Squandering Police Efforts

Police efforts are wasted whenever cases are taken to trial and lost (see our illustrated cases on this website).

They are also wasted when police personnel are subpoenaed for traffic trials, taken off the road or given mandatory overtime to show up for such trials, then sent home because such traffic cases are nearly always pled out in the courtroom before the officer takes the stand. These cases should almost never be set down for trial, and with a little bit of focus beforehand, they can be resolved without wasting thousands of public safety tax dollars on needless overtime costs, or needlessly compromising public safety by taking police personnel from all agencies off the roads and streets of our communities.

MARK SUBEN WOULD, whenever possible, resolve traffic matters prior to trial, and he would instruct his Assistants to do the same. That way, valuable staff time is spent on important cases, and valuable police time is spent fighting crime and protecting the public.

The Patricia C. Case:

A young woman driving in winter skidded into a Department of Public Works truck engaged in snow removal. No damage was done to the city vehicle. Her car damaged. She was ticketed for failure to use due care.

The current DA's office refused her request to reduce the ticket to one involving no points, under the circumstances.

The case was subpoenaed for trial in City Court. The ticketing officer appeared, either on overtime (four hour minimum), or taken from road patrol.

The young woman, who couldn't afford the expense of a lawyer and under the circumstances didn't think she needed one, had obtained a letter from the Department of Public Works, conceding that the project was performed without a flag person, thus suggesting that the young woman may not have been at fault.

When she tried to place that letter before the Court, the Assistant DA made a lawyer's objection based on the evidentiary rule that the letter was hearsay, and the evidence could only come in through a live witness. At that point, the Judge was powerless to admit the document over the Assistant DA's objection.

The case was adjourned. The defendant subpoenaed the public works employee. The DA subpoenaed the ticketing police officer, again.

The information indicating the defendant's innocence was finally admitted, and the charge was dismissed.

Because the current DA's office refused to use common sense, even after the proof of innocence was made available to them, the case was scheduled for trial twice, and two public employees were paid overtime or taken from more productive duties, one of them twice.

Ultimately, the case was dismissed by a Judge with common sense.  Unfortunately, the case is typical of the lack of common sense in the current DA's office. Such cases waste the time of the Judge, the DA's office and the police. They also waste precious tax dollars dedicated to the criminal justice system.

MARK SUBEN WOULD not tolerate such waste of taxpayer dollars. His Assistants will be instructed to respect the right of ordinary citizens to represent themselves in such cases. Mark's Assistants will be reminded that the ethical duty of a prosecutor is to do justice, not to win or delay such cases just because they can. His Assistants will be trained to spend quality court time on important cases, and they will be guided to leave no doubt about which cases are important, and which less so.