Request By:
Mr. Carl G. Cunnagin
Jackson County Attorney
Courthouse
McKee, Kentucky 40447
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your letter presents three questions concerning the duties of the county attorney:
"(1) Does the County Attorney now have any duty imposed on him either by statute or rule, to handle or assist in the handling of criminal trials in circuit court, in a county or district which has a commonwealth attorney and an assistant commonwealth attorney?
"(2) If the answer to the above question is in the negative, does the county attorney have any right to voluntarily handle or assist in the handling of criminal trials or proceedinge in the circuit court?
"(3) Does the county attorney have any duty imposed upon him to work with or assist the quand jury, and if so, what are they? If not, can he voluntarily do so within his rights?"
As relates to criminal trials in circuit court, under KRS 15.725(3), "when necessary, the commonwealth's attorney and county attorney shall assist each other in prosecution within their respective courts. The commonwealth's attorney is responsible for prosecutions in the circuit court, and the county attorney is responsible for prosecutions in the district court. KRS 15.725(1) and (2). However, subsection (3) requires a cooperative effort and mutual assistance, on the part of the commonwealth's attorney and county attorney, in pursuing prosecutions in their respective courts. On the face of it, the General Assembly has left it up to the commonwealth's attorney and county attorney in determining precisely the need and application of mutual assistance. Finally, the above mutual aid policy obtains, regardless of the size of the staffs involved, except that obviously the availability of staff members of both officers must be carefully considered in applying the legislative policy.
Since Question 1 involves a basically affirmative answer, Question No. 2 is academic, since Question No. 1 hinges on the phrase "when necessary", as involving mutual assistance.
As concerns Question No. 3, mutual assistance, when necessary under KRS 15.725, would include the county attorney's assisting in presenting criminal matters to the grand jury in circuit court. As we said above, your volunteering is not the criterion. Your giving assistance to the commonwealth's attorney will be based upon the necessity for your help. It was written in Rouse v. Johnson, 234 Ky. 473, 28 S.W.2d 745 (1930) that statutes should be given practical interpretation to carry out manifest purpose. Here the General Assembly, in KRS 15.725, is declaring that district court and circuit court are not two mutually exclusive courts, as relates to prosecutorial effort. The statute pragmatically underscores the need for mutual aid of the prosecutors.