As San Benito County supervisors work this week to cut an additional $1.7 million from an already tight budget, they had started off the week with the intent to leave the district attorney’s budget as is.
The department, which oversees the prosecution of crime in the community, provides victim witness services and participates in sexual assault response team interviews with victims of sexual assault. The department has four attorneys on staff to deal with four pending murder investigations; 15 murder cases that are awaiting disposition; five high-level sex crime cases; and three embezzlement cases.
“I don’t know if I would say the sheer number has increased, but the type of crime has increased greatly in its severity,” said Candice Hooper, the district attorney.
In a presentation before the board of supervisors in May, she argued against cuts for her department that would have eliminated three more positions. Since then, the supervisors agreed to delay the layoffs until Aug. 15 for public safety. Hooper said by email Wednesday that she has lost two positions with one slated layoff reinstated by the supervisors. The budget hearings and final decisions on cuts to all departments continued past the Free Lance’s press time.
“In the past two years, we lost support staff, an investigator was reduced and we lost a deputy DA,” Hooper said. “This year we’ve already lost a deputy DA, a legal secretary and we’ve got another deputy DA on the cutting block.”
Hooper said the number of cases the attorneys handled in 2011 totaled more than 7,539, not including cases that were reviewed and sent back for further work.
She said it is hard to estimate how much time is needed per case.
“Attorneys have to be in court almost every day,” she said.
With further cuts to her department, she said it would be difficult to have enough manpower to participate in the sexual assault review team, which meets with individuals who are alleged victims of sexual assault to cut down on the stress to the victim in reporting the crime.
“If everyone is in court, it will cut down on the manpower to do that,” she said.
Comparing DA’s offices
Rural Tuolumne County has a population that is 2,000 less than San Benito County and a square mileage that is about 1,000 square-miles larger than San Benito.
Tuolumne had 19 people on staff in 2011 in the District Attorney’s office, compared to the 10.5 positions in San Benito County.
While Tuolumne had 915 open felony cases, San Benito staff prosecuted 459, not including those cases that were reviewed and sent back for more information.
“I understand the board is in a very difficult position, but I do hope they prioritize public safety,” Hooper said.
Before the budget hearings began, Hooper said she was going before the board to have fees increased for the bad check program, but she said she “strongly doubts it will be enough” to cover the cut the supervisors requested from her department.
COMPARING COUNTIES
Tuolmne County DA 2011 staff and cases:
Attorneys: 1 DA, 1 assistant DA, five DDAs
Total attorneys: 7
Support staff: 1 office manager and 6 support staff
Total support staff: 7
Investigators: 2 DA investigators
Total investigators: 2
Victim witness staff: 1 victim witness supervisor and advocate, 2 victim witness advocates
Total victim witness staff: 3
Total DA staff: 19
Felony cases open: 915
Misd. cases open: 2,467
Infraction cases open: 197
Dependency and administrative matters: 93
San Benito County DA:
Attorneys: 1 DA, two DDAs II and one DDA I
Total attorneys: 4
Support staff: 2 office assistant III, 1 office assistant I and a vacant legal secretary II position
Total support staff: 3
Investigators: 1 DA investigator I and one DA investigator II
Total investigators: 2
Victim witness: 1 coordinator and 1 P/T staff
Total victim witness staff: 1.5
Total District Attorney office staff: 10.5
Felony cases: 459
Misdemeanor cases: 1,623
Infraction cases: 5,457
