State Attorney

What is a State Attorney?
In the U.S., the state attorney is, most commonly, an elected official responsible for representing the state in criminal prosecutions. In the majority of states, the state attorney acts as the chief law enforcement officer of their respective county circuit. The state attorney is analogous to a District Attorney, a Country Prosecutor, a Prosecuting Attorney or a Solicitor (only in the state of South Carolina). 

The following states utilize a state attorney’s office:
• Connecticut
• Florida
• Illinois
• Maryland
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Vermont

The primary duties of state attorneys are typically mandated by law and include: representing their respective state in criminal trials for crimes that occurred in the State’s Attorneys geographical jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the state attorney will be delineated through review of the boundaries of counties, judicial districts or the judicial circuit. 

In addition to the above responsibility, state attorneys are also responsible for: charging crimes through grand jury indictments or information received; following the levy of criminal charges, state attorneys will prosecute those formally charged with a crime; the state attorney will preside over and conduct the fundamental aspects of discovery, plea bargaining and the formal trial. 

In a number of jurisdictions in the United States, state attorneys will act as the chief counsel for the city’s or district’s law enforcement agency, the county police, the state police and all associated state law enforcement organizations within the state attorney’s jurisdiction.  

In addition to the state attorney, many state offices will employ an assistant state’s attorney. These individuals work directly with the state attorney in the state attorney’s office. The assistant state attorney is appointed or hired directly to the position by the elected state attorney. The assistant state attorney derives his or her authority to act on behalf of their respective state in all criminal prosecutions through the state attorney. The responsibilities and duties of the assistant state attorney overlap with state attorneys; an assistant state attorney will represent the state (serve as the prosecutor) in all criminal proceedings. The caseload of the assistant state attorney will typically be regarded as being exorbitant with regards to volume; the assistant state attorney will have anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred active cases at a given juncture. 


Organization of State Attorneys:
A state’s attorney will typically divide their responsibilities and services into a number of departments that will each handle different aspects of criminal law. Each department will be staffed by a number of sworn and formally appointed state attorneys. The departments of a large state attorney office will include, but are not limited to the following: misdemeanor, felony, domestic violence, juvenile, charging, case filing, drug prosecution, traffic, civil affairs, child advocacy, victim assistance, child support, career criminal prosecution, homicide, organized crime, administration and investigations. 


State Attorney: Appeals Process
Depending on the particular state laws, the appeals process will either be moved to the appellate courts or the superior, supreme courts. During the appellate procedure, state attorneys, in the bulk of cases, will transfer all prosecution materials to the coordinating State Appellate Prosecutor who in turn will represent the particular state in the appeals process with the consent and advice of the state attorney. State attorneys in smaller jurisdictions will be responsible for motions, grand jury indictments, proceedings and trying matters by bench or jury until a verdict is achieved. In larger jurisdictions, state attorneys will act as the administrator and will delegate the majority of trial work to the Assistant Distrct Attorney or the Assistant State Attorneys.