A bill co-authored by a Northwoods legislator would authorize the state to fund more resources and staffing to 40 county District Attorney offices, some here in the Northwoods.
Republican Representative Jeff Mursau of Crivitz says a huge backlog of cases in some counties has prompted the bill..
Mursau says he lives in Marinette county where at one time they had hundreds of cases pending...
"...there are many counties as we look across the state that are short. The question is going to be, when somebody is not prosecuted and they're so far down the list and it takes a long time for them to get into court and they commit another crime again. They're going to be looking at the court asking 'why weren't they brought into the court to be prosecuted quicker than that?'..."
Mursau says after meeting with Attorney General Brad Schimel more emphasis will be on drug cases...
"...I believe in Wausau they're putting a person to help with these drug cases. Those get so in-depth, so full of information with things that have to be done that our local officials and judges can't handle them all. Just trying to help out with some of those cases to get them through the system so people are safer...."
Forest, Lincoln and Langlade counties would be funded one more full-time position each. The 53 positions statewide would cost about $4 million dollars annually, and would be funded starting in 2019. He says increased state sales tax revenues would help pay for the positions. Representative John Nygren of Marinette also authored the bill.
