Court Opinion

ID: 9788739
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:17:01.597788+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:01.851543
License: Public Domain

Justice KIDWELL,
specially concurring.
I believe the majority opinion reaches the correct result regarding the authority of the Attorney General to initiate prosecution in this matter; that on the facts of this case, any defect in the indictment or the authority of the Attorney General was cured by the district court’s order of November 12, 1999, appointing special counsel. I write specially, however, to emphasize that public policy calls for the Attorney General to resist the temptation to become overly involved with the role played by county prosecutors.
The Attorney General and county prosecutors are constitutional officers in Idaho. Idaho Constitution Art. IV, § 1 and Art. V, § 18. The fact that each holds a separate constitutional office establishes a public policy in favor of distinguishing between roles for prosecuting attorneys and the Attorney General and his (or -her) deputies. In addition to the constitutionally established public policy calling for a distinction between the roles, the Legislature has set forth specific duties for prosecuting attorneys. One such duty is “[t]o prosecute all felony criminal actions, irrespective of whom the arresting officer is_” I.C. § 31-2604(2).' The county prosecutors’ duty are also described by I.C. § 31-2227, which states in part:
*225Irrespective of police powers vested by statute in state ... it is hereby declared to be the policy of the state of Idaho that the primary duty of enforcing all the penal provisions of any and all statutes of this state, in any court, is vested in the sheriff and prosecuting attorney of each of the several counties.
Additionally, this Court has held that “it is the duty of the prosecuting attorney of the county to prosecute all criminal cases in which he is not disqualified.” Adamson v. Bd. of County Comm’rs of Custer County, 27 Idaho 190, 191, 147 P. 785, 785 (1915). While the Idaho Code has been amended since this Court decided Adamson, the amendments have done nothing to supercede its holding.
The Attorney General argues that I.C. § 41-213(3), setting forth guidelines for the Department of Insurance, grants authority for the Attorney General to bring criminal charges arising from insurance code violations such as those in this case. This section states:
If the director has reason to believe that any person has violated any provision of this code, or any provision of other law as applicable to insurance operations, for which criminal prosecution is provided and would be in order, he shall give the information relative thereto to the attorney general or county attorney having jurisdiction of any such violation. The attorney general or county attorney shall promptly institute such action or proceedings against such person as the information may require or justify.
I.C. § 41-213(3). In stating that “[t]he attorney general or county attorney shall promptly institute such action or proceedings against such person as the information may require or justify,” section 41-213(3) does grant the attorney general authority to institute certain types of actions arising from insurance code violations. The section does not, however, grant the attorney general power to institute actions for violations of the insurance code that he is otherwise constitutionally or statutorily barred from instituting. Thus, in this case, like any other criminal ease, it is the county prosecutor, not the Attorney general who has the authority to initiate felony criminal proceedings. This conclusion receives further support from I.C. § 31-2603 which allows a county prosecutor to petition the district court for appointment of a “special assistant attorney-general to assist in the prosecution of any criminal case pending in the county.” I.C. § 31-2603(b). Such an appointment is only appropriate, however, where “good cause appears for granting such petition-” I.C. § 31-2603(b).
In light of the constitutional distinctions between the Attorney General and county prosecutors, the Legislature’s descriptions of the duties of each, and section 31-2603 which allows for appointment of special prosecutors, it is clear that the Attorney General’s office does not have the power to initiate criminal proceedings absent a petition and order of the district court. Nothing in the record shows that the Attorney General office had received a court order empowering it to initiate this case at the time the matter was submitted to the grand jury. Thus, the proceedings were improperly instituted. On the facts of this case, the court’s order appointing the Attorney General as a special prosecutor cured this defect. The Attorney General’s office should, however, take this case as fair warning that it is not constitutionally or statutorily authorized to initiate criminal proceedings without an order of a district court.