State's Attorneys and Sheriffs department reports heavy caseloads, flags expungement and staffing needs

On Jan. 16, Tim Leiter‑DuPont, executive director of the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, and Annie Unan, the department's labor relations and operations director, briefed the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on the department's structure, staffing and workload pressures.

The department, Leiter‑DuPont said, centralizes administrative functions for 28 elected county officials — 14 state's attorneys and 14 sheriffs — so the Legislature does not receive 28 separate budget requests. “We are the administrative department that oversees the 28 elected officials,” Unan said.

Leiter‑DuPont told the committee the department employs roughly 175 people statewide, including about 72 full‑time attorneys who handle criminal, family, civil and appellate work. “They average between 300 to 400 cases per attorney,” he said, and noted national best practices recommend roughly 150 to 200 cases per attorney. He and Unan described the current caseload as an ongoing backlog that predates COVID and was exacerbated by it.

The department described other workload and resource figures: 26 victim advocates statewide, each handling about 600 cases; 96 pending homicide investigations as of Dec. 10; and roughly 23,000 pending cases now compared with about 26,000 a year earlier. Leiter‑DuPont said the office moved about 3,000 cases in the last year and that achieving meaningful backlog reductions would require a substantially higher clearance rate than current levels.

Leiter‑DuPont and Unan highlighted specific operational pressures. Transport deputies — 24 statewide — handle prisoner movement to and from court under difficult conditions, they said. They also noted a large administrative burden from sealing and expungement work: about 70,000 sealing/expungement orders over the last five years that require paralegals and administrative staff to update records.

The presenters flagged several legal and policy issues before the Legislature. They described recent changes to bail law, including removal of a $200 bail limit for individuals with another pending case and a statutory requirement that judges consider noncompliance with court orders when setting conditions of release. Leiter‑DuPont said the changes were intended to address flight risk and compliance concerns, not to serve as punishment.

On expungement and sealing, the department urged a move toward a sealing regime and referenced bill H.655, which staff said would reduce administrative burdens and improve compliance with federal constitutional discovery rules. The presenters also described a conflict between expungement statutes and constitutional obligations under Brady/Giglio precedent when prosecutors must disclose evidence relevant to witness credibility despite statutory record restrictions.

Unan said the department's hybrid status — employees are state employees while elected officials are county officials — stems from a Vermont Supreme Court decision and has required a dedicated labor relations function. She noted centralized payroll, benefits and some collective bargaining arrangements for department employees.

Committee members asked brief clarifying questions; department leaders said they would return with policy priorities and additional detail on staffing requests and the effect of a recent executive order reorganizing public safety functions. Leiter‑DuPont left committee members with an organization chart and said the department would follow up on legislative and budgetary needs.

The department did not present or request a formal committee vote during this briefing.