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Felony court: January closures outpaced openings; new assistant state's attorney joining office
Summary
A county prosecutor reported closing more felony cases than were opened in January, recorded overtime hours, and said the office hired an assistant state's attorney who faces a heavy trial schedule.
Mister Larson, who reported for the county's felony court/prosecutor team, told the Stephenson County board that in January the office closed 45 felony cases and opened 37. He said the office recorded roughly 118 hours of overtime and handled 34 to 37 outside-regular-hours calls during the month.
Larson said the office recently hired a new assistant state's attorney. He described the new hire as taking on a heavy trial load and working hard to get up to speed. The office reported confidence in the hire's efforts despite her recent comments to staff that she had several trials on the calendar.
Larson also offered broader context about caseloads: he said the public defender's office typically carries about 80% of felony cases and that last year the county saw about 450 felonies, which would equate to roughly 360–370 handled by the public defender's office.
Board members asked if the new assistant was an internal promotion or an outside hire; Larson said she was hired from outside the county, having most recently worked in Chicago in a paralegal capacity before deciding to pursue work in criminal law.
The report was delivered during the reports section of the meeting and did not include a board vote.
Ending: Larson said he would take questions and invited follow-up on caseload and staffing matters.
