White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-03-19
BEARDsLEY's REPORT

BEARDSLEY'S REPORT
Prosecuting Attorney George o.
Beardsley has just filed with the gov
ernor his annual report covering the
work in his office for the past year.
The office handled during the year
a total of I'll cases on behalf of the
County. Out of this, six were cases
in the Supreme Court, all of which
were won except one which is now
pending; 80 criminal cases were hand
led in the Superior Court and 123
criminal cases in the Justice Courts.
Out of the total 1855 criminal cases,
a were acquitted, 1o2 convicted, 10
dismissed, S pending, bond forfeit
ed, and "a fugitives. Particular at
tention is called to the fact that all
of the liquor cases handled during the
yeiar wee convicted and none lost. "A
total of $27o8.Oo was collected in fines.
The report shows that from COM
parison of the reports OF the Office tor
the past four years, the amount OF
work handled has greatly increased
each year until during the past year
almost twice as many cases were
handled as four years ago. A COM
parison Of the work done by the pros
ecuting attorney of this county as
compared with the reports Of the pros
ecuting attorneys of other counties OF
the same classification in the state,
shows that the prosecuting attorney
of this county does far in excess OF
the work done by the other prosecu-
tors of similar class counties. This
of course, is true of all county offices
in the County.
The report shows that the salary
paid to the prosecuting attorney is
far inadequate for the work required,
particularly considering that the work
calls for professional man, which,
if paid according to the regular fees
cl,lrged by lawyers, would be many
times the salary Of the prosecutor. No
deputy is allowed under the law, al
though MIR. Bushnell as law partner
of the prosecuting attorney, has been
forced to give considerable time to
county matters in order that the work
of the office might be efficiently and
properly handled.
The report this year has not been
printed, in an effort to dave the coun-
ty the Unnecessary expense of printing,
although most Of the counties print
their annual report.
The prosecuting attorney in his
recommendations to the governor has
crimi II procedure of the state, and
has requested legislation which will
put the law abiding public upon the
same footing as the defendant in
crimirl,l cases, removing the great
number of technical advantages given
to one charged with crime, and par
ticularly permitting the trial judges
to express their opinions as to the evil
dence, such as is permitted in the Fed
eral Courts and in the courts of Can
ada. This recommendation is sup
ported by the facts, which show tE,at
a large percentage of persons actually
guilty cf crime are acquitted, by rea-
son Of technicalities, while the number
Of innocent persons convicted is negli-
gibll It is also recommended that
all bail bonds forfeited should go to
the county, rather than to the state,
for the reason that the burden and ex-
pense of criminal prosecution falls
upon the county. 1t is anticipated
that during the immediate years to
come, the prosecuting attorney will
be required to give practically his
full time to the duties of his office
without any deputy provided. How
ever, if any one Of the various pro.
jects of the county are fulfilled, suck
as the construction of the Priest Ra.
p;ds Project, the population of the
county will probably increase, so as
to place this county upon higher
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