Pennington County prosecutors, public defenders press for more staff as caseloads rise and digital evidence grows

State’s Attorney Laura Retzel and Public Defender Eric Witcher told the Pennington County Board of Commissioners on June 24 that while felony filings dipped in 2024, the courts are seeing a steady rise in misdemeanors, retail-theft cases and digital evidence that is stretching existing staff and budgets.

Retzel said her office prosecuted 7,975 cases in 2024 and that drug- and theft-related filings have increased the burden on prosecutors. “The caseload is just too much,” she said. “I can’t prosecute everything anymore with what I’ve got.”

The concern centers on two pressures: case volume and the time required to review modern digital evidence. Retzel and Witcher described large increases in body‑worn camera, door-cam and surveillance footage arriving with cases. Retzel proposed expanding the office’s use of artificial‑intelligence tools to transcribe and triage video and audio, saying, “It can look at 10 different videos and pull apart what’s unique into each of them so you only have to watch one video.” Witcher, describing the defense perspective, said manual review of hours of footage is now unsustainable for…