Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Many Mississippi judicial districts are likely to get additional prosecutors after Gov. Phil Bryant revived an effort Wednesday to add assistant district attorneys.

Bryant called a special session after House and Senate negotiators couldn't reach an agreement on a bill that would have added more prosecutors and judges. That measure, House Bill 1026, died at a Monday deadline, as the two chambers argued over adding new judges and rearranging the boundaries of the circuit and chancery districts that cover the state's 82 counties.

The new bill that emerged Wednesday will add a new prosecutor in 14 circuits on Nov. 1. Two of those circuits, one covering Madison and Rankin counties and one covering Jackson, George and Greene counties, will get a second new prosecutor on July 1, 2015. The remaining 14 circuit districts will retain their current number of prosecutors.

Though lawmakers were still moving the bills through Wednesday, there was little opposition.

Bryant said Wednesday at the Governor's Mansion that the new prosecutors were assigned based on demand.

"This needs to be on who needs them the most," he said. "Who needs the most assistant district attorneys, and who needs the most judges? And that should be where we put our resources."

House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Mark Baker, R-Brandon, said the 14 new prosecutors allotted for the budget year beginning July 1 would cost $1.4 million. That money had already been put into the state's budget. Another $640,000 that had been set aside for additional justice personnel will be transferred to augment the budget for the state's drug courts.

Ricky Smith, the president of the Mississippi Prosecutor's Association, said that in his three-county circuit, Warren County currently is paying for a third assistant district attorney.

"The Warren County Board of Supervisors should not be saddled with a state responsibility," said Smith, whose circuit also covers Issaquena and Sharkey counties.

He said new prosecutors would allow other circuits to reduce per-prosecutor caseloads.

The governor said the additional assistants will allow district attorneys to choose to go to trial more often.

"We have, too often, plea bargains because DAs are just understaffed," Bryant said. "If you're at that type of situation where you're looking at going into a trial or a plea bargain, we want them to have that choice."

Because lawmakers were already meeting, the practical effect of the special session was to revive the issue. Bryant is calling on lawmakers to forgo any additional daily pay they would receive as a result of the special session.