Patty Loew:
Record layoffs, high unemployment, home foreclosures. 2009 painted a bleak economic picture in Wisconsin. 2010 might not be any better for a state program that's short of funding. "In Wisconsin"'s Frederica Freyberg joins us to explain.

Frederica Freyberg:
I think it's fair to say that 2010 could be worse for district attorney offices across the state when it comes to budget problems. In fact, the state just sent a notice saying they should expect layoffs, and this comes at a time when prosecutors in DA offices across Wisconsin are already understaffed by nearly 30%, and that's according to the state's own auditors.   

Frederica Freyberg:
Dane County assistant DA Chris Freeman is always on the run.

Chris Freeman:
Paul, could you check me out?

Frederica Freyberg:
Freeman is juggling 400 domestic violence cases.

Chris Free:
I got Cover which is gonna be DD. Bradley is going to be a waiver. Can you do that one first? I feel like constantly we're against the gun. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you there are times you worry things are slipping through the cracks.

Woman:
Right now I'm working on a case of identity theft.

Frederica Freyberg:
Deputy DA Judy Schwamle worries about the same thing.

Judy Schwamle:
My nightmare is that a case sitting in one of these piles here that I haven't gotten to yet involves an offender who is going to commit some more serious crime.

Woman:
October looks like it's the oldest one. Whoops. September. Middle of September.

Frederica Freyberg:
Incoming police reports stack up waiting for prosecutors to make charges. Clerks who manage the stacks say they are overrun.

Elizabeth Hall:
What it is, is it's pile maintenance. It's a whole new category that we've had to develop in the intake office to manage the backlog.

Brian Blanchard:
In Dane County the number of sworn law enforcement has doubled in the last 20 years. We have fewer full-time, permanent assistant district attorney positions than we did 20 years ago.

Frederica Freyberg:
One of the people sounding the alarm over the shortage of assistant district attorneys in Wisconsin is Dane County DA Brian Blanchard.

Brian Blanchard:
Since the state took over this program in 1990 it has been pretty much neglected. There have not been new positions added to match population growth.

Frederica Freyberg:
Population growth means more people to commit crimes. More police means more arrests. It all adds up to more cases, but not more prosecutors to handle them.

Brian Blanchard:
Victims are competing with each other for our attention. Judges are waiting for us to appear in court because we're in multiple courts at the same time. Police and victims and family victims are waiting for us to charge cases.   

Woman:
All rise.

Frederica Freyberg:
According to the state department of administration and the legislative audit bureau, about 120 assistant district attorneys are needed statewide to meet caseload demand.

Suzanne Beaudoin:
I know there's a great presence of law enforcement on the streets, but no one to be able to address the charging decision and the prosecution of the case. It's just causing greater injury. And creating further trauma, so it’s so serious. The crisis is so serious and I can't emphasize it enough.

Frederica Freyberg:
In fact, the victim witness office told us to speak with Brian and Kristin Bott to hear what court delays feel like for victims.

Kristin Bott:
Can you just tell me someday this will end?

Frederica Freyberg:
The Botts’ infant suffered shaken baby syndrome after their daycare provider abused him. It took two years from the time of the babysitter's arrest until she was sentenced to prison.

Kristin Bott:
It's re-victimizing. Every time you try to prep for one of those hearings, you go right back to that initial feeling of what you've been through. And in the meantime, in between, you don't heal, you can't heal. You don't even start healing.

Frederica Freyberg:
They said they had no idea there was a staffing shortage in the DA's office.

Brian Bott:
Never once did we ever feel like our case was not the most important thing to the people that represented us.   

Brian Blanchard:
People do triage. I'm really telling attorneys here, look, you're going to have to look at your 10, 20 most serious cases and really keep track of them in every respect. And you're going to effectively be doing triage on the balance of them.

Frederica Freyberg:
Blanchard says that means only so many minutes per case file, having prosecutors consider plea deals, dismissals. He calls it “strategies to survive the day” and worries it leads to assembly line justice.

Melanie Hampton:
It gets very disheartening for so many officers, detectives, investigators, who put many, many hours into this kind of work.

Frederica Freyberg:
Melanie Hampton is a Madison police investigator and a member of the Dane County board. The documented shortage of prosecutors is out of her hands because for 20 years county prosecutors have been funded by state government.

Melanie Hampton:
One of the things I hope the state legislature does take into consideration is that government does those things that private citizens can't do for themselves. And private citizens can't prosecute their own cases.

Frederica Freyberg:
But the governor released a statement to us saying “the state audit showing the need for more prosecutors does not show a compelling or clear need.   In these tough economic times,  the state is not filling 3,500 jobs that are currently open. Staffing increases are particularly difficult.” No staffing increases in district attorneys offices means prosecutors like Chris Freeman...

Chris Freeman:
It really is a constant juggling act.

Frederica Freyberg:
...will likely not see caseload relief anytime soon.

Frederica Freyberg:
Since that report first aired, we've learned a couple of things about the funding of assistant DAs in Wisconsin. The last state budget found the money to pay for the prosecutors by attaching an extra fee on your utility bills.

Patty Loew:
But even with that fee, there will still be layoffs?

Frederica Freyberg:
Well, that is because the state DAs offices have a more than $2.5 budget shortfall in the next two years. Later this month the state is expected to provide more details about exactly how many people will be laid off.

Patty Loew:
What about furloughs?

Frederica Freyberg:
Well, the assistant DA's union agreed to five furlough days instead of the eight that other state employees are taking and they refused to give up the 2% pay raise that was likewise rescinded for others in the midst of the state's budget crisis.

Patty Loew:
Interesting. Thank you. Frederica Freyberg reporting.