My
Primary duties are:
- Attempt
to identify and solve community problems ranging from gang
related activities to juvenile truancy. Work with community
organizations like STAT, and the school district on issues
involving truancy, and other teen issues.
- Hire
and train assistant county attorneys and support staff.
- Determine
division of labor within the County Attorney’s office.
- Monitor
and be responsible for the work of the Assistant County
Attorneys and staff. An also have weekly meetings with the
criminal division.
- Chief
criminal prosecutor for rice county, charge and prosecute
serious felonies, homicides, gross misdemeanors, and
ordinance violations occurring in the county and
misdemeanors occurring within the unincorporated areas of
the county.
- Defend
tax appeals, zoning appeals, property disputes, and ditch
matters; represent the petitioner in commitment, juvenile
delinquency, juvenile protection, termination of parental
rights, and child support matters; drafting ordinances or
initiating legal proceedings on behalf of Rice County.
- Independently
investigate crimes of public officials, such as election
violations or corruption in government.
- Annually
prepare and manage a budget for the County Attorney’s
office. Review monthly to assure that the office is not over
spending.
- Experienced
resource for less experienced attorneys.
- Must
set policy and procedures for charging, plea-bargaining, and
diversion.
- Advise
and represent County Departments and Board of Commissioners
in various corporate and civil matters that face every
business and political subdivision along with the unique
responsibilities that are borne by the counties under
Minnesota law. Sit in on all board
meetings; attend other meetings as requested by the
department head or other board members.
- Represent
Rice County and the State of Minnesota in all juvenile
delinquency and protection matters.
- Responsible
for proper allocation of the resources of the office.
- Public
relations, representing criminal justice system in rice
county. Responsible for any press
releases, speaking at public events, and for specific
organizations. Educating people on the
justice system, formally and informally through internships
and public service announcements.
- Meet
with the different department heads to asses any needs or
legal services, to prevent a lawsuit against Rice County.
- Work
with the local Bar and Bench to improve the quality of
justice in Rice County and in Minnesota.
QUALIFICATIONS
AND EXPERIENCE
I
have a Bachelors Degree with majors in English, History,
Business and Economics, a Juris Doctor Degree; a Master of Law
Degree; and I am licensed to practice law in both the State of
Minnesota and Federal Court. I am an experienced trial
lawyer. I have handled every caseload assignment in
a county attorney’s office. I have extensive jury
trial experience. I attend annually and have
taught at the Minnesota Criminal Justice Institute, the
Minnesota County Attorneys Association annual meeting and the
National District Attorneys Association trainings at the
National Advocacy Center. I sit on the Technology
Committee of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association (MCAA).
PERFORMANCE
As
chief prosecutor for the county, I carry above and beyond my
administrative and corporate counsel caseload a criminal
caseload that includes most serious felonies committed in Rice
County. As of November of last year I had 128 open felony
criminal files as of November of this year I have 185.
For comparison my other two full time felony prosecutors had 95
last year and this year 114 and 98 last year and this year 133
open felony criminal files each in November, with one other
assistant who carries a half felony caseload having 69 open last
year in November and 10 open this year in November.
Currently, I have one open First Degree Murder case. The
office has had 9 environmental cases or zoning cases referred to
it by either the Solid Waste Department or Planning and Zoning
so far this year.
The
current average turnaround time from referral to charging
decision is 20 days (excluding the last 8 weeks).
I
continued to provide training to all law enforcement agencies in
Rice County this last year in the areas of Use of Force;
Domestic Assault Response Protocols; and DWI Law.
The staggered training system in which each course is taught at
three different times once in Northfield and twice in Faribault
continues to be used so as to allow officers to attend without
interfering with other schedules and avoiding overtime pay for
all departments. I continue to provide training for
WomanSafe in the area of sexual assault law.
Sheriff
Cook and I continue to meet quarterly with the Rice County Law
Enforcement Agency Chiefs. This group addresses issues of
mutual concern, countywide law enforcement procedures and law
enforcement training needs.
I
am working with MCCC and MCAA to obtain a grant from the
Minnesota CrimNet Board to purchase a software program, which
will connect to the statewide system while allowing smaller
counties to continue to use our current software. The
first stage of the project hopefully will be completed by the
end of the year. The project will enhance the
effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement in Rice County
and help better the communication and information sharing
between county and state agencies. The grant amount
will be approximately $200,000.00.
Other
technology implemented this year is e-mailing of court minutes
from the courtroom to our office, which allows us to do more
automatic scheduling and case updating with less support staff
time. I began and hope to finish still this
year the codification and digitalization of the County
Ordinances working with the Auditor/ Treasurer.
I
have obtained links to two state computer database systems.
One is the court management and calendaring information program,
which allows my office to access the courts’ calendaring
information. The second system is
PCEnforce that will allow each prosecutor to access the law
enforcement records and reports stored at the joint Dispatch
center.
I
wrote office policies and procedures, which were implemented
January of this year. The policies and procedure
manual will aid in assuring the effective and efficient
administration of the office. Also, the manual will
increase accountability for how each case is handled by the Rice
County Attorney’s Office.
In
2001, I established a written contract with the Minnesota
Department of Corrections to pay for prosecution services
provided by Rice County for crime occurring under the prisons
jurisdiction. The agreement will produce
approximately $3,000.00 to $4,000.00 dollars annually in
revenues for Rice County. One year remains on
the contract and I intent to seek renewal of the contract in
2003.
Last
year, I participated in the reduction in rural violence project
here in Rice County. The project resulted in many new
initiatives from numerous organizations for the reduction of
rural violence. I held several classes for the
public on the Rice County Protocols for Responding to Domestic
Violence over the last year.
I
continue to working with the judges, the defense bar and other
prosecutors in Rice County to review and improve the process
currently used in criminal proceedings here in Rice County.
This year we have implemented a set arraignment time for
individuals in custody. This will save the county
time and money by allowing the court, sheriff, probation and the
prosecutors to plan on a set time for hearings rather than
calling to schedule hearings at all different times.
I
spoke with several organizations this year at which I had the
opportunity to share what the Rice County Attorney’s Office
does and how my office serves the people of Rice County.
I spoke with the Rice County Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the
Northfield High School Carleton College and St. Olaf College.
I am scheduled to give presentations to several senior centers
in January of next year. My office had a booth at
the Rice County Fair which provide the public with victim right
information and information regarding the criminal justice
system.
Several
individuals from the Rice County community have worked as
volunteers in the office victim service area.
We have had four individuals work as unpaid interns in the
office providing valuable services to Rice County.
Three of the interns were college student and one a law school
student.
I
am a member of Faribault Rotary, Faribault and Northfield
Chamber of Commerce, Board Member of the Rice County Historical
Society, South Central Technical College Foundation –
Faribault, Community Corrections and Womansafe.
