HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESOLUTION 1979-128~ __ _ _ _7 ~~ ~ -. _ _ ___ _ _ ,, ~, ~ . ~. _ _ - _.._ _ .,,,r ~
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~ CITY OF KENAI
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' RESOLUTION NO. 79-128
A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA
URGING THE GOVERNOR AND THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
ALASIW TO INCREASE THE STAFF OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S
~ OFFICE ON THE KENAI PENINSULA SY ONE ASSISTANT DISTRICT
ATTORNEY AND ONE CLERICAL POSITION.
WHEREAS, due to the heavy criminal case load on the Kenai
Peninsula, the two prosecutors assigned to the Renai Peninsula
are unable to adequately handle the crirainal case calendaring
in the four courts in the three peninsula cities of Kenai,
Seward and Homer.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF .- _
RENAi, ALASKA that the Governor aad the Legislature of the State
of Alaska be urged to increase the staff of the Oistrict At- _.
torney's office on the Kenai Peninsula by one assistant district ~ •
attorney and one alerical position through reassignment of
present position allocations statewide.
' PAS3ED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY O~ RENAI, ALASKA THIS -
19th day of September, 1979. / , '~~
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VINCENT O'REILLY,
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1 ATTES t
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,: ~ 8 ~. Peter, C ty Clerk ~
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Zb: Honorable Vincent 0'Reilly f,~~` ;1
tsayar, City of KPt+:,:
Fran: Chief Richard Ross
Kenai Pelice Degartment
S~]bjeCt: Kp131 Pp*+incula D18tri.Ct AttAY'I1ey's Office
Date: 8-27-79
On 8-21-79, the Chiefs of Folice fran the Kertai Penis~sula met with
District Attorney Zhn Wardell. At that time w2 were advi.sed that
in additi.on to present problens we were experiencing with the D.A.'s
offive because of the i»creasing cri~r~inal case laad, that cases
woul.d now be subject to di~ni.ssal on the basis of t~me priarities.
Zfiese disnissals would be acfimittedly otherwise prosecutable cases,
but whose priority would fall below other pending c,ases.
Statenent of Problen:
1) ~here is inadequate case preparation prior bo trial with the
District Attorney's and the investigati.~g offioers.
2) Crimi.nal cases are being di~nissed far no other reason than
lack of t3me to prosecute tl~en.
3) Preparation arid presentation of cruninal cases going to trial
is less than desirable. The D.A.'s offioe is in effect "outgunned"
by defense r~. (Representative of thi,s is that there are
t~ Public Defenders on the Peninsula that tu~tx ia approximately
50$ of tYre c!~iminal cases handled by the two prosecutors.)
Analysis of Problsn:
1) The t~ao p~osec~ztors assigned to the Kenai P~,;~+~,~a are unable
to adequately handle the increasing case load on the Peninsula.
2) It is physi.cally iitgossible for the District Attorney's office
to adequately handle the present criminal case calenderfng in the
four oourts in the rhree Peninsula cities (Kenai, Seward and Hamr).
Proposed Soluti.on:
It is r~ded that the staff of the Kenai Peninsula District
Attorn~y's offiae, presently oonsisting of taao (2) prosecutors
anl twn (2) clerical persoruiel be increased as follaws:
1. tfie additional Assistant District Attorney.
2. One additional clerical pos~a.tian.
Justification:
Zfie crimi.nal case load on the Kenai Peninsula is the third heaviest
served by one District Attorney's office in the State of Alaska.
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The tables on the follaaing pages, tak~en fran the 1978 Alaska Court Syste~n
Anr-ual report, will reflect the follawirg:
, 1) Wule Anchorage has five (5) t~mes the cr~mi.nal case filings of the Icenai
, Peninsul.a, it has ten at~d on-half (10~) times the prosecutori.al resources.
i 2) 4d~ile Fairbanks has 1.8 times the cr~mina.l Case filirgs of ttle Kenai
~ pw+,i.,~,ta, it has fo~s ar~d on~-half (4~) times the prosecutorial resources.
3) Jtmeau, with only 90$ of the cri~ni.na]. case fil.ings of the Kenai Peni.nsula,
has 338 mo~e prosecutarial atd cleric~l resour~es (mt includi,-~g t~ Assist-
~ a~ Attorney Ceneral's office i.n Jtmeau) .
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~~ ~~ The C~auycil of the Ci of Itenai i~eg
~~ tY bY R~esolutian to the Govexnor and is-
,_ lature request that one of the follawi~g oourses of action be taken as soon
; ~ ~! as possible:
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~ /// 1) 7~e Staff of the District Attorney's office be increased by one Assistant
District Attorney and one cleric~l position tY~ro~h new position allocations.
2) Zfie staff of the Di.stri.et Attorney's office be ir~creased as above through
~ ~~reassic,~rment of pre.sent position allocations statewide.
Sinoerely,
C~iief Pnli.ve
Ii~R/c~d
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ASSIQ~4Nr OF DISTRIC.T ATIOIi~.'YS
Location: No. of Cairts: No. of District Attarneys:
Atxfioocage 23 21 (inclucles 1 paralegal and 1 legal intern;
does nc~ include 4 Attorneys in Anchorage
Appe s Divis n)
FBirhankia 8 9(]jxlCludes 1 paralegal)
Kenai 4 2
(in three citi.es)
Juneau 3 3(in addition to resouroes fran Assistant
Attorr~ey General's office)
1978 AIASKA COURTS FILIlJGS
Location: 2bta1 Filings $ of Statewi,de Zbtal
Atr,~~orage 63, 821 48. 3~
Fa±*~*+k~ 21, 709 16.4$
IGettai P~nistsula 11, 262 8. 5$
(three cities)
Juneau 10,415 7.9$
1978 SUPERI~t CQURT CRIMII~-iL FILINGS
Location: Felonies: ~~: 7.bta1:
Anchorage 261 238 g99
F'aixbanlcs . 167 63 230
i~enai 80 16 96
Juneau 63 16 89
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scm~iox c~oc~r ~o~Y ~,nucs
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$ increase:
Locati~on: 1975 1976 1977 1978 75-78 77-78
Anchorage 476 366 338 261 -45 -23
Fairbanks 203 227 195 167 -18 -14
Kenai 31 26 23 80 +158 +248
Jtu~eau 43 23 26 63 +47 +142
DISTRI(.T QO[]AT CRII+iIIJAL~ FILINGS
Location: Cri.minal: Z~affi.c: Zbtal:
An~horage 11,772 37,434 49,204
Fairbat~lcs 3, 086 14, 581 17,667
Kenai P+eninsula 1,809 7,897 9,706
Jtu~eau 986 7, 766 8, 752
7nGrease in the case load, as reflected abave, for the i~enai Peninsula
havae cont:inued tl~rau~t the first efght months af 1979. It should also be
noted that v~fi~31e the felony criminal case load on the Peninsula has i.ncreased
significantly si~e 1976, it has declined in And~orage ar~d Fajxbanks duri.ng
ifiis same pexiad.
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