92-491: The Allegheny County district attorney is the elected district attorney for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania . The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of Pennsylvania commonwealth laws (federal law violations are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania ). The current district attorney is Stephen Zappala . In 1995, the assistant district attorneys formed
184-557: A circuit solicitor , is the term South Carolina uses to refers to its prosecutors. One solicitor is elected for each of the state's 16 judicial circuits, consisting of two to five counties. Appointed assistants to a circuit solicitor are assistant solicitors . In St. Louis, Missouri , the title is circuit attorney , while in St. Louis County, Missouri , the title is prosecuting attorney . The assistant district attorney (assistant DA, ADA), or state prosecutor or assistant state's attorney,
276-409: A district attorney ( DA ), county attorney , county prosecutor , state's attorney, prosecuting attorney , commonwealth's attorney , or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a local government area , typically a county or a group of counties. The exact scope of the office varies by state. Generally, the prosecutor is said to represent
368-518: A District Attorney is typically called a " Public Prosecutor ." Public Prosecutors represent the state in criminal cases and are responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of committing crimes. They work under the supervision of the Director of Prosecutions or the Advocate General at the state level, depending on the specific legal framework of the state. Discovery (law) Discovery , in
460-627: A collective bargaining unit and voted to be represented by the United Steelworkers of America. The bargaining unit also represents assistant public defenders and scientists in the coroner's office (now the Office of Medical Examiner) and computer professionals in the prothonotary's office (now the Department of Court Records). (*) denotes Acting District attorney In the United States ,
552-531: A county prosecutor represents the county and state within their county, prosecutes all crimes within the county, and is legal adviser to the board of county commissioners, board of elections, and all other county officers and boards. On the other hand, county attorneys in Kentucky and Virginia prosecute only certain misdemeanors and sometimes traffic matters and serve as legal counsel for their county, with felony prosecutions and prosecutions of offenses not handled by
644-770: A decision about any possible plea deal. In California state courts, discovery is governed by the Civil Discovery Act of 1986 (Title 4 (Sections 2016-2036) of the Code of Civil Procedure), as subsequently amended. A significant number of appellate court decisions have interpreted and construed the provisions of the Act. California written discovery generally consists of four methods: demands for inspection (the formal statutory name for requests for production of documents), form interrogatories, special interrogatories, and requests for admissions. The duty to respond to California discovery requests
736-435: A defendant in a criminal case requests discovery from the prosecution, the prosecutor may request reciprocal discovery. The prosecutor's right to discovery is deemed reciprocal as it arises from the defendant's request for discovery. The prosecutor's ability to obtain discovery is limited by the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights, specifically the defendant's constitutional protection against self-incrimination. Discovery in
828-403: A defendant's pre-trial request for a Lone Pine order , which requires a plaintiff to show prima facie evidence of injury and specific causation via an expert's report , rather than dovetailing their claims with other plaintiffs. As implemented in 1938, the modern American discovery scheme granted powers directly to private parties and their counsel which are "functionally equivalent" to
920-476: A discovery request is objected to, the requesting party may seek the assistance of the court by filing a motion to compel discovery. Conversely, a party or nonparty resisting discovery can seek the assistance of the court by filing a motion for a protective order. Discovery evolved out of a unique feature of early equitable pleading procedure before the English Court of Chancery : among various requirements,
1012-567: A hearing commissioner is available on motion of a party to the Superior Court judge designated by the Chief Judge to conduct such reviews...After that review has been completed, appeal may be taken to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals." This rule basically implies that in a civil action, if a hearing commissioner is authorized by all parties to conduct the proceedings instead of a judge, upon
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#17330935500041104-431: A lawsuit, by enabling parties to drain each other's financial resources in a war of attrition . For example, one can make information requests that are potentially expensive and time-consuming for the other side to fulfill, respond to a discovery request with thousands of documents of questionable relevance to the case, file requests for protective orders to prevent the deposition of key witnesses, and in other ways increase
1196-556: A number of important Supreme Court decisions and statutes, the most important of which are, The formal discovery process for federal criminal prosecutions is outlined in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 16. The District of Columbia follows the federal rules, with a few exceptions. Some deadlines are different, and litigants may only resort to the D.C. Superior Court. Forty interrogatories, including parts and sub-parts, may be propounded by one party on any other party. There
1288-493: A plaintiff's bill in equity was required to plead "positions". These were statements of evidence that the plaintiff assumed to exist in support of his pleading and which he believed lay within the knowledge of the defendant. They strongly resembled modern requests for admissions, in that the defendant was required to plead only whether they were true or false. The practice of pleading positiones in canon law (which influenced Chancery procedure) had originated with "the practice of
1380-444: A quorum) who could not be interested persons (i.e., parties or their lawyers) and were usually country gentlemen . Once agreed upon, the court would grant them authority to examine witnesses by way of dedimus potestatem . The person(s) examining the witness would appoint a clerk, whom under their supervision would write down the witness's oral answers under oath in summary form on paper, as if they had been spontaneously delivered as
1472-526: A request for a review or appeal, the motion must first be reviewed by a Superior Court judge to the same standard as a motion for appeal on a Superior Court Judge to the Court of Appeals, but the right to appeal to the higher courts still remains. Many states have adopted discovery procedures based on the federal system; some closely adhere to the federal model, others not so closely. Some states take an entirely different approach to discovery. Many states have adopted
1564-476: A similar accusation, that discovery is used by plaintiffs' lawyers to impose costs on defendants in order to force settlements in unmeritorious cases to avoid the cost of discovery. However, others argue that discovery abuse is an exaggerated concept, that discovery works well in most cases, and exaggeration of American litigiousness and its cost result in confusion within the justice system. To weed out spurious plaintiffs in mass tort cases, some courts may grant
1656-497: A single continuous third-person narrative , rather than as responses given in the first person to discrete questions. In other words, the actual sequence of questions and answers was not transcribed verbatim like a modern deposition. For example, the surviving narratives of multiple witnesses to a 16 May 1643 enclosure riot in Whittlesey reveal striking similarities which imply the witnesses probably gave "yes" and "no" answers to
1748-627: A state appellate prosecutor who in turn will represent the state in appellate courts with the advice and consent of the district attorney. In other cases, such as in New York, the District Attorney's Office will have in-house appellate prosecutors who handle appeals. Some district attorneys maintain their own law enforcement arm whose members are sworn peace officers . Depending on the jurisdiction, they are referred to as district attorney investigators or county detectives . In England and Wales ,
1840-475: A unique feature of American and Canadian discovery) occurred under the supervision of Chancellor James Kent of the New York Court of Chancery during the early 19th century. He was trying to respond to the obvious defect of traditional depositions: since parties could not adjust their questions on the fly, they had to propound broadly drawn interrogatories, and in turn elicited "long and complicated accounts" of
1932-764: Is privileged and the work product of the opposing party. Other types of information may be protected, depending on the type of case and the status of the party. For instance, juvenile criminal records are generally not discoverable, peer review findings by hospitals in medical negligence cases are generally not discoverable and, depending on the case, other types of evidence may be non-discoverable for reasons of privacy, difficulty or expense in complying and for other reasons. (Criminal discovery rules may differ from those discussed here.) Electronic discovery or "e-discovery" refers to discovery of information stored in electronic format (often referred to as Electronically Stored Information , or ESI). In practice, most civil cases in
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#17330935500042024-406: Is a law enforcement official by virtue of their job. In Canada , the equivalent position to a district attorney is a crown attorney , crown counsel or crown prosecutor depending on the province, and the equivalent to an assistant district attorney is the assistant crown attorney, assistant crown counsel or assistant crown prosecutor respectively. In India , the equivalent position to
2116-692: Is a law enforcement official who represents the state government on behalf of the district attorney in investigating and prosecuting individuals alleged to have committed a crime. In carrying out their duties to enforce state and local laws, ADA have the authority to investigate persons, issue subpoenas, file formal criminal charges, plea bargain with defendants, and grant immunity to witnesses and accused criminals. Administrative assistant district attorney (admin ADA), executive assistant district attorney (exec ADA), chief assistant district attorney (chief ADA), or first assistant district attorney (First ADA) are some of
2208-405: Is manually deployed. In relation to the first approach there are several issues: New technology is able to address problems created by the first approach by running an application entirely in memory on each custodian machine and only pushing responsive data across the network. This process has been patented and embodied in a tool that has been the subject of a conference paper. In relation to
2300-412: Is no requirement for a "privilege log": federal Rule 26(b)(5) was not adopted by the D.C. Superior Court. Where above is stated "litigants may only resort to the D.C. Superior Court" upon correction is found according to the District of Columbia Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure Section 73(b)Judicial Review and Appeal which states: "Judicial review of a final order or judgment entered upon direction of
2392-480: Is not a continuing duty: the responding party only needs to respond with the facts as known on the date of the response, and is under no obligation to update its responses as new facts become known. This causes many parties to reserve one or two interrogatories until the closing days of discovery, when they ask if any of the previous responses to discovery have changed, and then ask what the changes are. Historically, California depositions were not limited in length until
2484-697: Is now known as the High Court of Justice . Although discovery by then had been available at common law for almost two decades, the new court generally looked to the older and broader form of discovery in chancery as the basis of its discovery rules. In 1938, the promulgation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) (pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act ) created for the first time a comprehensive discovery system in U.S. federal courts. The FRCP authorized broad discovery into "any matter, not privileged, which
2576-473: Is obligated to provide to the defendant any information that is exculpatory or potentially exculpatory, without any request by the defense. Further discovery is available if initiated by the defendant. For example, a discovery demand might be for production of the names of witnesses, witness statements, information about evidence, a request for opportunity to inspect tangible evidence, and for any reports prepared by expert witnesses who will testify at trial. If
2668-546: Is relevant to the subject matter in the pending action, whether relating to the claim or defense of" either party. Due to the influence of progressive law professor Edson R. Sunderland, an enthusiastic proponent of broad discovery, the FRCP expressly authorized the complete family of discovery methods familiar to American litigators today. What made the FRCP so revolutionary was that although many state governments had regularly allowed one or more methods of discovery, no one state nor
2760-580: Is the process by which the Crown, typically through the Crown Prosecution Service , provides the defence with relevant information discovered during the course of a criminal investigation. The disclosure process helps protect the right to a fair trial . Every accused person has a right to a fair trial. This right is a fundamental part of the legal system in England and Wales and is guaranteed by Article 6 of
2852-456: Is used in Connecticut , Florida (state attorney), Illinois , Maryland , North Dakota , South Dakota , and Vermont . In Maryland, the roles of Assistant and Deputy are reversed from those used in "District Attorney" jurisdictions, with Deputy State's Attorney being the primary subordinate to the elected State's Attorney and Assistant State's Attorneys (ASA) being the line-level prosecutors of
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2944-526: The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The test for what information should be provided during disclosure is set by section 3 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA). This requires the Crown to provide all information which might be reasonably capable of undermining the prosecution case or assisting the defence case. This standard is an ongoing obligation throughout
3036-586: The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure , the plaintiff must initiate a conference between the parties after the complaint was served to the defendants, to plan for the discovery process. The parties should attempt to agree on the proposed discovery schedule, and submit a proposed Discovery Plan to the court within 14 days after the conference. After that, the main discovery process begins which includes: initial disclosures , depositions , interrogatories , request for admissions (RFA) and request for production of documents (RFP). In most federal district courts ,
3128-461: The Lord Chancellor in lieu of live testimony in open court, was a kind of factfinding process in its own right. As implied by the secret nature of the proceedings and the absence of parties and counsel, equity's factfinding process was fundamentally inquisitorial (i.e., driven by the court), and not adversarial (i.e., driven by the parties). It is generally believed that this came about because
3220-589: The Thirteen Colonies , including the tradition of having courts of equity appoint masters to take depositions. It is this quasi-inquisitorial procedure to which the United States Congress was referring in an 1802 law providing that "in all suits in equity, it shall be in the discretion of the court, upon the request of either party, to order the testimony of the witnesses therein to be taken by depositions." The next major development (which would remain
3312-544: The U.S. Supreme Court amended the Federal Equity Rules to allow masters in equity suits in federal courts to conduct oral examinations of witnesses. However, with the parties and counsel now present to help guide the course of the master's oral examination of the witness, it was inevitable that counsel would insist on taking over the examination itself, and their presence meant the proceedings were no longer secret. A New York deposition from January 1839 reveals that
3404-595: The Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act to provide uniform process when discovery is to be done out of state. In Alaska criminal courts, discovery is governed by Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 (Cr.R.16). The scope of discovery is broad and includes much more than is required by Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The discovery process is intended to provide adequate information for informed pleas, to expedite trial, minimize surprise, afford an opportunity for effective cross-examination, and meet
3496-401: The law of common law jurisdictions, is a phase of pretrial procedure in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure , can obtain evidence from other parties by means of methods of discovery such as interrogatories , requests for production of documents , requests for admissions and depositions . Discovery can be obtained from nonparties using subpoenas . When
3588-497: The Chancellor on that cold record. One key difference, however, was that in ecclesiastical courts, the judge himself took the depositions of the witnesses (by reading to them the interrogatories submitted by the parties), and thus personally developed the factual record which the parties would then argue over at trial. To modern eyes, the most bizarre aspect of Chancery's adoption of such a labor-intensive quasi-inquisitorial procedure
3680-552: The Evidence Act 1851 and the Common Law Procedure Act 1854. The right to discovery in the common law courts was "exercised somewhat more narrowly" than in chancery, but the point was that a litigant at common law no longer needed to file a bill of discovery in chancery just to obtain any discovery. The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 merged together various trial courts, including the Court of Chancery, to form what
3772-556: The Legislature enacted reforms in 2012. Another key difference is that most objections must be made in detail on the record at deposition or they are permanently waived. A party may only propound thirty-five written special interrogatories on any other single party unless the propounding party submits a "declaration of necessity". No "subparts, or a compound, conjunctive, or disjunctive question" may be included in an interrogatory. However, "form interrogatories" which have been approved by
Allegheny County District Attorney - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-475: The New York code of civil procedure was that it only allowed parties to seek discovery on issues on which they would have the burden of proof at trial. This caused lawyers for defendants to plead fictional defenses in answers, because they still could not directly pursue discovery into the plaintiff's claims. In 1861, Rule 67 of the Federal Equity Rules was amended to make deposition by oral examination
3956-552: The United States is unique compared to other common law countries. In the United States, discovery is mostly performed by the litigating parties themselves, with relatively minimal judicial oversight. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure guide discovery in the U.S. federal court system. Most state courts follow a similar version based upon the FRCP, Chapter V "Depositions & Discovery" Federal Rules of Civil Procedure . According to
4048-447: The United States are settled after discovery. After discovery, both sides often are in agreement about the relative strength and weaknesses of each side's case and this often results in either a settlement or summary judgment , which eliminates the expense and risks of a trial. Discovery is also available in criminal cases. Under the rule set forth in Brady v. Maryland , the prosecutor
4140-591: The accused, (iii) written or recorded statements of a co-defendant, (iv) any books, papers, documents, photographs or tangible objects with the prosecutor intends to use at trial, (v) any prior criminal convictions of the defendant or any witness. In practice, this means that criminal defendants in Alaska are able to review any police report, lab report, audio/video recordings, witness statements, and more, before they proceed to trial. Most defendants will also have this material far enough in advance to have reviewed it before making
4232-430: The authority of courts of equity came to be called a "deposition". It continued to be used as an evidence preservation device in aid of actions at law, but it also became the standard method for developing the factual record to be used in courts of equity as derived from the knowledge of third-party witnesses (not merely those who were old or dying). The process of summarizing testimony in narrative form, to be relied upon by
4324-421: The bill, based on information within his own personal knowledge as well as documents in his possession. But back then, interrogatories could only elicit admissible evidence (not the broader modern standard of "reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence") and could only request evidence in support of the plaintiff's case, not either side's case (that is, they could not ask for evidence which
4416-500: The boundaries of a county, judicial circuit, or judicial district. Their duties generally include charging crimes through informations or grand jury indictments. After levying criminal charges, the state's attorney will then prosecute those charged with a crime. This includes conducting discovery , plea bargaining , and trial . In some jurisdictions, the district attorney may act as chief counsel for city police, county police, state police and all state law enforcement agencies within
4508-460: The common law courts). They began to file bills in equity to obtain discovery in aid of actions at law. This led to another innovation in the mid-15th century: the bill to perpetuate testimony of a potential witness. This was for witnesses whose advanced age or poor health implied they would not survive to testify at the trial of an action at law. In this type of proceeding, the parties merely pleaded written interrogatories which were read out loud to
4600-714: The county attorney being the responsibility of the commonwealth's attorney for the given county. The district attorney usually divides their services into several departments that handle different areas of criminal law. Each department is staffed by several duly appointed and sworn ASAs. The departments of a large district attorney's office may include but are not limited to: felony , misdemeanor , domestic violence , traffic, juvenile, charging (or case filing), drug prosecution, forfeitures, civil affairs such as eminent domain, child advocacy, child support, victim assistance, appeals, career criminal prosecution, homicide, investigations, organized crime /gang, and administration. The name of
4692-539: The county attorney does not handle any criminal matters at all, but serves only as the legal counsel to the county. For example, in Arizona , Missouri , Montana , and Minnesota a county attorney represents the county and state within their county, prosecutes all felonies occurring within the county, and prosecutes misdemeanors occurring within unincorporated areas of the county. Minnesota county attorneys also prosecute all juvenile cases, regardless of severity. In Ohio
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#17330935500044784-516: The courts of the Italian communes in the early thirteenth century". Although canonists also looked to Roman law , positiones were unknown to the Romans. At some point between the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and the late seventeenth century, positions were gradually replaced by interrogatories : written questions which the defendant was required to truthfully respond to under oath in his answer to
4876-560: The defendant intended to use in support of his defenses and was otherwise entirely irrelevant to the plaintiff's case). Even worse, this was purely a one-way procedure, because interrogatories could only be pleaded as part of a bill (a pleading initiating a suit in equity). A defendant who needed to obtain evidence in support of his defenses had to file a cross-bill against the plaintiff to plead his own interrogatories. Discovery did not exist at common law, but its availability in equity attracted litigants in actions at law (legal proceedings in
4968-471: The deposition's traditional role as an equitable factfinding device by first allowing and then requiring oral testimony in open court in trials of federal suits in equity, thereby reducing the deposition to its modern role in American civil procedure as a discovery and evidence preservation device. In England, discovery finally became available in the common law courts by the mid-1850s, after Parliament enacted
5060-468: The difficulty and cost of discovery. In 1983, the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules attached a Committee Note to Rule 26 of the FRCP that cautioned federal courts to "prevent use of discovery to wage a war of attrition or as a device to coerce a party, whether financially weak or affluent", then had to repeat and stress that exact same text in the 2015 Committee Note. It has been argued that although
5152-442: The discovery of admissible evidence. This is a much broader standard than relevance, because it contemplates the exploration of evidence which might be relevant, rather than evidence which is truly relevant. (Issues of the scope of relevance are taken care of before trial with motions in limine and during trial with objections.) Certain types of information are generally protected from discovery; these include information which
5244-432: The early 1870s), and by expressly authorizing pretrial oral examinations of both opposing parties and third-party witnesses, the basis of the modern deposition. (Up to that point, discovery from able-bodied opposing parties was still limited to interrogatories.) In fact, the New York code of civil procedure (brought about by David Dudley Field II ) went so far as to abolish written interrogatories. A major flaw, though, of
5336-456: The early Chancellors and the masters who assisted them were clerics with training in Roman and canon law, and therefore had some knowledge of the inquisitorial system as it functioned in ecclesiastical courts . The secrecy was thought to be absolutely essential to prevent perjury and witness tampering ; the witnesses would thereby be forced to testify from memory alone, and the parties could not use
5428-399: The examiner had already lost control of the examination. The examiner was reduced to summarizing a flurry of objections and arguments exchanged between the lawyers after one of them allegedly tried to take the witness aside to get an informal preview of the witness's answers before getting them on the record. All this would have been impossible under the old deposition procedure where counsel
5520-408: The facts disclosed in testimony to guide their discovery or litigation strategy. Consistent with these inquisitorial views, there were also prohibitions on repeat testimony and on additional testimony after publication. Rather, the witnesses would testify independently of each other before publication, then at the moment of publication, all would be revealed, and the parties would make their arguments to
5612-434: The facts that were difficult for masters to summarize in writing. Therefore, Kent allowed New York masters to actively engage in oral examination of witnesses (in the sense of formulating questions in real time and narrowing their scope based on the witnesses' answers), and he also allowed parties and counsel to be present when such examinations were conducted. Kent's innovations spread into American federal practice in 1842 when
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#17330935500045704-503: The federal courts by expressly incorporating a proportionality requirement into the scope of discovery in the version of the FRCP that went into effect on December 1, 2015. Electronic discovery, also known as ediscovery, involves the discovery of electronic data and records. It is important that data obtained through ediscovery be reliable, and therefore admissible. Currently the two main approaches for identifying responsive material on custodian machines are: (1) where physical access to
5796-422: The federal government had ever attempted to allow litigators to use all of them, as Sunderland frankly admitted to the Advisory Committee that drafted the FRCP. As a result, the United States has the broadest discovery system in the world. After American discovery became the subject of harsh criticism for many decades (as separately summarized below), the United States retreated somewhat from broad discovery in
5888-472: The formal requests for interrogatories , request for admissions and request for production are exchanged between the parties and not filed with the court. Parties, however, can file motion to compel discovery if responses are not received within the FRCP time limit. Parties can file a motion for a protective order if the discovery requests become unduly burdensome or for purpose of harassment. In federal criminal prosecutions, discovery rights originate from
5980-411: The goal of discovery is to level the playing field between the parties, the discovery rules instead create a multi-level playing field that favors the party that is in control of the information needed by the other party. Instead of encouraging discovery, the rules are described as encouraging lawyers to find new ways to manipulate and distort or conceal information. Some tort reform supporters make
6072-406: The head of office is called state attorney the staff attorneys are usually referred to as Assistant State Attorney (ASAs ). Most prosecutions will be delegated to the assistant attorneys, with the head-of-office sometimes prosecuting the most important cases and having overall responsibility for the agency and its work. Depending upon the state's law, the head may be appointed by the chief executive of
6164-400: The jurisdiction of a United States Attorney . Many district attorneys also bear responsibilities not related to criminal prosecution. These include defending the county against civil suits , occasionally initiating such suits on behalf of the county, preparing or reviewing contracts entered into by the county and providing legal advice and counsel to local government. In some jurisdictions,
6256-740: The jurisdiction or elected by local voters. Most criminal matters in the United States are handled in state judicial systems , but a comparable office for the United States Federal government is the United States Attorney . This term for a prosecutor originates with the traditional use of the term "district" for multi-county prosecutorial jurisdictions in several U.S. states. For example, New York appointed prosecutors to multi-county districts prior to 1813. Even after those states broke up such districts and started appointing or electing prosecutors for individual counties, they continued to use
6348-498: The lifespan of a criminal investigation and trial. While the majority of disclosure will likely take place at the outset of a trial - usually at or before the Pre-trial Preparation Hearing (PTPH), multiple disclosures may occur throughout a case as required. The CPIA 1996 Disclosure Test (1)The prosecutor must— (a) disclose to the accused any prosecution material which has not previously been disclosed to
6440-725: The office. In Virginia, the title is commonwealth's attorney . Kentucky splits the role between two officials—by statute, the commonwealth's attorney serves in the Circuit Court (the court of general jurisdiction), and the county attorney serves in the limited-jurisdiction District Court, although the two officials may enter into a written agreement to split their duties as they see fit. Commonwealth's attorneys are elected in their respective jurisdictions in both Virginia and Kentucky for terms of four years and six years, respectively. Kentucky's county attorneys are elected in their jurisdictions to four-year terms. Solicitor , or more fully
6532-468: The office. Often, a senior ADA may oversee or prosecute some of the larger crimes within the jurisdiction . In some offices, the Exec ADA has the responsibility of hiring lawyers and support staff, as well as supervising press-releases and overseeing the work of the office. The salary of an ADA will be lower than the elected DA. The non-monetary benefits of the job induce many to work as an ADA; these include
6624-488: The opportunity to amass trial experience, perform a public service, and network professionally. Upon leaving employment as an ADA, persons seek employment as a judge, in private law firms, or as U.S. Attorneys . Depending on state law, appeals are moved to appellate courts (also called appeals courts, courts of appeals, superior courts, or supreme courts in some states). During the appeals process district attorneys, in many cases, hands all relative prosecutorial materials to
6716-439: The organisations network is possible - agents are installed on each custodian machine which push large amounts of data for indexing across the network to one or more servers that have to be attached to the network or (2) for instances where it is impossible or impractical to attend the physical location of the custodian system - storage devices are attached to custodian machines (or company servers) and then each collection instance
6808-423: The people of the jurisdiction in the state's courts , typically in criminal matters, against defendants. With the exception of three states (New Jersey, Connecticut, and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia), district attorneys are elected, unlike similar roles in other common law jurisdictions. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking
6900-410: The power to issue self-executing administrative subpoenas. This is why civil law countries strongly dislike and oppose American discovery: they regard broad discovery in the hands of private parties as destructive of the rule of law because from their perspective, the result amounts to "a private inquisition." Civil law countries see the underlying objectives of discovery as properly monopolized by
6992-408: The record at the end before it was submitted to the court as evidence. In contrast, at trial in a common law court, the witness might be subject to "severe and rapid cross-examination " without sufficient time for reflection or deliberation, thereby causing them to "misrepresent facts, from infirmity of recollection or mistake". This procedure for ex parte out-of-court pretrial examinations under
7084-468: The regular method of taking evidence in equity in federal courts; taking witness testimony by written interrogatories was now the exception. Although depositions were still taken in front of court-appointed examiners, their role had been reduced to the preparation of summary narratives to be relied upon as evidence by the court. In 1892, Rule 67 was again amended to require the preparation of an exact transcript. Subsequent amendments in 1893 and 1912 eliminated
7176-433: The requirements of due process. To the extent possible, discovery prior to trial should be as full and free as possible, consistent with protection of persons, effective law enforcement, and the adversarial system. A prosecuting attorney is required to disclose to the accused the following material, and to make it available for inspection and copying: (i) names and addresses of witnesses, (ii) written or recorded statements of
7268-615: The role of local prosecutor may vary by state or jurisdiction based on whether they serve a county or a multi-county district, the responsibility to represent the state or county in addition to prosecution, or local historical customs. District attorney and assistant district attorney are the most common titles for state prosecutors, and are used by jurisdictions within the United States including California , Georgia , Massachusetts , Nevada , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Texas , Utah , and Wisconsin . State's attorney or state attorney
7360-467: The same set of interrogatories. In London, the witness usually signed or marked the narrative at its end (and occasionally would sign at the bottom of each page), while outside of London, the clerk engrossed the narrative on parchment (in plain English, copied the text from paper to parchment in clearly legible handwriting). Either way, the resulting document (paper in or near London, parchment outside London)
7452-420: The second approach, despite self-collection being a hot topic in eDiscovery, concerns are being addressed by limiting the involvement of the custodian to simply plugging in a device and running an application to create an encrypted container of responsive documents. Under the law of the United States , civil discovery is wide-ranging and may seek disclosure of information that is reasonably calculated to lead to
7544-415: The state in order to maintain the rule of law: the investigative objective of discovery is the prerogative of the executive branch , and insofar as discovery may be able to facilitate the creation of new rights, that is the prerogative of the legislative branch . The discovery process in England and Wales is known as 'disclosure'. This process occurs in both civil and criminal cases. Criminal disclosure
7636-466: The state Judicial Council do not count toward this limit. In addition, no "preface or instruction" may be included in the interrogatories unless it has been approved by the Judicial Council; in practice, this means that the only instructions permissible with interrogatories are the ones provided with the form interrogatories. The use of discovery has been criticized as favoring the wealthier side in
7728-734: The state's criminal law , initiating and directing further criminal investigations, guiding and recommending the sentencing of offenders, and are the only attorneys allowed to participate in grand jury proceedings. The prosecutors decide what criminal charges to bring, and when and where a person will answer to those charges. In carrying out their duties, prosecutors have the authority to investigate persons, grant immunity to witnesses and accused criminals, and plea bargain with defendants. A district attorney or state attorney leads an office of other prosecutors and related staff. Staff attorneys are most commonly known as assistant district attorneys (ADAs) or deputy district attorneys (DDAs); in states where
7820-467: The state's attorney's jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions, the district attorney oversees the operations of local prosecutors with respect to violations of county ordinances. In other jurisdictions, the district attorney prosecutes traffic matters or misdemeanors. In some states the district attorney prosecutes violations of state laws to the extent that the state permits local prosecution of these. District attorneys do not prosecute federal crimes, which are
7912-449: The title "district attorney" for the most senior prosecutor in a county rather than switch to "county attorney". The principal duties of the district attorney are usually mandated by law and include representing the State in all criminal trials for crimes which occurred in the district attorney's geographical jurisdiction. The geographical jurisdiction of a district attorney may be delineated by
8004-458: The titles given to the senior ADA leadership working under the DA. The chief ADA, Executive ADA, or first ADA, depending on the office, is generally considered the second-in-command, and usually reports directly to the DA. The exact roles and job assignments for each title vary with each individual office, but generally include management of the daily activities and supervision of specialized divisions within
8096-748: The vast majority of criminal prosecutions are prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service . The CPS is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions , who is appointed by the Attorney General for England and Wales . Within the CPS, 14 Chief Crown Prosecutors, answering to the DPP, head regional teams of Crown Prosecutors. With the exception of the AG and Solicitor General for England and Wales , no prosecutors are political officials in England and Wales and no prosecutor in England and Wales
8188-509: The witness in a closed proceeding without parties or counsel present. The witness's attendance was secured by service of a subpoena ad testificandum at least 14 days before the date of the examination. In London, the examinations took place before a master or an examiner in Chancery Lane . Outside of London, the parties' attorneys were supposed to jointly stipulate to a group of lay commissioners (typically four, though only two were needed for
8280-435: Was filed under seal with the court, and was not revealed or "published" (in the terminology of the time) to parties or counsel until shortly before the trial in which it was to be used. An 1899 treatise on evidence law explained the rationale for this method of examining a witness in equity: it allowed a witness "ample time" for "calm recollection" as they answered questions read by a neutral person and an opportunity to correct
8372-461: Was not present. Major reforms enacted in New York in the late 1840s and in England in the early 1850s laid the foundation for the rise of modern discovery by imposing a clear separation between pleadings and discovery as distinct phases of procedural law. Discovery devices could now be invoked independently of the pleadings. The New York reforms went much farther, by directly merging common law and equity procedure (which would also happen in England in
8464-516: Was that for most of its history, Chancery was a one-judge court. The Crown always attempted to operate the judiciary of England and Wales as cheaply as possible—by leaving it severely understaffed in comparison to its counterparts on the European continent —thereby leaving the chancellors no choice but to delegate factfinding procedures like the taking of depositions. Despite these defects, English settlers brought discovery and depositions with them to
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