INC NEWS - DA's office loses more staff (Herald-Sun)

[Caleb Southern]

-----Original Message-----
From: Caleb Southern [mailto:southernc at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 1:13 AM
To: southernc at mindspring.com
Subject: DA's office loses more staff (Herald-Sun)

-----Original Message-----
From: Caleb Southern [mailto:southernc at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 1:12 AM
To: 'commissioners at co.durham.nc.us'
Cc: 'mruffin at co.durham.nc.us'
Subject: DA's staff quitting - fund needed resources

To Commissioners Reckhow, Heron, and Cousin:

I would quit the DA's office too if I were working under an excessive case
load with insufficient staff and resources. 

Commissioners, please fund the $300,000 for the needed judicial resources --
like the people of Durham have asked you to do (with a minimal 0.15 cent tax
increase, mere dollars per year for the average homeowner).


Caleb Southern


(From article below:)

At the same time, [D.A.] Nifong expressed concern about record or
near-record dockets for Thursday. More than 500 cases are on the calendar
for district criminal court, plus 480 traffic cases and 166 cases in a
so-called "disposition court." 

"Thursday is going to be a really, really bad day," said Nifong. "It will be
interesting."

***

DA's office loses more staff 

By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun
jstevenson at heraldsun.com
Jun 29, 2005 : 12:04 am ET 

DURHAM -- Even as court officials lobby for new prosecutor positions in
Durham, the District Attorney's Office is having a hard time keeping its
current staff on board. 

Officials confirmed Tuesday that Jason Scully-Clemmons, hired recently as
Durham's first special "gun prosecutor" to help rid the city of firearms,
tendered his resignation and will be gone after July 8. He reportedly will
enter private practice. 

While members of the legal community pleaded with county commissioners
Monday night to fund more assistant district attorney positions and court
clerks for Durham, Scully-Clemmons became the fifth lawyer to leave the
District Attorney's Office since April. 

The others were gang prosecutor John Phillips, who departed to care for an
ailing mother; Christy Joyce, who took a new public job in Wake County;
Erica Cofield, who joined the state Attorney General's Office; and Freda
Black, who now works for a private law firm in Durham. 

In addition, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Botts is on maternity leave
for at least six weeks. 

All but one of the resignations occurred after former District Attorney Jim
Hardin Jr. became a judge in late April and his most senior assistant,
Michael Nifong, took over as chief prosecutor. 

Only Black's departure has been directly linked to the transition. 

A feisty lawyer who gained national recognition for her role in the 2003
first-degree murder conviction of novelist Michael Peterson, Black told The
Herald-Sun recently that Nifong asked her to resign for unspecified reasons.
She said Nifong didn't offer her an explanation, and she didn't ask for one.


Nifong declined to comment, saying the situation was a private personnel
matter. 

The new district attorney said Tuesday that the gun prosecutor's job might
be hard to fill after Scully-Clemmons leaves. A fresh law school graduate
probably wouldn't suffice, since someone with enough experience to try
felony cases in Superior Court is needed, according to Nifong. 

The gun prosecutor's position was established in 2003 with a $120,000 grant
from the U.S. Department of Justice, bolstered by $15,000 each from the city
and county. The funding was intended to support the new position for three
years. 

"The goal is to get guns off the street," Nifong told The Herald-Sun
Tuesday. 

The District Attorney's Office has 13 legislatively allocated lawyer jobs,
plus four grant-funded slots. 

Nifong said that, to partially compensate for the recent spate of
resignations, a new assistant prosecutor will start work early next month.
Two others, Shamieka Rhinehart of Rocky Mount and Stormy Ellis of Key Largo,
Fla., were sworn in June 1. 

Still, the pressure of short-staffing was apparent on Tuesday. 

For example, even though he is Durham's chief prosecutor, Nifong was in
traffic court to negotiate with lawyers about speeding tickets. 

"This is the time of year when people take vacations," Nifong explained. "We
just have to put in people where we need to." 
At the same time, Nifong expressed concern about record or near-record
dockets for Thursday. More than 500 cases are on the calendar for district
criminal court, plus 480 traffic cases and 166 cases in a so-called
"disposition court." 

"Thursday is going to be a really, really bad day," said Nifong. "It will be
interesting."