Limiting the power of the Prosecutor (Score 1)

There might be some possible solutions to poor judgment like this. First, something like this should go before a grand jury. Any prosecutor worth his or her salt can get anything past a grand jury. But if you allowed the defendant to have legal representation in the indictment process (as opposed to a one sided process), you introduce an opportunity to dismiss the potential charge before it does harm to the defendant. Second, if the appeals court feels that a prosecutor over stepped his bounds (to play on populist attitudes that generally are contrary to the law or for any other reason) and that the prosecutor should have used better judgment, they should be able to recommend the removal of the prosecutor or at least some serious disciplinary action. This might make grand standing to win the upcoming election more risky. Perhaps, if a Prosecutor has three such actions against him he should be impeached. Citizens have a right to have a prosecutor with common sense and sound knowledge of the law and to have the ability to remove someone from office if his superiors find repeatedly that he does not have those "advertised" qualities. This case would not have happened in many parts of the country. This prosecutor obviously holds the same conservative or religious values as those who elected him and he actually thinks he's doing the right thing. There also should be a preliminary hearing process where the court appoints a child advocate to argue exactly the same type of arguments made in this forum--that prosecuting the victim is not what the law intended, etc. The judge should be able to throw the matter out before it proceeds based on this alone or order the prosecutor to break down the charges to a more realistic charge such as juvenile delinquency or disorderly conduct or whatever "fits" local laws best. I once worked as a legislative assistant for a Member of Congress. The boss hates anti porn bills because no matter how unconstitutional it was, he couldn't vote against it and expect the voters of our district to understand. They were too conservative. So he and others sometimes inserted provisions that would make them unconstitutional so he was seen as opposing demon porno and at the same time know it would be overturned by the courts and go away. Prosecutors may feel the same pressures. Maybe one ten year term with no re-election opportunity would solve this. Kelly