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Summary/Overview:
Under the supervision of the Prosecuting Attorney and the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, and in collaboration with fellow APAs, reviews and authorizes requests for felony and misdemeanor warrants, determines the appropriate charge and prosecutes criminal cases. As an experienced assistant prosecutor, manages the District Court docket for misdemeanors as well as assists with felony cases with appearing in court for pretrials, motions, and trials.
As part of an office of five (5) attorneys when fully staffed, the APA may also be assigned responsibility for felony cases in Circuit Court, as well as other matters as necessary, and may be assigned some of the more complex or sensitive cases. The APA is entrusted to resolve and dispose of criminal cases prior to trial or proceed with trial when applicable. The APA may be responsible for managing the Juvenile Delinquency docket, Personal Protection Order (PPO) hearings, Probate Court caseload of the office and/or the child support division, and provides advice and assistance to legal and support staff as needed.
Essential Functions:
- Reviews felony and misdemeanor criminal warrant requests from state and local law enforcement agencies, analyzes police reports and digital evidence to determine appropriate charging or disposition, communicates with law enforcement officers, researches the law as necessary to determine applicable statutes and remain informed of changes in statutes, court rules, and case law.
- Reviews citations issued by law enforcement including civil infractions and misdemeanors for accuracy; and conducts pretrials, motion hearings, formal hearings, and trials in District Court.
- Researches and prepares criminal cases for pretrial, probable cause conference, preliminary exam, trial, motions, sentencing, and other proceedings. This includes research of applicable law; preparation of charging documents, motions, responses, briefs, and memorandums; interacting with victims, witnesses, pro per defendants, attorneys, and judges while adhering to the legal and ethical standards of the profession; developing trial strategies; and attendance in-person or by Zoom as scheduled or directed.
- Represents the Prosecutor’s Office by appearing in Circuit and District Court for arraignments, probable cause conferences, preliminary examinations, hearings, motions, trials, sentencing, and appeals; participates in pretrial and settlement conferences, and other proceedings as needed such as motions to set aside convictions, driver restoration hearings, petitions to be removed from the sex offender registration act, prosecution of misdemeanor and felony probation violation hearings, represent victims in restitution hearings, etc. Selects juries, presents arguments, examines and cross-examines witnesses, introduces physical exhibits, presents expert witnesses, confers with the judge and defense counsel on points of law and procedure, and advocates on behalf of the People of the State of Michigan to a judge or jury.
- Attempts to resolve pending criminal cases by conferring with attorneys, police agencies, witnesses and victims, and other various agencies involved in order to reach agreement on pleas and potential sentences and follow the requirements of the Crime Victims Rights Act in conjunction with the Victim Advocate Office employees.
- Initiates and responds to legal motions and evidentiary hearings by conducting extensive legal research, drafting motions, briefs, and other legal documents and arguing these points in hearings.
- Attend trainings to remain up-to-date on the law, procedures, and requirements regarding Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) and the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) as directed by the Chief Prosecutor.
- May be assigned to provide on-call/after-hours coverage for incidents occurring evenings, holidays, and/or weekends as needed to meet requirements for in-custody review of charging requests or assist law enforcement.
- Assists professional staff in the analysis of specific cases, advises on case development, and serves as a mentor on legal matters.
- Serves as back-up to the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and Senior APA in matters as needed.
- Assists the Prosecuting Attorney by representing her on various boards, committees and organizations as needed.
- Performs other duties as required.
An employee in this position may be called upon to do any or all of the above tasks. (These examples do not include all of the tasks which the employees may be expected to perform.)
