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Agency official says surge in jury trials is straining office, signals plan to seek extra attorneys
Summary
An agency official reported the office is behind previous docket pace and has seen an unusual surge in jury trials involving serious charges, and said the office will research requesting one or two additional attorneys in the next budget cycle to address workload and burnout risk.
An agency official told the Belknap County Commissioners that the office’s caseload this year is trailing the pace of recent years while the number of jury trials — many involving serious charges — has risen sharply, and the office may request additional attorneys in the next budget season.
“The only thing I’ll say about these numbers…we were only at 295 cases docket,” the agency official said, describing the current docket as below recent annual totals of about the mid‑500s to mid‑600s. The official said the office has handled 13 jury trials involving victims so far this year and that many of the cases have been for serious felonies, including aggravated felonious assault and attempted murder.
The official cited staffing and trial scheduling as factors limiting progress on other cases, noting an assistant county attorney left in February and the replacement is a recent law‑school graduate who isn’t yet carrying a full caseload. “That’s not something that you can just bring a new attorney in and just hand a full caseload to,” the official said.
During questions, a commissioner advised that if the presented figures support it, the office should consider asking for two new positions rather than one. The agency official said they will research the caseload data and prepare materials for the next budget cycle to justify any request.
On budgeting, the agency official said the office currently projects to come in roughly on budget for the year (a small variance was described in the meeting notes), but cautioned that sustained trial demands and staffing gaps increase the risk of case backlogs and staff burnout.
The commissioners offered procedural suggestions for compiling a budget request and encouraged the official to document comparisons with neighboring counties to support staffing requests. The official said they will provide more detailed numbers at a future meeting and examine caseload patterns to determine whether additional attorneys are warranted.
