District attorney flags discovery burden, expungement workload and wins for grant funding
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Summary
The Crook County district attorney said new discovery rules and expanding automatic expungements have increased manual processing and storage costs; the office has secured grants including $50,000 over two years for a DA investigator and is implementing Evidence.com to manage digital evidence.
The Crook County District Attorney told commissioners that statutory changes requiring earlier production of digital evidence and expanded automatic expungements have created significant new work and unreimbursed costs for the county.
"Evidence.com should significantly help that," the DA said, describing plans to move law-enforcement digital evidence into a platform that integrates redaction and unlimited storage to reduce manual processing time and unpredictable per‑gigabyte charges.
The DA explained the problem: after discovery-law changes, the office must gather and provide police reports, videos and other materials early in a case, which increases storage and redaction needs. Staff currently extract and redact material by hand and move closed-case files into separate storage to control costs.
The office is also seeing more expunctions mandated by state law. "When expungement is automatic, there is nothing in the legal system that's automatic," the DA said, noting significant manual steps — eligibility review, victim notice and coordinated deletion across law-enforcement systems — and that the legislature has not funded the added workload.
On staffing and funding, the DA said the office hired a DA investigator and a new deputy district attorney, and secured $50,000 in child-abuse grant funds over two fiscal years to support the investigator position ($25,000 per year). The office also identified $70,000 from justice-reinvestment grant funds and reported maximizing VOCA funding after an earlier funding uncertainty.
Commissioners questioned how discovery fees are billed and whether state-level funds reimburse county production costs. The DA said public defense entities receive state money for discovery but counties are not always reimbursed for the staff time and software expenses involved in producing the material.
No ordinance or formal board action was proposed in the presentation; the DA requested continued support as the office integrates new digital-evidence tools and manages expungement demands.
