By Mark David Blum, Esq.
Someday in Onondaga County, voters will elect a new District Attorney. I have no idea who this person will be. But, the incumbent is now a four term resident and sooner or later, he will resign or be voted out. On a personal level, I have dealt with the incumbent only once. That event involved a swan killer and hours before jury selection in Kevin Mulroy’s chambers, Kevin kept us from coming to blows. As a defense attorney in this market since 1992, my professional perspective is definitely myopic and any opinion I proffer on the incumbent’s performance would be biased. Thus, I do not opine publicly thereon.
I do have great hope that the next District Attorney will build upon the good work done by the incumbent. His achievements on attacking Domestic Violence are to be applauded. At the same time, my hopes remain high that the next District Attorney will deal with and resolve some very pressing issues that have gone ignored by the officeholder. Either way, it is my hope that eventually we get a new District Attorney in this County.
The next District Attorney should have an open door policy. Once upon a time there was such a policy in this County where defense attorneys and prosecutors had open and easy access to each other. Nowadays, to even talk to a secretary, you have to speak through a squawk box and 6” of bulletproof glass and wait in a sterile prison-esque hallway.
I also look forward to our next District Attorney adopting the attitude of his Albany counterpart and take a hard look at how his office works drug cases. Considering how our drug war has been an absolute failure, costs the system a bazillion dollars, and results in the loss of thousands of lives, enforcement of the drug laws needs to be prioritized. Onondaga County’s next District Attorney should relegate drug possession and drug possession related crimes to lowest priority of prosecution. Jaywalking and cell phone driving should be more vigorously enforced. Let the Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Attorney spend the money for the prosecutions. With so much violence and danger and quality of life issues going ignored; the vast expenditure of large sums of money is a circuitous continuing fool’s errand.
Onondaga County’s next District Attorney should likewise appoint a special prosecutor whose sole purpose is to explore official corruption cases. The incumbent has definitely used the power of his office to engage in prosecutions involving politicians. What I seek in the next District Attorney is an Assistant tasked to explore the hundreds of claims filed against the Syracuse Police Department. Hopefully, that assistant would be tasked to look into why the chances of a black man being arrested in Syracuse for a drug crime are between 2,000 and 4,000 times greater. Claims of violence and abuse pour in from all segments of society. While I fully expect Chiefs of Police to blindly stand behind their officers; prosecutors should not be so quick to just take the word of police.
Politics should never be a part of the calculus for a prosecutor and I look forward to the next District Attorney leaving politics out of the decision making process. Equal protection requires all defendants be treated alike. I anticipate our next District Attorney making this clear to his underlings. It would also be very helpful if our next District Attorney made sure his staff always had their papers in on time, showed up to Court on time, were ready for trial on time, and did not over charge defendants requiring time wasted in clearing up the garbage. So much time and money can be saved by just following the rules.
Our next District Attorney should never behave as though she/he is the private attorney for the victim. Prosecutors have to balance the victim’s interests with those of society. A valid prosecution based on true evidence and lawful process should create the situation where a prosecutor should never have anything to hide. Maybe our next D.A. will follow the Massachusetts model where at arraignment, all statements (including Grand Jury testimony) and other evidence is provided to the defense attorney. How else can a defense attorney give meaningful advice and work with the Court to advance the case to conclusion when prosecutors hide information until the very last moment? Saying that “your client knows what he did” is a stupid way to handle situations where indeed there is an innocent client. Judges and Prosecutors should not be suing each other but should be working together with defense attorneys to get the job done.
Nobody is entitled to an office once elected. Onondaga County has a long history of retaining officeholders until retirement. Witness John Mulroy and Nick Pirro. The incumbent now seated in the big office atop the glass eyesore aka the Criminal Courts Building is seen as politically untouchable. For that reason, no serious challenge has been launched in the last three elections. Having read of the Democrat’s proffer for this year’s election, again it appears that the incumbent will remain for at least one more term. Our Constitution did not envision office entitlement and instead, saw political offices as being a shared responsibility.
In the end, I hope our next District Attorney attacks his job with the same ferocity as our incumbent. Most importantly, however, is the fact that the time has come to inaugurate a “next” District Attorney so that we can move forward. Sixteen years is just too much for any one person.
