October 26, 2018 • 22 mins
On this episode of Tony Talks Charles County Crime, State's Attorney Tony Covington breaks down the mission and work of the State's Attorney's Office.
Included in this episode:
02:54 - State's Attorney's Role
03:38 - Funding for the State's Attorney's Office (SAO)
04:38 - Holding Wrong-Doers Accountable
05:04 - Mission of the SAO
05:46 - Role of the Prosecutor
07:48 - SAO Units and Their Duties
13:10 - Victim Witness Assistance Unit and Victims
14:39 - Role of Prosecutors, Cont.
18:13 - Filing Criminal Charges
20:06 - Dropping Criminal Charges
Website: https://bit.ly/2FEFilB
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Twitter: https://bit.ly/2FwRaHn
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tony Covington (00:15):
Hello, welcome to the official podcast of the
Charles County State'sAttorney's Office.
I'm your State's Attorney, TonyCovington.
I'm also your host for thesepodcasts.
I really appreciate you tuningin.
Now before I get into today'stopic, let me give you an idea
of what to expect from the TonyTalks Charles County Crime
podcast episodes.
We will be dealing with the manyissues surrounding crime in our
(00:38):
community and how we as acommunity can overcome those
challenges to make a safertomorrow for all of us.
Some of the topics we will coverduring our season are domestic
violence, drunk driving, sexualassaults and child sexual abuse,
the CSI effect and the list goeson and on.
But whatever the topic is,please understand that we will
(00:59):
be focusing on solutions tothese problems.
Whenever possible, I'll bejoined by guest who can add
insight to the topic underdiscussion, and more importantly
can help provide solutions tothe problem itself.
Trust me, each podcast will beproductive.
We won't be flapping our lipsjust because we like to hear
ourselves talk.
Now lastly, I plan to end eachepisode by answering questions
(01:21):
that the public has sent intous.
After all, I am a public servantand a big part of my job is to
keep the public informed on theissues the public wants to know
about.
So that's a general overview ofwhat you can expect from our
podcast series.
I'll be right back after thismessage.
Kandes Carter (01:40):
The State's Attorney's Office is back again
with another tour of our ThinkAbout It presentation.
Tony Covington, your State'sAttorney, goes out to Charles
County schools and presentsThink About It, an interactive
presentation packed with reallife scenarios, life quizzes and
more.
With Think About It, studentsare taught how to make the best
decisions for living asuccessful life.
(02:01):
Last year, over 3000 studentscountywide witnessed the
presentation and appreciatedThink About It's tagline,"Your
choice.
Your consequence.
Your future." For moreinformation, please contact us
through our website,www.ccsao.us/ThinkAboutIt.
Thank you for listening.
(02:22):
Now back to the Tony TalksCharles County Crime podcast.
Tony Covington (02:31):
And now I'm back.
In today's podcast, I'm going tointroduce you to the State's
Attorney's Office, our job, ourorganization, manpower, and our
mission.
I'm also going to spend sometime on why prosecutors are the
most important individuals inthe criminal justice system and
at the end of today's session,as promised, I'll answer a
couple of questions from thepublic.
(02:52):
So here we go.
Our mission (02:53):
as a State's Attorney for Charles County, I'm
responsible for prosecutingevery crime in the county.
For you Law and Order fans outthere, I'm the DA.
I'm an elected official and mustrun for election every four
years.
Since I had no opponent in thisyear's election, I will be sworn
in as your State's Attorney onJanuary 7, 2019 to begin my
(03:13):
third term in office.
It's important for you to knowthat the State's Attorney's
Office is an independent agency.
Being elected State's Attorneymeans I have no boss, not the
county commissioners, all theway up to the president of the
United States.
None of them can order me to doanything regarding the operation
of my office.
The only people I answer to arethe voters of Charles County.
(03:34):
Collectively, you are my boss.
Now having said that, I am quickto point out that all of our
funding comes from the county.
Every year, like otherindependent agencies in the
county, I make a request forfunding to the county
commissioners.
Because, as you know, the countycommissioners decide how our tax
dollars are spent.
In a televised public hearingbefore the commissioners, I
(03:55):
justify and argue for theresources I've determined the
State's Attorney's Office needsto get the job done.
The county commissioners thendecide how big a slice of the
county's pie we get and just soyou know, our piece of the pie
is pretty small.
It's less than one percent ofthe entire county budget.
And you know, it dawned on mevery quickly when I first took
office in 2011, that the mostimportant thing I can do for my
(04:18):
office is not to try cases.
Securing adequate resources isfar more important than my
participation in any one case.
Enough funding so we can makeour prosecutorial decisions
based on the facts and notwhether we have enough money to
fully litigate a case.
I have to secure enough fundingto complete our mission.
(04:38):
With the funding we are given,it is the State's Attorney's
Office's responsibility to holdwrongdoers, from murderers to
jaywalkers, accountable for thecrimes they commit.
Holding people accountable meansthat the wrongdoer, they either
plead guilty to the crime or ifhe's unwilling to do so, we
convince a judge or a jury tofind him guilty after fair
trial.
(04:59):
That is our day to day job.
Our mission, however, is moreexpansive than that.
We have a saying that theState's Attorney's Office's
mission has the twofold aim ofprotecting the innocent and
punishing the guilty.
It is our mission to promotepeace in our community.
We do so by seeking justice ineach and every criminal case.
Without justice, there can be nopeace and justice can only be
(05:21):
sought through the ethical andevenhanded enforcement of the
laws.
If the public perceives unfairpractices in law enforcement,
that justice is not being done,that people were being
railroaded or, conversely, thatso called privileged people are
not being brought to justice,then confidence in the system
erodes and eventually peoplewill take matters into their own
(05:41):
hands.
That of course is the absoluteopposite of the peace we're
trying to promote.
You know, many say thatprosecutors are the most
powerful actors in the criminaljustice system, more powerful
than the police and judges.
I tend to agree with thatassessment and I feel the weight
of that responsibility everysingle day.
Prosecutors are so powerful fora simple reason: We have the
(06:01):
final word on who is or is notgoing to have their freedom
placed in jeopardy because goingto jail is a consequence for
most crimes.
In my mind, I picture theprosecutor as a guy standing by
this huge machine.
The machine is the criminaljustice system.
Prosecutor is standing therewith his hand over the on/off
switch.
As each case comes by, he has todecide whether to turn the
(06:21):
machine on or turn it off.
On when a person needs to beheld accountable or off when
someone has been accused orarrested, but the prosecutor
determines that the criminaljustice system just does not
need to be involved.
That simple yet complicateddecision to flip that switch one
way or the other is made inevery single case and that
single decision has hugelife-altering consequences for
(06:44):
the people involved, bothdefendants and victims.
Let's look at a prosecutor'simportance in practical terms.
The police can arrest people allday long, but if that prosecutor
turns the switch off, meaning hedecides to dismiss the case,
that arrest doesn't mean much.
That person will never be heldaccountable for whatever the
police thought he did.
(07:04):
Likewise, judges don't get tosentence anybody, meaning hold
someone accountable, unless thatprosecutor decided to turn the
switch on and the case is fullyprosecuted.
That decision making, that poweris what we call prosecutorial
discretion, and it's an awesomeresponsibility.
The life altering decisions weas prosecutors make must be made
(07:26):
ethically and by prosecutorsthat value justice more than
they do convicting people justbecause the police arrested
them.
Rest assured that my office isgoing to always try to do the
right thing.
We will always do our best toprotect this county and promote
peace by protecting the innocentand punishing the guilty.
That is our mission.
So who are we and how are we setup to fulfill that mission?
(07:48):
My office employs approximately50 people, about 40 percent of
the office are attorneys.
The remaining 60 percent aresupport staff.
Our support staff consists oflegal secretaries,
administrative assistants, andinvestigators.
Generally speaking, the supportstaff in varying ways helps the
attorneys prepare for trialbecause the courtroom is where
the rubber meets the road in ourworld.
(08:10):
Everything we do is designed tomake sure attorneys are fully
prepared to litigate cases incourt.
Our support staff personnel arespread out over five units.
We have District Court andCircuit Court and Juvenile Court
units, an Administrative Unit,and a Victim Witness Assistance
Unit.
Let me talk a little bit abouteach of them.
First, we'll talk about theunits that you are probably most
familiar with (08:30):
the District, Circuit, and Juvenile Court
units.
The legal secretaries in thesethree units have similar but not
identical duties.
Overall, our legal secretariesgather all the evidence and
information an attorney willneed to prosecute a case.
That's a huge undertaking.
There are police reports, labreports, photos, videos, medical
records, criminal records, MVArecords, and I could go on and
(08:53):
on.
There are literally dozens ofplaces we may need to get
records and evidence from.
And we don't just gather theserecords.
We also have the ethical andlegal obligation to provide them
to a defendant.
That providing of records iscalled discovery in Maryland's
court system.
The criminal justice system doesnot believe in what we call
trial by ambush.
(09:14):
The system makes sure that adefendant is aware of all the
evidence and witnesses that theState will use to prosecute him
or her.
This discovery process is verytime consuming, but critically
important.
If the State fails to fullydisclose information to a
defendant, cases can bedismissed or critical evidence
may be excluded from a trialresulting in a guilty person not
(09:35):
being convicted.
So the legal secretaries in ourdistrict, circuit, and juvenile
sections are critical to ourmission.
What type of cases do thesethree units handle?
District Court Unit, for themost part, handle misdemeanor
cases.
For instance, shoplifting,simple assaults, destruction of
property.
Now, some felony cases can beand are prosecuted in District
(09:56):
Court.
For instance, if the value ofthe property stolen in a theft
case is over a certain amount,the crime is considered a
felony, but can still be handledin the District Court.
The case load coming through theDistrict Court is about seven
times higher than the CircuitCourt.
Defendants do not get jurytrials in District Court, only a
trial before judge.
(10:16):
Because there are no jurytrials, the dockets go by very
quickly.
One District Court courtroom mayhandle up to 60 or 70 cases in a
single day.
If you're thinking of theDistrict Court as the People's
Court or Judge Judy, you havethe right idea, except we're
only dealing with criminalcases.
Now the case volume in CircuitCourt is much less than that of
District Court, but that'sbecause the Circuit Court
(10:39):
handles all of the seriousfelonies committed in the
county- murder, rape, robbery,carjacking, kidnapping, drug
dealing- those serious felonies.
Now it takes much longer forcases to make their way through
the Circuit Court because thecases are more complicated and
defendants, as I said, areentitled to trial by jury.
They're more witnesses, moreevidence, and the stakes are
(11:01):
much higher.
So, while our Circuit Courtfolks may have fewer cases, the
workload is just as heavy as itis in the District Court.
We also have a Juvenile CourtUnit.
Anybody that is under 18 yearsof age and is charged with a
crime is for the most parthandled in juvenile court.
I say for the most part becausecertain crimes committed by a
(11:21):
juvenile must be, as a matter oflaw, charged in adult court.
For instance, if a 15 or 16 yearold is charged with murder, he
would be charged as an adult andthe case will be handled in
Circuit Court, not JuvenileCourt.
Now our juvenile support staffhave really, really short
turnaround times becauselitigation scheduled in Juvenile
Court is much shorter than adultcourt.
(11:42):
Juvenile Court in general isvery different from adult court,
but that's a whole other podcastthat I promise you I will do
another day.
Let's move on to our fourth offive units.
The Administrative Unit.
This unit is critical to makingthe office run.
The handle scheduling of cases,which may sound easy, but is
anything but, also the unitmakes sure all of our systems
(12:03):
stay up and run properly.
And just so you know, from anadministrative viewpoint, our
office is fairly technologicallyadvanced compared to most
prosecutors' offices, so ourAdmin.
Unit is very important tokeeping the office workload
flowing.
The Administration Unit alsocoordinates our grand jury
effort.
Now the grand jury, which I'msure you've heard of, is not a
part of the State's Attorney'sOffice.
(12:23):
It's a judicial body thatdecides whether someone is
indicted for a crime.
Our Administrative Unit makessure we are prepared to present
evidence and provide proposedindictments to the grand jury.
Within our Admin.
Unit, we also have twoinvestigators.
They assist our attorneys.
Our investigators do not takethe place of the police
investigating cases.
(12:45):
If for some reason the policecannot or will not investigate a
case, then I may task myinvestigators with looking into
it, but that's a rare occasion.
Our investigators are here toassist the attorneys as they
prepare for and try cases.
Their experience as retiredpolice officers is quite
beneficial in that regard.
Now, our last unit, the VictimWitness Assistance Unit deals
(13:06):
directly with the public morethan any other unit we have.
As you probably know, criminaljustice system is not, I repeat,
not set up to make things easyon victims.
Courts don't really care aboutvictims' work schedules or time.
Victims don't really have adefinitive say with the court.
In short, it's just no fun beinga victim of a crime and then
(13:26):
having to endure the processthat is set up to seek justice
for you.
But anyone out there who is avictim of crime, please, I'm
begging you, have patience.
Defendants do everything theycan to drag out the process.
It's a ploy.
They do so hoping that you,other witnesses, and even the
system will just get tired andquit.
Please, please don't quit.
(13:49):
My office won't, and our VictimWitness Assistance Unit is there
to make things a little biteasier for you.
They're going to do so byguiding you through the process.
The Victim Witness AssistanceUnit makes sure victims
understand their rights to beinformed about every stage of
the case and make sure they arein fact informed.
They also help victims getrestitution if they're entitled
(14:11):
to it.
And our victim/witnesscounselors will physically sit
through proceedings with victimsto make sure they fully
understand what's going on andto lend emotional support to our
victims and their families.
They also refer families toprofessionals that can help them
and their families through thevery tough times they are
enduring.
Our Victim Witness AssistanceUnit has really been a godsend
(14:31):
to victims and witnesses here inCharles County.
So those are our five supportunits and they support our
attorneys.
Let's talk about our attorneysand their job.
I'm sure everyone is familiarwith what prosecutors do during
trial.
What you may not fullyappreciate, though, is what a
huge production a single trialis.
Even your simplest misdemeanorrequires a lot of coordination
(14:52):
with victims, witnesses, police,etc.
And all that discovery materialI talked about earlier, who do
you think has to review all ofthat and ensure everything that
is supposed to be given to thedefense is in fact provided?
Yeah, you're right, theattorneys.
Attorneys also assist the policein making some investigative
decisions.
For instance, anytime an officerneeds to apply for or obtain a
(15:14):
search warrant from a judge, theofficers first submit that
search warrant to one of us forreview and that can happen
anytime day or night because ofcourse, crime occurs anytime day
or night.
I've been awakened countlesstimes at o dark 30 in the
morning- that's what we used tosay when I was in the Air Force-
to review warrants or providethe police advice on an ongoing
investigation.
(15:34):
Attorneys have to put togethertheir trials.
We don't just walk into courtand start calling witnesses.
No, it's much more like puttingtogether a play except with real
people.
We're talking about real eventsand the purpose of this play is
to layout all the evidence to ajudge or jury to demonstrate a
defendant's guilt.
(16:56):
Prior to trial, attorneys haveto interview witnesses, victims,
figuring out what they know andwhat they can contribute to the
trial.
Attorneys prepare uniquePowerPoint presentations to help
explain the evidence to thejury.
We prepare questions to ask ofwitnesses and prepare cross
examination questions to askdefense witnesses.
So in the final analysis, ladiesand gentlemen, trying a case is
a huge undertaking and guesswhat?
Our attorneys have to do muchmore than just try cases.
There are other proceedings Wedeal with besides trial.
These are time consuming andcomplicated as well.
We have to prepare for andconduct bond or bail reviews,
sentencings, post convictions,violations of probation, etc.
And on top of that, we have tomake sure everything we do in
court is somehow documented.
We document things in our files,you know, depending on the case,
the case notes can look like abook.
It's just a whole lot of work.
Believe me, though a governmentjob, being a prosecutor is no
laid back, nine to five.
It takes a special person withspecial talents and incredible
dedication to the cause ofjustice.
Fortunately, here in CharlesCounty, we have a great team of
attorneys as well as supportstaff that are dedicated to that
mission.
In a nutshell, that is yourstate's attorney's office.
Now as promised, I want toanswer a couple of questions for
you.
First, let me take a quickbreak.
Kristen Schulz (17:13):
Be on the lookout for future Tony Talks
Charles County Crime episodes.
Coming up on future episodes,Tony talks with Jill Short, a
domestic violence advocate whowill talk about how people end
up in abusive relationships, whythey stay in those
relationships, and how they canfree themselves from their
abuser.
In another episode, Tony talksabout the plague of drunk
(17:34):
driving deaths and what we needto do to stop this epidemic that
nationwide kills more than10,000 people every year.
Please tune in.
You'll be surprised what youhear.
Tony Covington (17:53):
Okay, we're back.
I hope you do listen to otherepisodes.
There's going to be a lot inthere that you're going to like.
Now to those two questions andanswers that I promised you.
First, how does one go aboutfiling criminal charges against
someone?
And the second question, whichis the flip side of the same
coin, how does one go aboutdropping charges against
(18:13):
somebody?
First, filing charges against aperson is very simple in
Maryland.
The most common way is to callthe police when someone has
committed a crime.
The police will come out,investigate and eventually
charge someone.
Now, some of you may have hadthe very frustrating experience
of the police coming out,investigating, and then telling
you they won't be filing anycharges against anybody.
(18:34):
In that situation, everybody hasthe right to go down to the
District Court Commissioners.
Now, not the Board of CountyCommissioners, but the District
Court Commissioners Office inthe courthouse.
And you have the right to godown there and make an
application for criminal chargesagainst the person that
committed the crime.
While at the District CourtCommissioners, you'll fill out
paperwork, under oath I shouldpoint out, which includes the
(18:56):
facts of what happened.
The District Court Commissionerwould review the facts and
decide if evidence exists of acrime.
If so, the commissioner willfile charges.
I should also point out that aperson need not call the police
first before going to thecommissioner's office.
You can go to the commissioner'soffice whether the police were
called out or not.
If you do apply for charges andcharges are filed, the
(19:18):
commissioners will direct you tomy office.
You'll meet with one of myattorneys to review the matter.
You see, since my office has toprosecute every case, we have
the last and final word as towhether charges should be filed,
what the charges should be, andwhether we will go forward with
those cases.
Lastly, if you've gone to thepolice and the commissioners and
(19:39):
you got no satisfactionregarding the charges, you can
always come to my office.
Again, one of our attorneys willmeet with you and determine
whether your case should beprosecuted.
Okay, so you have three ways tofile charges: go to the police,
go to the District CourtCommissioners, or come to my
office, the State's Attorney'sOffice.
Just remember, the State'sAttorney's Office has to decide
(20:02):
to go forward on the case, nomatter how the case begins.
Now to the second question,charges have been filed and you
want to know how to drop thecharges.
How do I make them go away?
This is very simple too.
You'd come to my office, meetwith somebody in my Victim
Witness Assistance Unit, andfill out a request to dismiss
(20:22):
form, which includes why youwant to drop the charges.
Make sure you bring some form ofID so we know that you are in
fact the victim in the case.
Only the victim can make thisrequest.
Our Victim Witness AssistanceUnit person will take your
request to dismiss form, takeall that information, and one of
our attorneys will then reviewthe entire case and decide
(20:44):
whether the case will goforward.
Please understand, that justbecause you have made the
request, there is absolutely noguarantee that my office will
decide to drop the charges.
It is our decision, not yours.
Why?
Let me take the time to explainit to you.
In our society, we believecriminal charges are not merely
(21:05):
between the two people involved.
The thought process is that ifsomeone commits these criminal
acts against one person, theymay be a danger to any person in
the community, so the thinkinggoes, the community, not the
individual, must guard againstthis wrongdoer.
The way I kind of look at thatthinking is that sometimes
people cannot or will notprotect themselves, so the State
(21:27):
has to protect them whether theylike it or not.
It sounds a little bitcondescending, but that's just
how we look at it in oursociety.
Child abuse charges are aperfect example of this
situation.
Also, domestic violence casesbetween adults are another
example.
All too often an abused partnercalls the police and the abuser
is charged, but for all sorts ofreasons that we won't go into
(21:51):
today, the victim later wants todrop charges.
We obviously will listen to whatthat victim has to say about why
the charges shouldn't goforward, but my motto is that
people should be heldaccountable for their crimes,
nothing more and nothing less.
So, depending on the facts ofthe case, we may or may not
decide to drop the case.
I don't want to discourageanyone from asking us to drop
(22:13):
charges, but please remember,we're going to be guided by the
facts of the case.
If the evidence exists, we mostlikely are going to go forward,
but whatever we decide, pleaseknow that our eyes are always
focused on justice and everydecision we make is designed to
achieve justice in each andevery case.
And with that, we're at the endof this first episode.
(22:35):
I really thank you for listeningand I hope I provided some
useful information to you.
As I sign off, I'll copy what myairborne infantry army officer
father would say, Carry on.
Covington out.
Hello, welcome to the official podcast of the
Charles County State'sAttorney's Office.
I'm your State's Attorney, TonyCovington.
I'm also your host for thesepodcasts.
I really appreciate you tuningin.
Now before I get into today'stopic, let me give you an idea
of what to expect from the TonyTalks Charles County Crime
podcast episodes.
We will be dealing with the manyissues surrounding crime in our
(00:38):
community and how we as acommunity can overcome those
challenges to make a safertomorrow for all of us.
Some of the topics we will coverduring our season are domestic
violence, drunk driving, sexualassaults and child sexual abuse,
the CSI effect and the list goeson and on.
But whatever the topic is,please understand that we will
(00:59):
be focusing on solutions tothese problems.
Whenever possible, I'll bejoined by guest who can add
insight to the topic underdiscussion, and more importantly
can help provide solutions tothe problem itself.
Trust me, each podcast will beproductive.
We won't be flapping our lipsjust because we like to hear
ourselves talk.
Now lastly, I plan to end eachepisode by answering questions
(01:21):
that the public has sent intous.
After all, I am a public servantand a big part of my job is to
keep the public informed on theissues the public wants to know
about.
So that's a general overview ofwhat you can expect from our
podcast series.
I'll be right back after thismessage.
Kandes Carter (01:40):
The State's Attorney's Office is back again
with another tour of our ThinkAbout It presentation.
Tony Covington, your State'sAttorney, goes out to Charles
County schools and presentsThink About It, an interactive
presentation packed with reallife scenarios, life quizzes and
more.
With Think About It, studentsare taught how to make the best
decisions for living asuccessful life.
(02:01):
Last year, over 3000 studentscountywide witnessed the
presentation and appreciatedThink About It's tagline,"Your
choice.
Your consequence.
Your future." For moreinformation, please contact us
through our website,www.ccsao.us/ThinkAboutIt.
Thank you for listening.
(02:22):
Now back to the Tony TalksCharles County Crime podcast.
Tony Covington (02:31):
And now I'm back.
In today's podcast, I'm going tointroduce you to the State's
Attorney's Office, our job, ourorganization, manpower, and our
mission.
I'm also going to spend sometime on why prosecutors are the
most important individuals inthe criminal justice system and
at the end of today's session,as promised, I'll answer a
couple of questions from thepublic.
(02:52):
So here we go.
Our mission (02:53):
as a State's Attorney for Charles County, I'm
responsible for prosecutingevery crime in the county.
For you Law and Order fans outthere, I'm the DA.
I'm an elected official and mustrun for election every four
years.
Since I had no opponent in thisyear's election, I will be sworn
in as your State's Attorney onJanuary 7, 2019 to begin my
(03:13):
third term in office.
It's important for you to knowthat the State's Attorney's
Office is an independent agency.
Being elected State's Attorneymeans I have no boss, not the
county commissioners, all theway up to the president of the
United States.
None of them can order me to doanything regarding the operation
of my office.
The only people I answer to arethe voters of Charles County.
(03:34):
Collectively, you are my boss.
Now having said that, I am quickto point out that all of our
funding comes from the county.
Every year, like otherindependent agencies in the
county, I make a request forfunding to the county
commissioners.
Because, as you know, the countycommissioners decide how our tax
dollars are spent.
In a televised public hearingbefore the commissioners, I
(03:55):
justify and argue for theresources I've determined the
State's Attorney's Office needsto get the job done.
The county commissioners thendecide how big a slice of the
county's pie we get and just soyou know, our piece of the pie
is pretty small.
It's less than one percent ofthe entire county budget.
And you know, it dawned on mevery quickly when I first took
office in 2011, that the mostimportant thing I can do for my
(04:18):
office is not to try cases.
Securing adequate resources isfar more important than my
participation in any one case.
Enough funding so we can makeour prosecutorial decisions
based on the facts and notwhether we have enough money to
fully litigate a case.
I have to secure enough fundingto complete our mission.
(04:38):
With the funding we are given,it is the State's Attorney's
Office's responsibility to holdwrongdoers, from murderers to
jaywalkers, accountable for thecrimes they commit.
Holding people accountable meansthat the wrongdoer, they either
plead guilty to the crime or ifhe's unwilling to do so, we
convince a judge or a jury tofind him guilty after fair
trial.
(04:59):
That is our day to day job.
Our mission, however, is moreexpansive than that.
We have a saying that theState's Attorney's Office's
mission has the twofold aim ofprotecting the innocent and
punishing the guilty.
It is our mission to promotepeace in our community.
We do so by seeking justice ineach and every criminal case.
Without justice, there can be nopeace and justice can only be
(05:21):
sought through the ethical andevenhanded enforcement of the
laws.
If the public perceives unfairpractices in law enforcement,
that justice is not being done,that people were being
railroaded or, conversely, thatso called privileged people are
not being brought to justice,then confidence in the system
erodes and eventually peoplewill take matters into their own
(05:41):
hands.
That of course is the absoluteopposite of the peace we're
trying to promote.
You know, many say thatprosecutors are the most
powerful actors in the criminaljustice system, more powerful
than the police and judges.
I tend to agree with thatassessment and I feel the weight
of that responsibility everysingle day.
Prosecutors are so powerful fora simple reason: We have the
(06:01):
final word on who is or is notgoing to have their freedom
placed in jeopardy because goingto jail is a consequence for
most crimes.
In my mind, I picture theprosecutor as a guy standing by
this huge machine.
The machine is the criminaljustice system.
Prosecutor is standing therewith his hand over the on/off
switch.
As each case comes by, he has todecide whether to turn the
(06:21):
machine on or turn it off.
On when a person needs to beheld accountable or off when
someone has been accused orarrested, but the prosecutor
determines that the criminaljustice system just does not
need to be involved.
That simple yet complicateddecision to flip that switch one
way or the other is made inevery single case and that
single decision has hugelife-altering consequences for
(06:44):
the people involved, bothdefendants and victims.
Let's look at a prosecutor'simportance in practical terms.
The police can arrest people allday long, but if that prosecutor
turns the switch off, meaning hedecides to dismiss the case,
that arrest doesn't mean much.
That person will never be heldaccountable for whatever the
police thought he did.
(07:04):
Likewise, judges don't get tosentence anybody, meaning hold
someone accountable, unless thatprosecutor decided to turn the
switch on and the case is fullyprosecuted.
That decision making, that poweris what we call prosecutorial
discretion, and it's an awesomeresponsibility.
The life altering decisions weas prosecutors make must be made
(07:26):
ethically and by prosecutorsthat value justice more than
they do convicting people justbecause the police arrested
them.
Rest assured that my office isgoing to always try to do the
right thing.
We will always do our best toprotect this county and promote
peace by protecting the innocentand punishing the guilty.
That is our mission.
So who are we and how are we setup to fulfill that mission?
(07:48):
My office employs approximately50 people, about 40 percent of
the office are attorneys.
The remaining 60 percent aresupport staff.
Our support staff consists oflegal secretaries,
administrative assistants, andinvestigators.
Generally speaking, the supportstaff in varying ways helps the
attorneys prepare for trialbecause the courtroom is where
the rubber meets the road in ourworld.
(08:10):
Everything we do is designed tomake sure attorneys are fully
prepared to litigate cases incourt.
Our support staff personnel arespread out over five units.
We have District Court andCircuit Court and Juvenile Court
units, an Administrative Unit,and a Victim Witness Assistance
Unit.
Let me talk a little bit abouteach of them.
First, we'll talk about theunits that you are probably most
familiar with (08:30):
the District, Circuit, and Juvenile Court
units.
The legal secretaries in thesethree units have similar but not
identical duties.
Overall, our legal secretariesgather all the evidence and
information an attorney willneed to prosecute a case.
That's a huge undertaking.
There are police reports, labreports, photos, videos, medical
records, criminal records, MVArecords, and I could go on and
(08:53):
on.
There are literally dozens ofplaces we may need to get
records and evidence from.
And we don't just gather theserecords.
We also have the ethical andlegal obligation to provide them
to a defendant.
That providing of records iscalled discovery in Maryland's
court system.
The criminal justice system doesnot believe in what we call
trial by ambush.
(09:14):
The system makes sure that adefendant is aware of all the
evidence and witnesses that theState will use to prosecute him
or her.
This discovery process is verytime consuming, but critically
important.
If the State fails to fullydisclose information to a
defendant, cases can bedismissed or critical evidence
may be excluded from a trialresulting in a guilty person not
(09:35):
being convicted.
So the legal secretaries in ourdistrict, circuit, and juvenile
sections are critical to ourmission.
What type of cases do thesethree units handle?
District Court Unit, for themost part, handle misdemeanor
cases.
For instance, shoplifting,simple assaults, destruction of
property.
Now, some felony cases can beand are prosecuted in District
(09:56):
Court.
For instance, if the value ofthe property stolen in a theft
case is over a certain amount,the crime is considered a
felony, but can still be handledin the District Court.
The case load coming through theDistrict Court is about seven
times higher than the CircuitCourt.
Defendants do not get jurytrials in District Court, only a
trial before judge.
(10:16):
Because there are no jurytrials, the dockets go by very
quickly.
One District Court courtroom mayhandle up to 60 or 70 cases in a
single day.
If you're thinking of theDistrict Court as the People's
Court or Judge Judy, you havethe right idea, except we're
only dealing with criminalcases.
Now the case volume in CircuitCourt is much less than that of
District Court, but that'sbecause the Circuit Court
(10:39):
handles all of the seriousfelonies committed in the
county- murder, rape, robbery,carjacking, kidnapping, drug
dealing- those serious felonies.
Now it takes much longer forcases to make their way through
the Circuit Court because thecases are more complicated and
defendants, as I said, areentitled to trial by jury.
They're more witnesses, moreevidence, and the stakes are
(11:01):
much higher.
So, while our Circuit Courtfolks may have fewer cases, the
workload is just as heavy as itis in the District Court.
We also have a Juvenile CourtUnit.
Anybody that is under 18 yearsof age and is charged with a
crime is for the most parthandled in juvenile court.
I say for the most part becausecertain crimes committed by a
(11:21):
juvenile must be, as a matter oflaw, charged in adult court.
For instance, if a 15 or 16 yearold is charged with murder, he
would be charged as an adult andthe case will be handled in
Circuit Court, not JuvenileCourt.
Now our juvenile support staffhave really, really short
turnaround times becauselitigation scheduled in Juvenile
Court is much shorter than adultcourt.
(11:42):
Juvenile Court in general isvery different from adult court,
but that's a whole other podcastthat I promise you I will do
another day.
Let's move on to our fourth offive units.
The Administrative Unit.
This unit is critical to makingthe office run.
The handle scheduling of cases,which may sound easy, but is
anything but, also the unitmakes sure all of our systems
(12:03):
stay up and run properly.
And just so you know, from anadministrative viewpoint, our
office is fairly technologicallyadvanced compared to most
prosecutors' offices, so ourAdmin.
Unit is very important tokeeping the office workload
flowing.
The Administration Unit alsocoordinates our grand jury
effort.
Now the grand jury, which I'msure you've heard of, is not a
part of the State's Attorney'sOffice.
(12:23):
It's a judicial body thatdecides whether someone is
indicted for a crime.
Our Administrative Unit makessure we are prepared to present
evidence and provide proposedindictments to the grand jury.
Within our Admin.
Unit, we also have twoinvestigators.
They assist our attorneys.
Our investigators do not takethe place of the police
investigating cases.
(12:45):
If for some reason the policecannot or will not investigate a
case, then I may task myinvestigators with looking into
it, but that's a rare occasion.
Our investigators are here toassist the attorneys as they
prepare for and try cases.
Their experience as retiredpolice officers is quite
beneficial in that regard.
Now, our last unit, the VictimWitness Assistance Unit deals
(13:06):
directly with the public morethan any other unit we have.
As you probably know, criminaljustice system is not, I repeat,
not set up to make things easyon victims.
Courts don't really care aboutvictims' work schedules or time.
Victims don't really have adefinitive say with the court.
In short, it's just no fun beinga victim of a crime and then
(13:26):
having to endure the processthat is set up to seek justice
for you.
But anyone out there who is avictim of crime, please, I'm
begging you, have patience.
Defendants do everything theycan to drag out the process.
It's a ploy.
They do so hoping that you,other witnesses, and even the
system will just get tired andquit.
Please, please don't quit.
(13:49):
My office won't, and our VictimWitness Assistance Unit is there
to make things a little biteasier for you.
They're going to do so byguiding you through the process.
The Victim Witness AssistanceUnit makes sure victims
understand their rights to beinformed about every stage of
the case and make sure they arein fact informed.
They also help victims getrestitution if they're entitled
(14:11):
to it.
And our victim/witnesscounselors will physically sit
through proceedings with victimsto make sure they fully
understand what's going on andto lend emotional support to our
victims and their families.
They also refer families toprofessionals that can help them
and their families through thevery tough times they are
enduring.
Our Victim Witness AssistanceUnit has really been a godsend
(14:31):
to victims and witnesses here inCharles County.
So those are our five supportunits and they support our
attorneys.
Let's talk about our attorneysand their job.
I'm sure everyone is familiarwith what prosecutors do during
trial.
What you may not fullyappreciate, though, is what a
huge production a single trialis.
Even your simplest misdemeanorrequires a lot of coordination
(14:52):
with victims, witnesses, police,etc.
And all that discovery materialI talked about earlier, who do
you think has to review all ofthat and ensure everything that
is supposed to be given to thedefense is in fact provided?
Yeah, you're right, theattorneys.
Attorneys also assist the policein making some investigative
decisions.
For instance, anytime an officerneeds to apply for or obtain a
(15:14):
search warrant from a judge, theofficers first submit that
search warrant to one of us forreview and that can happen
anytime day or night because ofcourse, crime occurs anytime day
or night.
I've been awakened countlesstimes at o dark 30 in the
morning- that's what we used tosay when I was in the Air Force-
to review warrants or providethe police advice on an ongoing
investigation.
(15:34):
Attorneys have to put togethertheir trials.
We don't just walk into courtand start calling witnesses.
No, it's much more like puttingtogether a play except with real
people.
We're talking about real eventsand the purpose of this play is
to layout all the evidence to ajudge or jury to demonstrate a
defendant's guilt.
(16:56):
Prior to trial, attorneys haveto interview witnesses, victims,
figuring out what they know andwhat they can contribute to the
trial.
Attorneys prepare uniquePowerPoint presentations to help
explain the evidence to thejury.
We prepare questions to ask ofwitnesses and prepare cross
examination questions to askdefense witnesses.
So in the final analysis, ladiesand gentlemen, trying a case is
a huge undertaking and guesswhat?
Our attorneys have to do muchmore than just try cases.
There are other proceedings Wedeal with besides trial.
These are time consuming andcomplicated as well.
We have to prepare for andconduct bond or bail reviews,
sentencings, post convictions,violations of probation, etc.
And on top of that, we have tomake sure everything we do in
court is somehow documented.
We document things in our files,you know, depending on the case,
the case notes can look like abook.
It's just a whole lot of work.
Believe me, though a governmentjob, being a prosecutor is no
laid back, nine to five.
It takes a special person withspecial talents and incredible
dedication to the cause ofjustice.
Fortunately, here in CharlesCounty, we have a great team of
attorneys as well as supportstaff that are dedicated to that
mission.
In a nutshell, that is yourstate's attorney's office.
Now as promised, I want toanswer a couple of questions for
you.
First, let me take a quickbreak.
Kristen Schulz (17:13):
Be on the lookout for future Tony Talks
Charles County Crime episodes.
Coming up on future episodes,Tony talks with Jill Short, a
domestic violence advocate whowill talk about how people end
up in abusive relationships, whythey stay in those
relationships, and how they canfree themselves from their
abuser.
In another episode, Tony talksabout the plague of drunk
(17:34):
driving deaths and what we needto do to stop this epidemic that
nationwide kills more than10,000 people every year.
Please tune in.
You'll be surprised what youhear.
Tony Covington (17:53):
Okay, we're back.
I hope you do listen to otherepisodes.
There's going to be a lot inthere that you're going to like.
Now to those two questions andanswers that I promised you.
First, how does one go aboutfiling criminal charges against
someone?
And the second question, whichis the flip side of the same
coin, how does one go aboutdropping charges against
(18:13):
somebody?
First, filing charges against aperson is very simple in
Maryland.
The most common way is to callthe police when someone has
committed a crime.
The police will come out,investigate and eventually
charge someone.
Now, some of you may have hadthe very frustrating experience
of the police coming out,investigating, and then telling
you they won't be filing anycharges against anybody.
(18:34):
In that situation, everybody hasthe right to go down to the
District Court Commissioners.
Now, not the Board of CountyCommissioners, but the District
Court Commissioners Office inthe courthouse.
And you have the right to godown there and make an
application for criminal chargesagainst the person that
committed the crime.
While at the District CourtCommissioners, you'll fill out
paperwork, under oath I shouldpoint out, which includes the
(18:56):
facts of what happened.
The District Court Commissionerwould review the facts and
decide if evidence exists of acrime.
If so, the commissioner willfile charges.
I should also point out that aperson need not call the police
first before going to thecommissioner's office.
You can go to the commissioner'soffice whether the police were
called out or not.
If you do apply for charges andcharges are filed, the
(19:18):
commissioners will direct you tomy office.
You'll meet with one of myattorneys to review the matter.
You see, since my office has toprosecute every case, we have
the last and final word as towhether charges should be filed,
what the charges should be, andwhether we will go forward with
those cases.
Lastly, if you've gone to thepolice and the commissioners and
(19:39):
you got no satisfactionregarding the charges, you can
always come to my office.
Again, one of our attorneys willmeet with you and determine
whether your case should beprosecuted.
Okay, so you have three ways tofile charges: go to the police,
go to the District CourtCommissioners, or come to my
office, the State's Attorney'sOffice.
Just remember, the State'sAttorney's Office has to decide
(20:02):
to go forward on the case, nomatter how the case begins.
Now to the second question,charges have been filed and you
want to know how to drop thecharges.
How do I make them go away?
This is very simple too.
You'd come to my office, meetwith somebody in my Victim
Witness Assistance Unit, andfill out a request to dismiss
(20:22):
form, which includes why youwant to drop the charges.
Make sure you bring some form ofID so we know that you are in
fact the victim in the case.
Only the victim can make thisrequest.
Our Victim Witness AssistanceUnit person will take your
request to dismiss form, takeall that information, and one of
our attorneys will then reviewthe entire case and decide
(20:44):
whether the case will goforward.
Please understand, that justbecause you have made the
request, there is absolutely noguarantee that my office will
decide to drop the charges.
It is our decision, not yours.
Why?
Let me take the time to explainit to you.
In our society, we believecriminal charges are not merely
(21:05):
between the two people involved.
The thought process is that ifsomeone commits these criminal
acts against one person, theymay be a danger to any person in
the community, so the thinkinggoes, the community, not the
individual, must guard againstthis wrongdoer.
The way I kind of look at thatthinking is that sometimes
people cannot or will notprotect themselves, so the State
(21:27):
has to protect them whether theylike it or not.
It sounds a little bitcondescending, but that's just
how we look at it in oursociety.
Child abuse charges are aperfect example of this
situation.
Also, domestic violence casesbetween adults are another
example.
All too often an abused partnercalls the police and the abuser
is charged, but for all sorts ofreasons that we won't go into
(21:51):
today, the victim later wants todrop charges.
We obviously will listen to whatthat victim has to say about why
the charges shouldn't goforward, but my motto is that
people should be heldaccountable for their crimes,
nothing more and nothing less.
So, depending on the facts ofthe case, we may or may not
decide to drop the case.
I don't want to discourageanyone from asking us to drop
(22:13):
charges, but please remember,we're going to be guided by the
facts of the case.
If the evidence exists, we mostlikely are going to go forward,
but whatever we decide, pleaseknow that our eyes are always
focused on justice and everydecision we make is designed to
achieve justice in each andevery case.
And with that, we're at the endof this first episode.
(22:35):
I really thank you for listeningand I hope I provided some
useful information to you.
As I sign off, I'll copy what myairborne infantry army officer
father would say, Carry on.
Covington out.
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