In Santa Clara County, for instance, the colleagues of suspended deputy DA Field rallied against the threat of more oversight. Last year the Government Attorneys Association—the bargaining unit for the county's deputy DAs, public defenders, and child-support lawyers—drafted legislation that would shift the investigation and prosecution of misconduct charges against State Bar prosecutors from the Office of Trial Counsel to the state attorney general's office. The measure, titled the State Bar Fairness Act, also would establish a statute of limitations: Any investigation must begin within three years of the discovery of the alleged misconduct; formal charges would have to be filed no more than a year later. And under the proposal, prosecutors acquitted of charges could recover defense costs.
Nye Frank on 16 Mar 10Providing the Context: The Federal Criminal Justice System In the United States, there are two distinct judicial systems: the federal judicial system that enforces federal laws, rules and regulations, and provides interpretations of the U.S. Constitution; and the various state and local judicial systems that enforce state laws, rules and regulations, and interprets the state constitution. The state courts have general power to decide nearly every type of case, subject only to the limitations of state law, the state's constitution, and the U.S. Constitution. In general, the state courts handle most criminal matters; the kinds of criminal violations that the general public thinks of as
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