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Dec. 31 will mark Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Edwards’ last day as a prosecutor at the Isle of Wight County courthouse.

Edwards recently announced his retirement, stating he plans to devote more of his time to expanding programs at Mill Swamp Indian Horses, the Corolla breed conservation program he runs out of Gwaltney Frontier Farm.

Eighteen years ago, Edwards adopted his first Corolla mustangs, an endangered breed that’s lived wild on North Carolina’s Outer Banks since the 16th century when Spanish colonists brought them over from Europe. For 14 of those years, he and a group of volunteers have been taking Mill Swamp Indian Horses in a new, human-focused direction that teaches horsemanship and centuries-old farming techniques to children impacted by trauma and their caregivers.

“I intend to expand our programs at Mill Swamp Indian Horses radically and to be involved in programming at least six days a week,” Edwards said. “We are working on a major environmental project to show what can be done without poisons and chemicals. I have a book to write.”

Edwards began his law career in private practice in Smithfield with longtime attorney Woody Crook before becoming a prosecutor in Southampton County in 1998. By 2009 he’d returned home to prosecute in his native Isle of Wight.

In his 26 years on the job, Edwards has seen some of the worst examples of humanity, including molestation cases and murders.

Among the cases that have stuck with him over the years are two from 2012.

According to The Smithfield Times’ reporting from that year, Joseph “Jay” Joyner Jr. of Southampton County was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for shooting his father, Joe Sr., in the head and bludgeoning his stepmother, Sandra, to death at his parents’ home in Carrsville. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to avoid the death penalty, seven years before the General Assembly abolished capital punishment, and was given four consecutive life sentences in a maximum-security prison.

Another 2012 murder case involved Smithfield couple Robert Molinsky and Leann Webb, who each pleaded guilty in 2013 – Molinsky to second-degree murder and Webb to child abuse and neglect – for their respective roles in the death of their infant daughter, Piper.

He’s also seen the practice of law evolve to keep pace with technology.

“Cellphones are now the most important evidence in many of our cases. That is a huge change,” Edwards said, adding that prosecutors now often receive vital information about crimes through recorded calls from inmates in jail.

What he called the “most disturbing” changes include “how many victims in domestic violence cases take the side of their abusers and become some of their biggest supporters” and “how little respect witnesses’ give to their oaths and how freely false testimony flows in court.”

Edwards’ years of dedication to the law and to Mill Swamp Indian Horses saw him named Smithfield’s “Citizen of the Year” for 2022. Smithfield’s Rotary and Ruritan clubs have jointly given the award since 1970 to an outstanding Smithfield citizen each year.