Opinion ID: 2211690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prosecutor's Duty

Text: The prosecuting attorney is a constitutional officer and an officer of the court. Ind. Const. art. 7, § 16; State ex rel. Latham v. Spencer Circuit Court (1963), 244 Ind. 552, 194 N.E.2d 606. A prosecutor's duties are prescribed in general terms by statute. Id.; Ind. Code Ann. § 33-14-1-4 (West 1982). Although prosecuting attorneys are primarily concerned with prosecuting criminal matters, they also perform duties of a civil nature such as assisting the court by presenting evidence at probation revocation hearings. Cf. Latham, 244 Ind. at 556, 194 N.E.2d at 607. We perceive that refusals to perform this duty are rare. The question posed in this case is what options are available to the court when such a refusal does occur. One possible option open to a judge when the prosecutor refuses to present evidence on a revocation petition is to appoint a special prosecutor. The court has a duty to relieve a prosecutor where he is disqualified by reason of prejudice or hostility to the state's interest. Hendricks v. State (1964), 245 Ind. 43, 196 N.E.2d 66. This does not mean that a prosecutor is subject to an arbitrary order of disqualification at the whim of a trial judge. King v. State (1979), Ind. App., 397 N.E.2d 1260. If the regular prosecutor objects to his disqualification, the trial court must afford the regular prosecutor an opportunity to be heard before making a determination of disqualification. Id. at 1266. Because probation is subject to the court's supervision, a petition to revoke probation may not be dismissed without the court's permission. [2] If a prosecutor refuses to proceed with the evidence after his motion to dismiss is denied, the court may relieve him. The prosecutor would be disqualified by reason of his failure to act. The court may then appoint a special prosecutor to go forward with the evidence of the alleged violation. Cf. Dukes v. State (1858), 11 Ind. 557, 563 (court has inherent power to appoint attorneys to conduct prosecution of criminal when necessary to prevent failure of justice). Because of the costs and delays involved in appointing a special prosecutor, however, this cannot be the only option available to a judge faced with a potential probation violator and no prosecutor to present evidence of the violation. The judge faced with this problem in the case at bar chose to question the probation officer himself. Isaac claims that by calling and questioning the probation officer, the judge abandoned his judicial role and took on the role of prosecutor, thereby violating his due process right to a hearing before a neutral and detached hearing officer. A defendant at a probation revocation hearing is not endowed with all the same rights he possessed prior to his conviction. Henderson, 544 N.E.2d at 512. Formal procedural and evidentiary rules required at criminal trials are not required at probation revocation hearings. Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 789, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 1763, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973). There are certain due process rights, of course, which inure to a probationer at a revocation hearing. These include written notice of the claimed violations, disclosure of the evidence against him, an opportunity to be heard and present evidence, the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses, and a neutral and detached hearing body. Gagnon, 411 U.S. at 782, 93 S.Ct. at 1760; Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 489, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2604, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972). Indiana Code § 35-38-2-3(d) (West 1986) [3] also ensures the probationer the right to confrontation, cross-examination, and representation by counsel. We can think of three rather different settings which illuminate the boundaries of judicial participation and due process in adjudication. First, while a trial judge may not assume an adversarial role in any proceeding, we have held that the judge may intervene in the fact-finding process and question witnesses in order to promote clarity or dispel obscurity. Fox v. State (1986), Ind., 497 N.E.2d 221. The purpose of allowing the judge to question witnesses is to permit the court to develop the truth or present facts which may have been overlooked by the parties. Id. As long as the questioning is conducted in an impartial manner and the defendant is not prejudiced, such questioning is within the discretion of the court. Id. Second, a court may also initiate and adjudicate certain violations of its orders. For example, if a lawyer fails to file a brief by the time designated in an order granting a final extension of time, this Court may order the lawyer to appear and show cause why he should not be found in contempt. At the hearing on this citation, the members of this Court pose questions regarding the violation of the order. There is no prosecutor to present evidence. It is simply a one-issue inquiry into whether there was a willful failure to obey the order. The Court then decides whether to hold the party in contempt. See, e.g., Matter of Toomey, Brown v. State (1989), Ind., 532 N.E.2d 608; Matter of Cowen, Hough v. State (1989), Ind., 539 N.E.2d 24; Eaton v. State, In re Payne (1991), Ind. App., 566 N.E.2d 550. Third, this same principle of due process may be seen in quite a different context: discharge of an employee by a public officer in situations in which the supervisor who brings the charges also participates in the decision disposing of the matter. The Seventh Circuit, and others, have rejected due process claims against such procedures. Panozzo v. Rhoads, 905 F.2d 135 (7th Cir.1990) (plaintiff must overcome the presumption that decision-maker is [a person] of conscience and intellectual discipline, capable of judging a particular controversy fairly on the basis of its own circumstances, quoting Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35, 53-54, 95 S.Ct. 1456, 1467-68, 43 L.Ed.2d 712). Accord Duchesne v. Williams, 849 F.2d 1004, 1008 (6th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1081, 109 S.Ct. 1535, 103 L.Ed.2d 840; Brasslett v. Cota, 761 F.2d 827, 836-37 (1st Cir.1985). The lesson of these examples is that where the matter being decided is immediately within the knowledge or view of the judge or his officers, due process permits the judge to deal more directly with the matter than would be the case if the events under consideration occurred farther away from the judge's purview.