Evening star., 1950-02-12
Crime Probers .
Win Backing
OF Prosecutors
U. S. Attorneys Fovo
Having Judge Hold
Complaint Hearings
By Miriam Ottenbero

eating crime wants to give the
job Of hearing complaints to q
judge, it was learned yesterday.
In fact, the United States At
torney's Office will look with favor
on any proposals to relieve them
of what a congressional investi-
gator has described as judicial
function"
So far, two assistant United
States Attorneys have been called
before the House District SUBJ
committee investigating crime to
explain why they dropped or re-
duced the gravity of charges be-
fore arresting officers could tell
their story to a judge.
May Take Up More Gases.
The subcommittee, which re-
sumes its public hearings tomor-
row afternoon, is expected to go
into more cases which never
reached court.
To the two prosecutors sum-
moned before the subcommittee
last week, Special Counsel Hyman
I. Fischbach said:
"You are assuming a RESPONSE
bility that should be assumed by
a judge and not by an assistant
United States Attorney in a COM
plant room"
The prosecutors. it was learned
agree thoroughly with that idea
They would prefer to have a judge
decide in open court what vio-
lation should be charged on the
basis Of the facts produced in
each case.
Because of the human element
no two cases are exactly alike
so no hard-and-fast - can be
applied to cover all of them,
it was explained. That's why the
prosecutors believe a magistrate
should decide whether the COM
planning witness has got a case
and, If SO. whether it is a serious
OF minor VIOLATION.
To Cite Small Staff.
Court authorities said the
prosecutors have been hearing
complaints brought in by citizens
and arresting officers for so years
Only last year, the right of the
United States Attorney to issue
sumn1onses for hearings in his
Office was questioned. The con-
tention has also been made that
persons who later become de-
fendants may say something at
these hearings that the prose-
cutor may later use at their trial.
There is another reason, how
ever, why the prosecutors dislike
the dual role of judge and prose-
cutor. The subcommittee is ex-
lpected to be told by United States
Attorney George Morris Fay that
he has too few assistants for the
variety of jobs a prosecutor has
to do in Washington.
He will present a collection OF
statistics to show that the United
States Attorneys Office here. like
the Washington police force. j,
undermanned.
Unique Role Here.
He will dwell on the unique
role of United States Attorney
in the Nations Capital where the
Federal prosecutor and his as
sistants must handle cases like
the Government case against
John L. Lewis and local cases
like q husband threatening his
wife.
A comparison also will be made
with other Federal districts, show
ing the number of civil and
criminal cases filed in the other
District Courts and the United
States Courts of Appeal.
The subcommittee will be told
that the 33 assistants here are
subject to call before 80 different
judicial bodies and that this fig
ure will be increased to AZ as
soon as the three additional
Municipal Court judges author
lied by Congress are appointed.
The assistants now must appear
before nine judges ON the Court
of Appeals. Is judges in District
Court, 10 in Municipal Court
three in the Municipal Court oil
Appeals, before the coroner at In
quests and before the United
States Commissioner at hearings
1t will be estimated that they
must appear in at least 100 case.
a year before the coroner and ir
at least 1000 cases a year before
the United States Commissioner.
$4,000 Cases in Year.
Statistics will be presented from
Municipal Court alone showing
that last year $4,000 cases were
brought into the United. States
Attorneys Office there. OF these
$500 we're disposed of in the of.
flee without taking the cases tt
court. The remaining $500, i
will be reported. had to be handled
in court by the assistant United
States Attorneys. Among thest
were jury trials of varying lengths
To demonstrate the increasing
load of civil cases handled by the
United States Attorneys office
and the increasing backlog. tht
COMMITTEES will be told:
That between June and De.
cember, 1949, the number o1
pending civil cases in the United
States Attorneys Office increased
by approximately 90 per cent.
That on June 80, 1948. there
were 254 such cases pending; or
June 80, 1949, there were 397 o.
them and on December 81, 1949
the pending cases had increased
to 469.
Ito Appeals Filed in 1949.
In the Court OF Appeals here
tho cI,hnoy,ayyaiffac will ha ",