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Friday, November 24, 2006
Ind. Courts - Howard County prosecutor to work full time
Dean Hockney of the Kokomo Perspective reports today:
Howard County has not had a full-time prosecuting attorney for years, until now. James Fleming has announced that he will notify state officials of his intention to become a full-time prosecutor for the citizens of Howard County."I have to notify the Circuit Court and the Supreme Court of my intent sometime before the first of the year, and that looks like what I am going to do now that the election is over," said Fleming from his office in the Howard County Courthouse. "I have been prosecutor for 12 years. It seems that over those 12 years my duties and responsibilities in both the prosecutor's office and my civil practice have escalated to where I cannot do both and give the kind of attention to the details to each side that is required. So, it is time that I just have to go with one and not the other."
He explained that as prosecutor, the caseload has increased while his staffing of deputy prosecutors has not.
"Every year we get new laws to enforce," he said. "For example, when I took office there were no such things as laws for sex offenders or child pornography on the Internet. At the a same time, few laws come off the books. Each year we also get more and more committees and meetings to attend, like the Child Protection Services Team, Jail Committee, Courthouse Security Committee, Child Abuse Committee -- all of those things seem like more than the past year and have come into existence in the last few years."
Fleming said his civil practice, including his office building, will close as he works full-time for the taxpayers.
"My partner, Tom Simmons, is retiring, so we are going to sell our building," said Fleming. "I have a for sale sign on the building, and we will see if anyone wants to buy it. If we can't sell it, we may rent it."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 24, 2006 03:14 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts