Assistant Prosecuting Attorney II

General Summary:

 

Under the supervision of the Prosecuting Attorney and the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, reviews and authorizes requests for felony and misdemeanor warrants, determines the appropriate charge and prosecutes criminal cases. As an experienced assistant prosecutor, assumes 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. Attempts to resolve and dispose of criminal cases prior to trial in court. May be responsible for managing the Probate Court caseload of the office and/or the child support division in the absence of the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and provides advice and assistance to legal and support staff.

 

Essential Functions:

 

1. Reviews felony and misdemeanor criminal warrant requests from state and local law enforcement agencies, analyzes police reports, collects input from law enforcement officers, researches the law as necessary to determine applicable statutes, determines whether adequate grounds exist to authorize a warrant, and determines the appropriate charges to be made.

 

2. Researches and prepares criminal cases for trial, motions, sentencing, and other proceedings. This includes the research of applicable law, interviewing victims and witnesses, investigating claims, developing trial strategies, and directing law enforcement officers in further investigations, and working extensively with Westlaw research database.

 

3. Appears in Circuit and District Court for arraignments, preliminary examination conferences and hearings, motions, trials, sentencing; participates in settlement conferences, and other proceedings representing the Prosecutor (motions to set aside convictions, driver restoration hearings, petitions to be removed from the sex offender registration act, prosecute felony probation violation hearings, represent victims in restitution hearing 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 argues factual conclusions to a judge or jury.

 

4. Attempts to resolve and dispose of 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.

 

5. 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 felony criminal cases.

 

6. Attends trainings to remain up-to-date on the law.

 

7. Handles a felony caseload in Circuit Court.

 

8. Works cooperatively with law enforcement officers from various agencies to ensure investigation and reporting of assigned cases are accomplished in accordance with professional and judicial rules and standards along with providing advice and instruction to police agencies.

 

9. Serves in an on-call status to respond to requests for arrest and search warrants and answer any legal questions as needed.

 

10. Assists professional staff in the analysis of specific cases, advises on case development, and serves as a mentor on legal matters.

 

11. Serves as back-up to the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney (in his absence) in matters that he exclusively handles including: child support matters, handling abuse and neglect caseload, abuse and neglect trials, etc.

 

12. Assists the Prosecuting Attorney by representing him/her on several boards and with several organizations.

 

13. 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.)