In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct or prosecutorial overreach is "an illegal act or failing to act, on the part of a prosecutor, especially an attempt to sway the jury to wrongly convict a defendant or to impose a harsher than appropriate punishment." It is similar to selective prosecution. Prosecutors are bound by a sets of rules which outline fair and dispassionate conduct.
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, state attorney or solicitor is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties. The exact name and scope of the office varies by state. Generally, the prosecutor represents the people of the jurisdiction and in many states their authority stems from the state constitution. Unlike similar roles in other common law judicial systems, these are elected.
In the United States, a special counsel is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority. Other jurisdictions have similar systems. For example, the investigation of an allegation against a sitting president or attorney general might be handled by a special prosecutor rather than by an ordinary prosecutor who would otherwise be in the position of investigating his or her own superior. Special prosecutors also have handled investigations into those connected to the government but not in a position of direct authority over the Justice Department's prosecutors, such as cabinet secretaries or election campaigns.
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against the defendant, an individual accused of breaking the law. Typically, the prosecutor represents the state or the government in the case brought against the accused person.
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal criminal prosecutor in their judicial district and represents the U.S. federal government in civil litigation in federal and state court within their geographic jurisdiction. U.S. attorneys must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, after which they serve four-year terms.
The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, the office represents the United States government in criminal and civil cases across the country. The SDNY handles a broad array of cases, including but not limited to those involving white collar crime, domestic terrorism, cybercrime, public corruption, organized crime, and civil rights disputes.
Nolle prosequi, abbreviated nol or nolle pros, is legal Latin meaning "to be unwilling to pursue". It is a type of prosecutorial discretion in common law, used for prosecutors' declarations that they are voluntarily ending a criminal case before trial or before a verdict is rendered; it is a kind of motion to dismiss and contrasts with an involuntary dismissal. This has been used frequently in the state of Virginia.
The United National South West Party was a political party in South West Africa, the local counterpart of the South African United Party but founded eight years earlier and merged into the latter in 1971. It was formed through a merger of National Party of South West Africa and the South West Party, in order to counter the influence of the German League in South West Africa. The first congress of UNSWP was held in Windhoek on 1–2 April 1927.
Evelle Jansen Younger was an American lawyer who served as the California Attorney General from 1971 to 1979. Prior to his career as Attorney General, he served as the district attorney in Los Angeles where he oversaw the prosecutions of both Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan. In 1978, he had an unsuccessful run as the Republican Party nominee for Governor of California and retired from politics a year later.
The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600, which created the successor office of special counsel. The current regulations were drafted by former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal.
On December 7, 2006, the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice ordered the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States attorneys. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White House were using the U.S. attorney positions for political advantage. Allegations were that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of Republican politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage Democratic politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters. The U.S. attorneys were replaced with interim appointees, under provisions in the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization.
The attorney general of South Dakota is the state attorney general of the U.S. state of South Dakota. The attorney general is elected by popular vote to a four-year term and holds an executive position as the state's chief legal officer. In 1992, the voters approved a constitutional amendment to limit all constitutional officers and the governor to two consecutive four-year terms.
Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought. The grand jury originated under the law of England and spread through colonization to other jurisdictions as part of the common law. Today, however, the United States is one of only two jurisdictions, along with Liberia, that continues to use the grand jury to screen criminal indictments.
A general election was held in the U.S. State of Utah on November 4, 2014. The State's four seats in the United States House of Representatives are up for election and there was a special election for Utah's Attorney General. Primary elections were held on June 24, 2014.
Vekuii Reinhard Rukoro was a Namibian lawyer, businessman, and Paramount Chief of the Herero people. He also served in Namibia's Parliament from 1989 to 2000 and, in Cabinet, as Attorney General of Namibia from 1995 to 2000. Rukoro died on 18 June 2021, of COVID-19.
Charles Joseph Margiotti was a nationally prominent Pennsylvania lawyer who twice served as state attorney general.
The 2010 Michigan Attorney General election took place on November 2, 2010, to elect the Attorney General of Michigan. Two-term incumbent Mike Cox was term-limited by the Michigan Constitution from seeking a third term. Republican Bill Schuette, a former Congressman, state Senator and judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals, defeated Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton with 54 percent of the vote.
Established in 1990, the Ministry of Justice of Namibia provides court representation to ministries, offices, agencies, the master of the High Court, the speaker of the National Assembly, the prosecutor-general, magistrates, the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, regional councils, recognized traditional authorities, and entities associated with the government administration. In 1995, the Ministry of Justice merged with the Attorney General's Office.
The 2022 United States attorney general elections were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorneys general in thirty states, two territories, and one federal district. The previous elections for this group of states took place in 2018. The attorney general of Vermont serves two-year terms and was last elected in 2020.
Mark Alexander Vargo is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd Attorney General of South Dakota. In June 2022, he was appointed by Governor Kristi Noem to fill the vacancy created by Jason Ravnsborg's impeachment and removal from office. He previously served as the State's Attorney of Pennington County, South Dakota.
