DA looks to shuffle staffing to deal with increased case load

NORWICH – If the District Attorney’s office doesn’t make room for one more full-time prosecutor, “something bad is going to happen,” the top assistant DA told county legislators Wednesday.

District Attorney Joseph McBride is asking that the county permit him to replace two of his four part-time assistant DA’s with one full-time prosecutor.

First Assistant DA Robert Larkin, representing McBride, told the county’s Safety and Rules Committee Wednesday that a recent surge in crime has created a backlog of pending felony cases and office paperwork. The addition of a full-time “trial ready” attorney would relieve the constraint, and possible save the office from having to offer pleas or drop cases when they normally would not, he said.

“It’s too big a load,” said Larkin. “The District Attorney is trying to address this before something bad happens.”

According to Larkin, there are currently 95 open cases awaiting trial in county court. Eighty of those are felonies, including six homicide cases.

In total, he said the office handles around 100 indictments a year.

“I know this is coming at you fast,” Larkin said. “But Joe feels he has a responsibility – this is a serious situation that needs help.”

Under McBride’s proposal, the new prosecutor would be hired immediately at a salary of $70,000 annually, but wouldn’t replace the part-time assistants, whose salaries combined are $60k, until the end of the year. In addition, two part-time secretaries would also be eliminated in favor of creating one full-time position. The re-structuring would increase the DA’s budget by roughly $25,000.

“Does the DA have a plan for financing this?” asked Coventry Supervisor Janice O’Shea.

Larkin acknowledged that no plans to offset that cost have yet been offered in McBride’s proposal.

“That will be the question we’re asked if we pass this,” O’Shea added.

Town of Guilford Supervisor Alton Doyle, the chair of the Safety and Rules Committee, said he was somewhat taken back by McBride’s request.

“You’ve got a tough sell here,” said Doyle. “This is the end of the District Attorney’s first full four-year term. Four years ago, when he presented his platform to the Board of Supervisors, he predicted his election would tie-up all these loose ends and take care of them. In this proposal, he’s bringing them up again.”