Last week, I started the discussion on types of cases that the Attorney General’s Office handles, instead of the District Attorney’s Office. Specifically, I wrote about conflicts that would cause a case to be referred by the district attorney to the Attorney General’s Office. This week, I will address a few other common ways that the Attorney General’s Office has the power to prosecute criminal cases in any county.
The next most common reason that the Attorney General’s Office handles a criminal prosecution is because an agent (law enforcement officer) with the Attorney General’s Office handled an investigation and received an indictment from an investigating grand jury (which I will explain grand juries next week). In other words, if an agent from the AG’s Office handles the investigation, then the statute permits the Attorney General’s Office to prosecute the case as well.
Another way that the Attorney General’s Office could assume a case is if the district attorney requests assistance because that county, “lacks the resources to conduct an adequate investigation or the prosecution of the criminal case or matter….” This typically occurs when an investigation deals with criminal activities in multiple counties or the scale of the investigation is large enough that local police departments and/or the district attorney’s office do not have the resources to adequately handle the matter (i.e. large scale drug trafficking operations in multiple counties).
The final type of case that the Attorney General’s Office handles (that I will discuss in this article) is the prosecution of, “criminal charges against State officials or employees affecting the performance of their public duties or the maintenance of the public trust and criminal charges against persons attempting to influence such State officials or employees or benefit from such influence or attempt to influence.” The reason for this section of the statute is to specifically deal with public corruption at the State level.
That wraps up the most notable ways and reasons that the Attorney General’s Office handles the prosecution of a case, instead of the District Attorney’s Office. Next week, I will start my last topic of the year—grand juries.
Ryan Sayers is the elected District Attorney of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. The information contained in this article is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter. You should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included in this article without seeking legal or other professional advice. The contents of these articles contain general information and may not reflect current legal developments or address your situation.
