issues of injustice to communities of color.

McCann was hit by her opponents over her lack of experience in a courtroom since the early 1980s and her time as Denver’s public safety manager in the 1990s when people of color were disproportionately investigated by the Denver police for criminal activity and a curfew program that Carrigan said negatively affected minority communities.

“As manager of safety, I worked very hard with the police department to be more proactive in how they recruited folks of color from the community. We had an African American division chief go out to the schools to recruit hard to bring more officers of color into our community. Because we recognized people need to see folks of their own race when they’re being confronted by members of the department,” McCann said. “We worked very hard to try and involve the community in a way that would be more productive for people of color who had confrontations with the police. I stand on my record.”

Boyd faced criticism for his lack of experience and being a current member of the DA’s office, with his open question whether or not he would be able to change the culture of the office in the ways he’s promised if elected, especially when he has the endorsement of current DA Mitch Morrissey.

“I know why communities of color are interested in the DA’s race because they, in particular, feel like the system has failed them. We all talk about and all have seen racial disparity manifest itself in a concrete way,” Boyd said. “That’s why I’m committed to partnering with an outside agency, a university … to open up our books in the DA’s office so we can make sure that the decision making that’s happening, particularly in our charging and in our plea agreement decisions, are not inadvertently contributing to racial disparities in the system.”

Carrigan defended his record as a University of Colorado Regent for the high number of sexual assault incidents at the Boulder campus and being the only candidate who had not gone to the DA’s office to review the Marvin Booker and Michael Marshall cases.

“People of color tend to end up in these situations with law enforcement. And one of the problems I have is the community is looking to the DA to fix it. If the DA would just charge the sheriff’s deputies in Marvin Booker or Michael Marshal cases, that it will stop happening. And that’s not the answer,” Carrigan said. “To think if we just start charging cops that the abuse will stop the excessive force will stop is a fallacy. We need to recognize that we in the DA’s office, yes it’s an important issue, but where we charge a case or not will not be an answer to today’s problems.”

While all three weren’t shy about trading shots at each other’s record, Boyd and Carrigan got into several heated discussions while questioning one another’s record and their plans to change the DA’s office.