Editorial: Marin deserves fact-based response from its district attorney

The civil grand jury is a court-appointed panel of county residents who investigate the workings of public agencies. Its independence is a bulwark of its report. Its findings should raise eyebrows.

Marin District Attorney Lori Frugoli has some work ahead of her.

She needs to get her office back on track of dependably handling cases with appropriate diligence that’s both fair to victims and those facing charges.

She also needs to answer criticism from the 2022-23 Marin County Civil Grand Jury that recently issued a scathing analysis that turmoil in the DA’s office is “the primary reason” for a substantial backlog of criminal cases in the county.

It certainly is not the first time Frugoli has faced complaints about the time it takes for her office to make decisions and take action.

There are several noteworthy cases that the public has been waiting months for her to render decisions.

Frugoli lays blame on the pandemic, which certainly disrupted investigations and court calendars.

Courthouses up and down California faced similar problems.

But Marin’s DA office has also been staggered by turnover in its ranks of prosecutors and among the grand jury’s recommendations is bringing back at least two on short-term contracts and hiring more paralegals to help the office catch up.

The civil grand jury is a court-appointed panel of county residents who investigate the workings of public agencies. Its independence is a bulwark of its report.

Its findings should raise eyebrows.

Of the 458 felony cases pending in the office in February, 38.4% had been pending more than a year. Twelve percent had been on the books for more than two years.

The situation for misdemeanors, which are usually handled with more dispatch, is even worse – 42% pending for more than a year and 18% for more than two years.

Turnover in the DA’s ranks – since 2019 14 of 30 prosecutors have left – has resulted in increased caseloads and morale issues.

And the grand jury raises issues about the rights of those facing charges to a “speedy and public trial.”

“People in custody awaiting trial are confined under highly restrictive conditions, particularly given that they are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” the report states.

At the same time, delays often make cases more difficult to prosecute. Witnesses move and their memories might fade with time. Police officers change jobs. And in the case of Marin, new prosecutors need to catch up while also managing heavy caseloads.

Also, the longer inmates are in jail, the more it costs local taxpayers. Taxpayers also pay more when it takes longer for prosecutors to handle cases.

The report also cites the office’s failure to meet statutory and constitutional deadlines for responding to discovery requests from defense attorneys – a basic tenet of fairness.

Now Frugoli faces another deadline – the grand jury’s July 14 deadline for her response to its findings and recommendations, which were formulated after interviews with current and former prosecutors, defense attorneys, and probation, police and jail officers.

The public deserves a fact-based response, one that spells out effective remedies for stemming high staff turnover, reducing the backlog and better management of its cases.

The grand jury report spells out the problem. Now, Frugoli needs to tell the public what she’s doing about it.

She is a veteran prosecutor in the Marin office. She knows when it’s firing on all cylinders – the way it should in fairness to victims, those charged, those in jail and awaiting trial and police officers waiting for cases to be determined.

She also needs to detail plans for ending the high rate of turnover in the department. According to the grand jury, office morale is flagging as prosecutors face “overwhelming” caseloads. Pending lawsuits claiming discrimination based on race, gender and age are not helping morale and recruiting to fill vacancies.

The job of the district attorney is to deliver justice. As the saying goes, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

When it comes to Frugoli’s office, the grand jury has concluded the DA is taking too long – a serious criticism that deserves answers.