WASHINGTON — Under the category of “things that won’t go away” comes another bill to try and get a local prosecutor for the District of Columbia. Right now the U.S. Attorney handles both federal and local crimes.
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has once again introduced a bill that would create a local district attorney post, according to BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes.
“There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to our residents, or on which we have less say, than the prosecution of local crimes here,” the legal blog quoted Norton as saying in a statement while introducing the bill last week.
“A U.S. Attorney has no business in the local criminal affairs of a local jurisdiction,” she added. “This bill simply would make the District’s prosecutor accountable to the people by electing him or her, as elsewhere in the nation.”
BLT says Norton introduced similar bills in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
