Although
the voters of our county elect us, Indiana prosecutors are
considered officers of the State of Indiana.
The state pays the salaries of the elected prosecutor and
the chief deputy prosecutor who is appointed by the elected
prosecutor. In
larger counties, the counties pay the salaries of the other
deputy prosecutors who are needed to enforce the criminal laws
of the state. In a
small county like Fountain County, there are only two
prosecutors.
My
main job is to prosecute people who have committed crimes.
I review reports from the police that tell why the police
have arrested a suspect. I
then prepare criminal charges, called an information and
probable cause affidavit that are signed by the arresting
officer and filed in the circuit court.
The suspect is then brought to court, informed of the
charges against him, and further proceedings are scheduled.
Most defendants hire attorneys to represent them.
If the defendant cannot afford an attorney, the court
appoints a public defender to represent him.
In recent years, we have filed over 500 criminal cases a
year. Almost all of
them get resolved by an agreement, called a plea bargain,
without a trial. We
have only had one jury trial in all of 2002.
Besides
the two prosecutors, we have two other people who work in my
office. One is in
charge of the child support program.
Every state receives money from the federal government to
help collect support for children.
In some states, such as Indiana, the county prosecutors
are in charge of collecting child support for anyone who asks
for our help. We
establish paternity (a legal proceeding that determines who the
father of a child is), enforce child support orders, and try to
put people in jail if they do not pay their support.
The
other staff person who works in our office helps with the child
support work and also runs our bad check program.
We collect checks that have bounced after they are given
to merchants in our county.
This same person runs our infraction deferral program.
An interstate highway runs through our county.
People who get caught speeding can pay a fee and enroll
in the infraction deferral program and not have the speeding
ticket go on their driving record.
I
used to have a secretary who helped me prepare and file charges.
Right now I am trying to manage without a person in that
position to help our county save money.
State and local governments in Indiana are going through
a budget crunch right now.
My
deputy handles the juvenile cases.
These are cases where a person less than 18 years old is
arrested for a crime. In
juvenile cases, the judge tries to strike a balance between
protecting the community and helping the child straighten out
his or her life. We
also have a program where students who are suspended from school
are brought before the judge and put in an out-of-school
suspension program during their suspension so that they do not
wander the streets.
The
busiest day in our office is Monday.
The United States Supreme Court has made a rule that
people who are arrested without a warrant must be taken before a
judge within 48 hours after their arrest.
So, on Monday mornings, I review the police reports for
all the people who were arrested over the weekend and quickly
prepare charges so that the arrested person can be taken before
our judge. While I
am working on new charges, my deputy will be up in the courtroom
handling the older cases that are scheduled for that day.
There might also be a juvenile case or support case
scheduled in court late in the morning.
In
the afternoons, my deputy and I usually work on cases that are
scheduled for hearings in the next few days.
My deputy also prepares discovery responses, which tell
the defense attorneys what we expect the evidence in cases will
be.
Fountain
County’s seat is in Covington.
Attica, another city in our county, has city court on
Monday afternoons. The
judge of the city court is not a lawyer, but a schoolteacher who
is trained in the law. The
city court handles minor criminal cases, called misdemeanors,
which occur in the City of Attica.
My deputy and I take turns going to city court on Monday
afternoons.
Although
our main function is to prosecute crimes, we also try to prevent
crimes by participating in community programs.
Our county has an “Every 15 Minutes” program that
rotates among the three county high schools each year.
In this program, a mock accident is staged where two
teenagers are killed by a drunk driver who is arrested, taken to
court, and sentenced. The
next day, the school conducts a convocation where the
participants tell about their experiences and real victims and
drunk drivers tell their stories about drunk driving.
Mark
McGrady
Fountain
County (IN) Prosecuting Attorney
