Prosecutors Who Also Represent Criminal Defendants
South Dakota
I'm from a town of only a few thousand people. In this town there are say seven to ten law offices with x amount of lawyers. I noticed three of our prosecuters also defend and represent people in the same courts; these being the only three prosecuters. I was researching to see if there was some kind of limit or guidelines to this but could not find any. If they work together and prosecute each others cases there have to be endless conflicts of interest and what seems endless out of court dealings. Does anyone really have a chance if they already know what each other is doing? My real question being, are they giving anyone the right to a fair trial?
This is just out of curiousity. Opinions are welcome.
Re: Prosecutors Who Also Represent Criminal Defendants
If you mean a prosecutor for a city, township or other limited jurisdiction who defends cases for defendants charged by other jurisdictions, that's not unusual. Clearly a prosecutor would be conflicted out of representing a defendant charged by his own office.