LANSING, Mich — Things nowadays are pretty busy in Ingham County Prosecutor John Dwane’s office.
“Preparing for trial in the next couple week, I’ll be spending about 50 to 60 hours a week preparing for that trial,” Dewane said.
Dewane said the nationwide assistant prosecuting attorney shortage has increased caseloads for everyone at the prosecutor’s office. He said his office is down 4 prosecuting attorneys and has about 800 cases to be reviewed.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Prosecuting Attorney shortage in Ingham County
“It's stressful because I know that we have a duty to our citizens so that we move cases along efficiently,” Dewane said.
Dwane said its crucial that each case is completed , especially given the potential justice they bring to the victims and their families.
“You can't put a price tag on when you've convicted someone of murder and provided justice to a family, a mother, father or loved one and then receiving that hug after the jury verdict, it priceless,” Dewane said.
The need for assistant prosecuting attorneys is now being felt on the state level, which leads us to $17 million allocated in the 25/26 fiscal year state budget. The funds are spread out among 15 different county, Ingham being one of them. Dewane said his office is expected to get about $1 million of that and while he believes more money is needed to solve the problem, he already has plans for the secured funding.
“A million dollars could help us bring in paralegals to help out assistant prosecuting attorneys right now, we don't have any paralegals.” Dewane said.
And until the issue is completely solved, Dwane is sending a message to the community.
“I want you to know that we make sure each case is prosecuted with ethics and we will ensure to do that to the best of our ability with the staff we do have,” he said.
