POSTED: Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 1:00 am

BY: dmc-admin

State and county budget gaps are forcing prosecutor’s offices around the state to institute furlough days.

In Milwaukee County, support staff will take 12 unpaid days off this year. Assistant prosecutors throughout the state agreed to a maximum of five furlough days as part of their contract, but the state budget calls for eight.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John T. Chisholm said that his and other offices are looking for a way to avoid the additional three days.

Chisholm said the off days will result in almost 14,000 hours of lost time for uploading case files, as well as paralegal assistance in the sensitive crimes and family support units.

“It will lead to some increased demands on the front end by assistant district attorneys, which will take them away from court responsibilities,” as they pick up some of the case management work, he said.

For Langlade County District Attorney Ralph M. Uttke, the circumstances are more ominous, as he only has one part-time assistant prosecutor.

Uttke, who is president of the Wisconsin District Attorney’s Association, said his assistant will take two-and-a-half furlough days before June.

“That means I’m coming in on Saturdays and Sundays to get work done,” he said.

Milwaukee attorney D. Michael Guerin doesn’t expect that the furloughs will cause cases to “slip through the cracks” or give the defense an advantage in court, but the resulting delays could make witnesses and crime victims less likely to appear when a case does go to trial.

A victim or witness who shows up for a court date and has to wait for several hours, or finds out that the hearing is rescheduled, may not come back, said Guerin of Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown LLP.

“Think about how many victims and witness will be reluctant to be involved in the system,” he said. “It will be a whole lot, because right now you have to hold their hands to have them testify or be available.”

If budget woes continue, there’s a chance that some assistant district attorney positions will be permanently lost.

If that happens, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joseph R. DeCecco has said he will prosecute fewer cases, ceasing prosecution of several misdemeanors.

Crimes such as disorderly conduct, simple marijuana possession and misdemeanor theft would lead to an immediate citation from police, rather than review by a prosecutor. This would result in about 1,200 fewer prosecutions annually, according to DeCecco.

Though the vast majority of misdemeanors never get to trial, DeCecco said preliminary review of these cases can take away from time spent on more serious matters.

“If we eliminate that initial caseload, we can pay more attention to other cases,” DeCecco said.

Uttke said he has no plans to exclude certain types of cases from prosecution.

“I’m going to do all work that comes into my office … until it gets to a point where I can’t do it properly,” he said.

Criminal defense attorneys expect a significant impact on their practices if prosecutor positions are cut.

“I think this poses a potentially huge problem,” said Sheboygan attorney Kirk B. Obear. “If I need to rearrange hearings and trials on an ongoing basis because of unavailable prosecutors, it’s going to take a toll on my practice.”

Obear noted that there is more to moving cases along than simply scheduling a trial — any reductions could delay responses to discovery demands, motions and subpoenas.

“If an attorney takes one day off, that means things scheduled or planned perhaps months out could be kicked a couple months down the road,” Obear said.

He is also concerned about the unnecessary detention of clients, especially if their cases are not reviewed in a timely manner.

Milwaukee attorney John A. Birdsall shares that fear.

Because people tend to take furlough days on a Friday or before a holiday, he said clients could end up spending four or five days in custody.

“It’s just going to take that much longer and certainly going to make it somewhat more difficult to get business done,” Birdsall said.

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