New Britain herald., 1927-07-09
CITY PROSECUTOR
 MUST NEVER REST
Multiplicity of Tasks Allows
 Him Few Spare Moments

close to the top, and fill it with
 the prosecuting attorneyship of the
 police court. Any listing that did
 not include 1t would be indeed fal
 from complete, and those leaving 1,
 far down towards the end would be
 nothing short of inaccurate, for the
 man whose duty it is to represent i the state at the bar of justice car
 ries untold responsibilities and must
 hold himself in readiness at all
 times to do work of a most unpleas-
 ant nature.
 Every case going before the judge of police court must be familiar to
 the prosecuting attorney in all its
 details. with the exception of those
 in which the offenses are minor,
 such as intoxication, petty assaults
 and breach of peace cases and the
 like. Before the opening of court, | the prosecuting attorney confers
 with the policemen concerned in ! the cases and learns all the details l of the arrests so that when the trial 1 is in progress the state may not be | l persons to escape punishment, nor cause the conviction of innocent de- | fendants.
 | When it Is considered that very l frequently. 20 or more cases are on 1 the docket. it can easily be realized 1 that the prosecuting attorney must 1 do more than prepare the necessary
 warrants and ask a few questions of i the witnesses and the defendants.
 Many defendants are represented by
 counsel, who fight every inch of the
 way, and it Is the duty of the pros- ecuting attorney to bring out the 1 facts and at the same time uphold
 the states contentious as to the law. This means that while the in- I dividual lawyers may have one or | two cases to attend to in a single
 morning, the prosecuting attorney ! has as many as the docket includes and must bear in mind the circum- their proper order.
 In addition to the actual work of trying cases i'll court, the prosecut- ing attorneys time is taxed ronsi- derably by the investigation of com- plaints coming to his office. Not in- frequently, consideration and inves- tigation of these matters require far more time than does the trial of an entire court docket, because prac- tically every case has several angles from which 1t must be viewed and the states representatives must con- slider 1t from all points before mak- ing a decision. Some eases oblige the prosecuting attorney to devote solid days to them before they are begun, not including the time con- sumed in the actual trial and inc maneuvering necessitated by the legal points raised by opposing counsel.
 If the walls Of the prosecuting attorneys office could talk, strange tales would pour forth in greater quantity than the average person thinks. Women whose husbands do not support them and men whose wives cause them anxiety and worry find their way to the office. there to lay bare the innernnost details of their marital existence, always ex- pecting that Something" can be done. Very often, something" is nothing but court action, although 1t is sometimes possible to straighten out the tangles privately.
 Violations of trust are recounted by employers of men and women who prove unworthy and there is nobody but the prosecuting attorney to say whether the steps towards the court room shall be taken or ether disposition of the cases made. The facts are placed before him and the compliments expect him to attend to the rest. It is not al ways easy to point out wherein cer- tain incidents fail to come within the scope of lawfulness, and it is also difficult at times 10 designate with any degree of finality the point at which they make the turn that leads them directly outside the law, yet the prosecuting attorney is expected to be able to place his finger on all the necessary ramifi- cations and trace them out that all who view them may know their sig nificance.
 In legal circles. 1t is said the time is not far distant when system whereby there is one prosecuting at torney and an assistant will be changed to conform to that of many other cities where there are two po- sitions on equal basis. It is said the work is increa sing to such an ex- tent that the best interests Of the office require change. In fact, U was intended to include the change in the last charter amendments but decision was made to wait two years, principally because there was a provision included in the proposed amendments for creating two judge ships of the local courts.
 Since the establishment of the. To- cal police court there have been SIX prosecuting attorneys. The late Ly- man S. Burr held the office in 1S96- -S and was succeeded by the late Phillip J. Marlsley. who, in turn was succeeded by the late Henry C. Gussman, whose term ran from 1900 1 to 1906. Charles H. Mitchell sue ceeded Mir. Gussman and remained until 1908. Tho late George w. klett i succeeded MT. Mitchell and renain- | ed in office until January, 1921, | when he was elevated 10 the bench. i Albert A. Greenherg. who succeeded i Judge Klett. was in turn succeeded 1, by the incumbent, Joseph G. Woods. i who was assistant from 1915 to 1922 and has been prosecuting attorney since the latter year.
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