Huzzah for new DA!

(And by DA I mean District Attorney, not Dumbledore’s Army.) In any case, the ‘Zette ran a thing on Dan May, who’s assuming his new office today. Says the piece:

“I feel in a certain way, I’m more experienced coming on to the job than any district attorney has ever been,” May said. “Working under these attorneys, and working closely with them, I feel better prepared.”

For the past two years, the 4th Judicial District has had the most criminal filings of any district in the state, according to State Court Administrator records.

May’s former bosses include a District Court judge, Barney Iuppa, the state attorney general, John Suthers, former 4th Judicial District Attorney Jeannie Smith and 18th Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers. Former 4th Judicial District Attorney Bob Russel, who served from 1965 to 1985, hired May.

He’s already bringing more experience back to the office from day one. He’s hired longtime former Deputy District Attorney Dan Zook to be his assistant and rehired another longtime deputy, Kim Kitchens. Both have more than 40 years experience as prosecutors between them.

“I’m thrilled to get them back,” said May, who will earn $120,000 per year to oversee the office of about 70 attorneys.

May said he will lobby county commissioners to raise the starting salary for incoming prosecutors, improve training programs to lure more attorneys here and explore programs like law school loan forgiveness. He also plans to privatize some office programs, including the juvenile diversion program which allows first-time offenders to complete a probation-like program and not have convictions entered on their records. That program will be funded with a mix of user fees and corporate sponsorships.

He’s trying to help with El Paso County’s budget crisis on a personal level, too. May is giving back the county-owned sport utility vehicle that was assigned to the district attorney and he’s putting a $27,000 pay raise from the state into the office’s general budget. He estimates that will save more than $200,000 over his four-year term.

Yes, May is Gotham’s great white knight, being that he ain’t nearly the partisan hack/religious separatist that old n’ bad n’ drunk DA John Newsome was. But the question is: how’s May going to work with Sheriff Terry Maketa? Will we see a shift in the culture that has brought about Maketa’s big inflation prison full of drug offenders? Prolly not. But we can always hope. Eh?

Posted by: Aaron Retka in COSsip | Permalink