PLATFORM

            The State Attorney’s Office should be the best trial law firm in the circuit.  We have a long way to go to reach that goal.  The track we are on won’t take us there.  I have a plan that will.

 Training

           Graduating law students are prepared to take the Bar exam.  Most are not prepared to go into the courtroom.  That takes training.  The medical profession requires an internship.  The law profession does not.  Before a new prosecutor is sent to the courtroom a training program is needed.

 Having a training program makes sense.  Our military services are built around training.  Our Sheriff’s Offices and Police Departments train extensively.  Our State Attorney’s Office should have a training program as well.  It should provide the instruction a new prosecutor needs, and it should include refresher training for established lawyers.

 Recruiting

           The State Attorney’s Office should seek out and hire law students who have demonstrated an interest in and talent for trial work.  I will actively recruit students who enroll in trial practice classes or who participate in Supreme Court approved trial internship programs.

           The State Attorney’s Office is the trial arm of our criminal justice system.  I want it to be a strong arm.  By recruiting the best law students and by training them well, we can build and maintain a prosecutor’s force that our law enforcement officers can depend on.

 Court Technology

           Our courtrooms now have flat-screen televisions, cameras and state-of-the-art audio systems for the best presentation of trial evidence.  Our prosecutors, however, do not have the equipment necessary to use this technology.  Instead of power point-quality presentation of evidence, we see techniques used in the days of the Polaroid camera.  We need to do better.

 Trial Support

           Teamwork wins ballgames.  It can also win trials.  Unfortunately, when our prosecutors go to trial there is no team to back them up.

           The State Attorney investigators should be assigned to the trial divisions.  Their job should be to improve the cases that are submitted for prosecution and to help prepare them for trial.  Ultimately, an investigator should be in the courtroom during trials as part of the prosecution team.

           The team should include a witness coordinator.  We need to see that witnesses are available when they are needed to testify.  We need to stop wasting our witness’ time when they are not required.  Another part of that team should be a technology expert who will work with the attorneys to present evidence in an effective manner.    

Retention

           Recruiting and training good trial lawyers is only one-half of the task of building a better State Attorney’s Office.  Keeping good trial lawyers is the other.  Too many promising attorneys have left the prosecutor’s office during the last three years.

           With sensible leadership we can reverse this trend.  We need to build a staff of career prosecutors so that we can continue to realize the benefits of recruiting and training.