AUDIO: DA's plea for more money turns emotional
Invoking the memory of two slain police officers and the notorious kidnapping and murder of college student Jacine Gielinski, 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May choked up in pleading recently with El Paso County commissioners to give him the resources to convict the worst criminals.
“Those are the type cases, they do take up resources. Quite frankly, when a police officer is murdered,” May said, wiping his eyes as his voice cracked during his budget presentation. “Excuse me.”
“My attorneys are up against the best, the best of the best on the other side,” he said in his plea for a third chief deputy.
He said when he has to take on cases, such as cop killings, fatal apartment arsons and death penalty cases, “I need the best on the other side, also.”
May was among county officials who last week made their pitch for more money next year. His emotional appeal didn’t persuade everyone.
“Just because they can make you cry doesn’t mean I’m going to raise their needs higher than another need,” Commissioner Dennis Hisey told The Gazette.
“It’s a pretty common tactic for the DAs to use. That’s what they do with juries, and that’s how they get what they want,” he said. “I like to think my decisions will be made more on hard fact than emotion.”
May later said he was embarrassed by his teary moment, brought on by seeing pictures of murder victims projected onto a screen.
“It was just the spontaneity of seeing the victims up there,” he said.
Faced with declining sales tax revenues due to the stubborn recession, the county has eliminated 200 jobs, curtailed office hours and expects to spend about $3 million less in 2010 than in 2009.
May said his staff is hard-pressed to handle the state’s biggest criminal case load with one of the lowest budgets for a district its size — a budget that’s $1.2 million smaller this year than last.
Beyond his base budget of $9.2 million, May requested:
• $70,000 to boost pay for 35 legal assistants. Turnover last year was 89 percent in one division due to rising health insurance costs and low wages, which range from $23,634 to $25,634.
• $58,302 for a second paralegal in the special victims unit. The unit’s only paralegal juggles 390 cases at once for six attorneys, prepares for trials, lines up witnesses, files motions and tracks court schedules.
• $118,619 for a third chief deputy DA. “We’re spread very thin,” Chief Deputy DA Diana May said, noting 21 homicides have happened so far this year. “We’re reaching a maximum ability to prosecute these cases.”
Dan May noted if the state adds three judges to the 4th Judicial District as planned next July, he’ll need $448,000 for staff and equipment.
He also sought $100,000 for wireless Internet service at the courthouse to enable his staff to work during and between hearings. Now only the juror room is equipped.
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