Prosecutor says office outgunned

John Knodell asks for funding for eight new positions

EPHRATA — Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell on Tuesday asked the county's board of commissioners to fund eight new positions in his office.

Knodell said recent decisions by the commissioners have impacted his office in ways he did not anticipate during 2006 budget preparations.

"We were directed to 'hold the line' on increased spending," he wrote in a March 7 letter to the commissioners.

He said the immediate needs of his office must be met soon. If the commissioners do not act and provide the additional personnel it will drastically affect what his office will and can do, he said.

Knodell requested one additional deputy prosecuting attorney for juvenile court, two additional attorneys for district court and at least one new civil attorney. He said each new attorney will require one new secretary.

"My office is essentially a people and paper office," he said. "I need the resources to fight crime."

The prosecutor's office currently has two attorneys staffed in district court, Knodell said, working against four public defenders, numerous private attorneys and many defendants representing themselves.

In 1984, he said there were two prosecutors assigned to district court.

"The caseload has increased many times over since that time," he said.

One prosecutor is staffed for juvenile court, he said, down from two in 2001.

"I understand that there are essentially three public defenders, with some retained counsel (in juvenile court)," he said. "With the numbers of public defenders… we are simply outgunned,"

Knodell did not ask for additional attorneys or secretaries in Grant County Superior Court.

"My office is holding the line against the increased strengthening of the public defender system," he said.

A decision last month by the commissioners to approve a new traffic enforcement unit for the Grant County Sheriff's Office, which is set to begin operating in May to reduce speeding and unsafe driving, is likely to impact the prosecutor's office with an increased workload, Knodell said.

The commissioners received a request from Knodell for one additional secretary to work on district court cases, but the additional $35,000 needed to fill the position has not been approved.

Knodell said if that secretary position had been filled his office could handle the anticipated workload the traffic unit would generate. He would now be asking for one less secretary, he said.

The sheriff's new traffic unit includes six deputies roaming the county's roads and highways issuing tickets to speeding and unsafe drivers.

The traffic unit is expected to be self-sustaining, using revenue collected on fines in district court.

Although traffic citations could increase by thousands, Knodell said many of the traffic stops could ripen into felony arrests. Those additional citations and arrests will affect his office in district court.

"Additionally, our office has handled, and is handling, an unusually large number of high profile cases," Knodell said. "Which necessitates even more time and attention."

In the criminal justice system, the outcome of a case should not be decided due to a lack of resources for the people, he said.

"Equipment by itself can no longer be expected to make up the gap — we need bodies!" Knodell wrote.