During his scheduled meeting with the County Commission Tuesday, District Attorney Keith Schroeder talked about the possible need to have additional help during the Jennifer Heckel trials. He told us that its like looking into a crystal ball, that he may need additional help.

He told us that his three top prosecutors will be tied up with the trials surrounding the murder. He expects the preliminary hearing alone to last a week, and the possibility of two trials lasting three weeks. That means the top prosecutors in his office would be tied up with those, that includes himself.

He says he does have one other seasoned prosecutor in the office, that being Cheryl Allen, but she is often tied up with juvenile cases, which is what she normally prosecutes. He has two other attorney’s who are gaining experience, but have been with the office less then two years. He worries that if something big were to happen, or if a lot of preliminary hearings or trials get scheduled during that time, it might be to much for them to handle.

But, what Schroeder brought before the County Commission was something that could be very effective, and certainly cheaper then other options such as bringing an attorney from the Attorney General’s Office, or hiring an attorney as a special prosecutor, and that is to use interns. He told us Kansas University is getting more aggressive in getting the law students the experience they need. They have to be third year law students, and would still need to be supervised.

But, a few years back, they did have a law student from Washburn University. Dan Reynolds got to the point while an intern at the D-A’s office, that he would handle the first appearance in front of Magistrate Judge Randy McEwen and also assist other attorney’s with their cases. He was also the prosecutor in a DUI case and actually won the conviction.

He says they have not attached any money to his budget in recent years for interns, so he hasn’t had any interns in his office for awhile.

Commissioner Brad Dillon suggested the present the commission with a written proposal for funds that may be needed, but Schroeder says he’s not sure he can at this point, because he doesn’t know if some money from KU could be used to fund the interns. If they come, they are paid about 10-dollars and hour, compared with a regular attorney where it could be 100-dollars an hour.