What does the new DA in a sprawling but sparsely populated Colorado Rockies jurisdiction do when an internationally-known sports superstar is charged with sexual assault in his community and he suddenly finds himself facing a news media army, as well as a powerful and prestigious team of defense attorneys? He gets help. That’s what Mark Hurlbert, DA of Colorado’s 5th Judicial District, did after Los Angeles Laker star Kobe Bryant was arrested on felony sexual assault charges on the complaint of a resort hotel employee. Three days after the charges were filed, state Attorney General Kenneth Salazar and Denver DA Bill Ritter (a member of the NDAA Board of Directors) began marshalling a group of seasoned prosecutors and experts from several larger-jurisdiction DAs’ offices to assist Hurlbert. The Los Angeles Times reported that although DA Hurlbert declared that he would personally try the Bryant case, because “it’s the reason I got in the business,” when he looked around the room at a meeting of prosecutors from around the state who wanted to help him, “he realized there was no need to go it alone.”
Add NDAA member William J. Ellingson, state’s attorney of Moody County, South Dakota, to the list of rural-jurisdiction prosecutors who have been thrust into national media limelight by the nature of a local case and status of the defendant. Police arrested Representative William J. Janklow, South Dakota’s only member of the U.S. House of Representatives, claiming that his speeding car ran a stop sign and killed a motorcyclist at an intersection. Not only did the case immediately attract national attention, but, as a story in The Washington Post pointed out, “many people here (in South Dakota) are concerned that the powerful politician (who also served four terms as governor) would receive special treatment.” State’s Attorney Ellingson demonstrated that there would be no special treatment from his office when he charged Janklow with second-degree manslaughter, the most serious felony charge available for a fatal accident in which alcohol is not involved, plus three misdemeanor charges. Conviction on the felony charge could bring a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
It was one of those incredible made-for-TV or best-seller suspense stories with a bizarre surprise twist. Kirk Bloodsworth, the first former death row inmate in the nation to be freed and pardoned as the result of a DNA test, had been living in a community on Maryland’s Eastern shore since he had been exonerated in 1993 in the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl two decades earlier. Ann Probst, who had prosecuted him when she was a member of the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s office, called and asked him to meet her. In a Burger King restaurant several hours later, Probst told him, “We got a (DNA) hit on a guy,” explaining that a recent DNA test of semen stains identified the suspect as Kimberly Shay Ruffner, 45, who had been in prison (for conviction of attempted rape in another case) since a month after the rape-murder crime. “My God,” Bloodsworth told Probst, “I know him.” It turned out that Bloodsworth and Ruffner lived only one floor and several cells apart in prison. They had even lifted weights together in the exercise room, but they had never discussed why Bloodsworth was in prison, although Bloodsworth now believes that Ruffner knew. Baltimore County State’s Attorney Sandra A. O’Connor told The Washington Post that her office had first asked police for a DNA test in the case early last year, but the test was never done due to staffing and funding shortages. Ultimately a forensic biologist picked up the evidence and almost immediately identified the semen stains after analysis.
In addition to the complexities and tension of prosecuting two juvenile brothers for the murder of their father based on different theories of the crime, Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer of Pensacola, Florida, had to contend with an ethics complaint filed by Brian Oliver of Maplewood, Missouri, a convicted child abuser and persistent critic of prosecution of children as adults. After the two juvenile brothers were convicted of second-degree murder, a judge threw out their convictions, and the boys pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Oliver, meanwhile, complained to the Florida Bar Grievance Committee that Rimmer had humiliated one of the brothers, then 13, calling him to the witness stand in handcuffs and questioning him before a national TV audience about alleged sexual activity with Ricky Chavis, a 41-year-old co-defendant with a record of child molestation. He also accused Rimmer of presenting false evidence in prosecuting Chavis before a separate jury. The Florida Bar’s Grievance Committee cleared Rimmer of all charges, after which Rimmer declared, “I’ve been vindicated, validated and exonerated. And I’m going to continue prosecuting all murderers, regardless of their ages, young or old, without fear or favoritism, and this vile reprobate and all the other demons from hell are not going to stop me.” Complainant Oliver said, “I respect the finding of the Grievance Committee. I have no personal qualms with Mr. Rimmer…My beef is with the system…”
Susan Gaertner, county attorney of Ramsey County (St. Paul), Minnesota, and a member of NDAA’s Board of Directors, has been elected to a three-year term on the governing council of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section. The Criminal Justice Section provides leadership for ABA’s work on criminal justice issues. The governing council consists of 33 persons with diverse backgrounds in criminal justice, including judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and law professors.
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