📁 Dealing with Prosecutors: Understanding Their Priorities and Perspective

I’ve never worked as a prosecutor.  I have no firsthand knowledge of what goes on within a district attorney’s office and I’ve never seen the courtroom from the side of the Commonwealth.

But I deal with assistant district attorneys on a regular basis in a number of different courts.  And I believe that some generalizations can be made about them and how they operate.

First, the average prosecutor has two main priorities: to do his job and to cover his ass.   Like all professionals, the prosecutor has a job to do and he wants to do it in a satisfactory manner.  Moreover, he works for a highly political government agency.  So, while he has some discretion, he must generally toe the line and do as he’s told. 

As important (or possibly more so) he must cover his ass when necessary.  Here’s what I mean. If a criminal defendant seems like a threat to the community or to a specific victim, the prosecutor must appear tough by demanding a high bail or a lengthy jail sentence or whatever else the circumstances call for.  Failure to do so could easily cost the prosecutor his job.

Next, you should realize that most prosecutors don’t take things personally.  If you’re charged with your 3^rd OUI offense or you’ve been hauled into court repeatedly for drug possession, the prosecutor probably has no personal animosity towards you—regardless of how hard he is on you.

Of course, there are instances when defendants provoke the prosecutor and, in a sense, make things personal.  On rare occasions, criminal defendants will personally insult the prosecutor outside the courtroom or even on record during the hearing.

But in most cases, the defendant ticks off the prosecutor by rejecting the prosecutor’s efforts to resolve the case with fair plea deal.  If the prosecutor makes a lenient plea offer and the defendant rejects it, this often means additional work for the prosecutor—gathering discovery, preparing pretrial motions, etc.  This has the tendency to get under the prosecutor’s skin and, in some cases, make the case a bit personal.  Under such circumstances, the prosecutor will almost certainly take back the fair plea offer and replace it with something far more draconian.

Finally, defendants (and their attorneys) should keep in mind that most prosecutors have a heavy workload.  I think everyone in the courtroom —the clerk, the judge, the probation officer, the public defender—would claim that he or she is extremely busy.  But the prosecutor surely has more to do than anyone on most days.  He has literally hundreds of cases pending at any given time and dozens to handle on a daily basis. 

On top of this, new arrests keep coming in day after day.

Consequently, prosecutors are bound to make honest mistakes.  I have occasionally heard prosecutors misstate important facts during crucial hearings when such errors could tip the scale and send the defendant to jail.

This is way it’s so important to know the facts of your case, inside and out, before you appearing for a hearing.  And when the prosecutor is talking, keep quiet and listen to everything he has to say.  It’s the only way you’ll be able to correct a damaging misstatement if one is made in your case.