8
Wednesday, October 26, 1977
University Daily Kansan
County prosecuting attorney's job full of decisions
By BRIANSETTLE
Staff Writer
Mike Malone, a 1973 graduate of the University of Kansas law school, is quite visible to the public eye when he appears in court as the Douglas County prosecuting attorney.
However, the bulk of Malone's activities do not involve hero appearances before a jury. Rather, Malone, 29, does much of his work before he ever gets to court.
When an arrest is made in Douglas County, a report comes to Malone concerning the arrest. After studying the report, Malone decides whether to prosecute the offender.
Traditionally, a United States prosecutor is a local official whose area of responsibility is limited to a particular district, county or city.
The official duties of the prosecutor are to prosecute all criminal cases brought before him and to represent the local government in civil cases.
A DISCRETIONARY decision is required in each case handled by Malone. He considers a wide variety of factors, for example, the age, background and previous record of the defendant, when deciding what charge to make against a defendant.
"Obviously, there are several factors involved in processing the charges," Malone said. "But in general, we try to look at the crime in terms of how deterrimental it is to the community, and then go from there."
Malone described his job as developing beliefs and values on deterring crime and then enforcing these in the community. He said this was the primary purpose of law
"My job involves the mixture of two basic functions," Malone said. "First, the screening of each case for its legal strengths and weaknesses, and then the actual discretion to prosecute and charge a defendant."
MUCH OF THE prosecutor's power lies in his relative freedom from accountability to a higher agency. Of course, he is accountable to the voter every four years.
Malone said this freedom might lead to temptations of personal vengeance, persecutions and executions.
"You sometimes hear horror stories about a prosecutor making deals with lawyers to get them arrested on political or public pressure," he said. "But I can truthfully say that these considerations never affect a decision in this county's affairs," he said. "I'm getting out as quickly as possible."
"AS FAR AS I am concerned, if the mayor is beast, and a speeding ticket, she or he is just as baitful to me."
Malone said there was little discrecional difference between University of Kansas and Arizona State.
Mike Malone
residents as far as his role as prosecutor was concerned.
"The only noticeable difference between KU offenders and offenders from the rest of Douglas County is that most KU offenders are first-time offenders, which will obviously play a big part in my considerations." he said.
However, Malone said in situations where a certain type of crime occurs frequently, a general policy of handling the crime will develop.
An example is the way the county deals with charges of possession of marijuana. Under current policy, someone charged with possession of less than one ounce of marijuana will not be prosecuted in court. Rather, his case will be handled by a county referral program. This usually means the offender will not have a criminal record.
WHERE THE prosecuting attorney's job is part-time, as in Douglaes County, the prosecutor often supplements his income from private practice. However, Malone works full-time at his $17,500 a year part-time job.
"It's listed as a part-time job," he said.
"But I work a 50-hour week and my secretaries work full-time on a part-time basis to leave little time for private practice."
Malone said Douglas County was the largest county in Kansas that listed the prosecuting attorney as a part-time official. He said the case load required a full-time attorney, but the legislature was slow to change the description and salary of the job.
"We've been swamped ever since I took over," Malone said. "We process 1,500 cases a year from traffic offenses to first-degree murder."
ALL CASES ARE TAKEN care of by the investigators, a legal interest (who is a third) in the case.
year inaw student at KU) and his secretarial staff.
Malone said that, contrary to popular belief, the actual time a prosecutor spent in court was minimal compared to the time spent on procedural administration.
"I'm a 50-hour week, I spend maybe 10 hours in court, which is more than the norm, because I really enjoy being in court, I will use it usually in many cases for myself as 'myself,' he said.
The other cases are handled by the assistant prosecutors.
A large part of Malone's time is spent going with police to the scenes of crimes. He does this to instruct the police on what inaction he needs to prosecute the case, he said.
"THE WORST THING is to have a case bawn in court because of some minor detail in the evidence presented."
Malone said keeping a good working relationship with the police was imperative.
"They should always know where I stand, what I need for this case and what I don't."
"It is part of my job to keep the police informed on the law. I run seminars with them in an attempt to let them know of any changes that occur in the law."
However, Malone said the most important factor in keeping a good relationship with the police was to always explain to them why he does not prosecute some cases.
For example, any evidence seized by
police without a proper search warrant will make the evidence inadmissible in court.
ALTHOUGH THE job is generally what be expected, Malone is surprised at the man's apathy.
"I had hoped to do a lot more research and,
"written," he said. "Research is so
necessary because laws change almost
month. But there is very little time for it."
Malone said one bad thing about his job was the personal feelings a prosecutor had.
"You can't become involved in this business without developing personal feeling," he said. "There are many times when I feel terrible about sending someone
off to prison because of the current state of the prison system. We have to come up with an alternative to either setting someone free or sending them off to prison."
AFTER WORKING as an assistant for four years and as prosecutor for nine months, Malone is unsure about his future plans.
"I wouldn't mind being prosecutor for the rest of my life," he said. "But it is an elective position and I am not But, but a campaigner and campaigning that might dissuade me from continuing."
"The job is fun, exciting, different every day. The pressure and tension of making a tough decision every day is hard to cope with." This aspect of the job that I will improve at."
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