Amazingly useful, time-saving DNA resources for prosecutors.

We are busy. We are, actually, swamped. We are DAs - it's a way of life for us. So, when I come across something that saves me time - and in this case an incredible amount of time - I save it. And I share it.

Check out this website for a minute or two and come right back:

http://www.denverda.org/DNA/DNA_INDEX.htm

Seems our friends at the District Attorney's office in Denver have decided that since they know everything about DNA and prosecution, they might as well share it with the world. Here you'll find everything from helpful caselaw on admissibility of the different types of DNA identification to (get this) a template for how to prepare a John Doe arrest warrant based on nothing more than a DNA profile. Yep, that's right - if all you have is a DNA profile of a suspect, and no name or other physical description, you can maybe still get your case on file. Pretty cool when you need to avoid pesky statute of limitations issues, probably. Good stuff on post-conviction use of DNA. I like how all of this is freely available to the entire world, including the defense.

And if you didn't click on the above link, just check out this stash of information:

http://www.denverda.org/DNA/Forensic_DNA_Articles.htm

So, kudos to you, Mr. Denver DA. Seems this Morrissey guy is pretty generous.

Enjoy!

-Frank and the YFTP Staff

Number Nine . . . the countdown continues.

Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope that you all have had a wonderful holiday so far, with lots of love and family - whatever "family" happens to mean to you. I had a great time with my wife and kids this morning, and now we have all hit the traditional Christmas afternoon wall - a combination of post-Christmas hysteria relaxation, naptime, and caffeine/sugar crash. Everyone is asleep or reading quietly . . . except for me, that is. Your intrepid guide is hard at work here at YFTP . . . although the half-eaten pies on counter are leering at me menacingly. I wonder if there's any milk left?

And so, pies aside, this brings me to Number Nine on the countdown of the Top Ten best things about being a prosecutor.

NUMBER NINE

9. Telling People What You Do.

Okay, okay, I promise. I'm going to get to the big picture justice stuff really soon. And a lot of people in our business tell me that they avoid telling people what they do at all costs. But come on - you know what I mean here. You're at big dinner at a nice restaurant with a group of new friends. People are slowly getting to know each other, and are talking about what they do for a living.

Bob: Yeah, I'm a project manager for State Farm. I mainly focus on year-end projection evaluations, trying to combine best practices from past years into a quality-based interaction between . . . . .

Sarah: Well, I used to teach high school, but I've gone back to school to get my MBA. I'm hoping for an intership at a money market management firm here in town.

Richard: I'm an attorney at Howell and Gerszt. I do a combination of tax planning and bankruptcy law.

Tanya: I'm a dental hygeniest.

And so it goes, people talking about their jobs. Then someone asks you.

You: I'm a prosecutor in the Child Sex Crimes Unit of the DA's office. I mainly prosecute violent child molestors and online child predators. I tried 9 jury trials this year, and in all my team and I have put 14 criminal pedophiles in prison in the last 6 months.

Now, if you're really a child sex abuse prosecutor, and this is your answer, you already know that half the people at the table will recoil in horror at the nature of your work. The other half will be drawn to it like motorists looking at a ten-car pile-up on the Santa Anna. But all of them will ultimately want to know more. You will, of course, be very circumspect in the details of what you do. It's really almost never appropriate to blurt out "Yeah, my last case, I had this 7 year old boy who had been anally penetrated 15 times over a two year period by his Dad." But regardless of what else you say, you have the most fascinating job of anyone at the table.

And all of them will ask (or at least want to know) "How in the world do you handle seeing all that awful stuff day in and day out?" And you answer it kindly and truthfully: "It's hard work but it's the most rewarding work I could ever imagine doing."

And you are right.

Although you might not share details with most people at a dinner party, I still find a lot of relief in knowing that when I see my family (parents, siblings, etc.) on family get-togethers, the intense interest that they have in my work gives me a great chance to vent and decompress. I get to answer questions about my last trial, about the last "big" case I had that was in the newspaper, about how that certain victim that I became close friends with is doing - all that stuff. It's way easier to share that with those closest to you, and in addition to decompressing, this type of frank talk about this business of ours really allows me, for one, to step outside of the drudgery of my own professional world and see our work objectively again, for what it is - a vital public service on both a macro and micro level. And it is a great chance to allow myself to get pumped back up about my job.

So, that's number nine. Our staff is still working on the next several entries. Up next in a few days: Number Eight on our countdown of The Best Things About Being a Prosecutor.

Ta Ta for now, and please - try not to eat ALL of the leftover pie yourself. At least not all at once.

Ho Ho Ho,

Frank and the YFTP staff

Silent Injuries - A resource for child sexual assault professionals.

Hi all. A few weeks ago I discovered a great resource for information about the vicarious trauma that goes along with prosecuting child sexual abuse. I have spent over half of my career as a DA doing this type of work, so it was interesting to see the extent of these injuries. It seems there's a lot more work to do, but just read some of these statistics. It's pretty amazing. There's also a questionnaire you can do if you are interested.

Anyway, we here at You For The People are, of course, interested in public service, so here is the link. I highly recommend a couple of minutes, at least, of perusing this site:

http://silentinjuries.com/

-Frank

The Top Ten Countdown . . .

Why is it that we love Top Tens? Why is it, really, that we love lists? I think it's probably because we are generally lazy beings, and reading a top ten list seems like a quick way to learn a LOT about something. And it's sorta like a mini-competition, no? And we are definitely competitive beings - especially human prosecutor beings.

So, here's the deal - the Top Ten Best Things About Being A Prosecutor. We will start with number ten and over the next couple of weeks work our way down to the best. Feel free to comment - disagree, submit, anything - along the way.

NUMBER TEN

10. Never Having To Bill Your Time.

Yes, yes, I know - you were probably expecting something way more moving and emotional, like "doing justice!!" But see, Number Ten on any list has a purpose, and here its purpose is to remind us of why many of us considered leaving private practice. The curse of billing time is a time-sucker, a life-killer - in other words, it's bad. Every day, or every week, or if you're really negligent, once a month, you are reminded that every minute of your life is tracked like the numbers of hairs on the back of a lab rat in a comsmetics testing lab. You must account for what you do. You must objectify yourself. You must break your entire professional existence down to dollars and cents according to ticks of the clock. Then you have to worry about how the others in your firm will feel about you spending so much time on that "courtesy" project for your potential new client. And then you have to worry about how one of your other clients is going to feel about you spending 18.75 writing and researching that motion for summary judgment that turns on that new, fascinating legal issue.

And then you have to worry about getting paid . . . .

But those of us in the government have no such worries. Most of us have the ability to prioritize our work and our efforts toward the goals that are really important. If we want to spend an entire week, day and night, writing a response to a motion to dismiss in a really important sexual assault case because the victim is really, really connected to you and counting on you, then we do it. If we want to spend an entire Saturday writing a closing argument in a case that will only take 3 days to try, we do it. If we want to spend three hours taking a child abuse victim bowling and to a McDonalds playground for lunch because you and your team really need to connect with him before he gets on the stand, then we do it.

We work at what needs our attention. And then we go home. There's no hour per day spent justifying anything. We seek justice, we keep looking forward, and keep thinking that tomorrow will be better for our having done it.

Have a great holiday, everyone!!

-Frank

Next: Number Nine on our list of the Top Ten Best Things About Being A Prosecutor.

You For The People . . . Prosecutors unite!

Greetings, everyone. Welcome to the first day of the rest of our lives as prosecutors. The battle. The struggle. The judges. The defense attorneys. The spittle. The stories. The demands on our mental, physical and emotional health. And . . . the victims. They all form a part of our lives, and our lives make up this blog.

It's the holidays. In a few minutes it will officially be Christmas Eve. The dockets are light for the next week, so hopefully this will get fleshed out into a full-fledged inaugural post. But for now, I leave you with this, ever-hopeful link to the "pay my student loans because I'm a public servant" bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-916

Merry Christmas, everyone.

-Frank TJ Mackey Esq., and all of us here at You For The People