Caseload Comparison: Eddy County State's Attorney breaks down activity in annual report; compares Eddy County's caseload to that of neighboring counties

Eddy County State's Attorney Ashley Lies has just finished her first full year as county prosecutor. In 365 days she and her part-time assistant have handled more than 150 criminal cases. Her office has also established communication protocols with local law enforcement and courthouse staff, documented procedures for case management and prosecution and began work to form a Civil Asset Forfeiture Board and County Reorganization Board.

As shown in Chart A, Eddy County's criminal caseload has nearly doubled from five years ago. In 2014, prior to Sheriff Paul Lies' election in 2015, the Eddy County State's Attorney's office handled 79 criminal cases. In 2019, the total has increased by 92%, to 152 cases.

State's Attorney Lies says local law enforcement deserves the praise. "Our deputies and Sheriff have done an outstanding job investigating complaints and crime and protecting our county!" she noted in a Dec. 23 email to the Transcript.

Due to this increase in caseload, the state has added three master calendar dates to Eddy County's schedule in 2020, which Lies says is much needed.

Lies presented an annual report to the Eddy County Commission on Dec. 17, and in it contained statistics which compared the population and caseloads of Eddy County with that of its neighbors, Foster and Wells counties. As illustrated in Chart B, Eddy County charged 61% more cases than Wells County, who has a full-time prosecutor. Lies was quick to note that Wells County State's Attorney Kathleen Murray did prosecute more felony cases than both Eddy and Foster in 2019.

Even with newly-elected prosecutor Kara Brinster at the helm, and a 44% increase in caseload compared to 2018, Foster County processed fewer cases than Eddy County this year. Lies's office prosecuted 18% more cases than its southern neighbor.

Chart C and D illustrate that Eddy County processes more criminal cases than its neighbors, even though it has disproportionately less population. Lies' office handled 40% of the total caseload for all three counties combined, or seven cases per 100 residents. That compares to just two cases for Wells County (25%) and four for Foster County (35%).

This has been a year of firsts for Lies. In her first year as a prosecutor, Lies made her first trip to the N.D. Supreme Court to argue a criminal case. In State v. Amanda Dockter (Case 14-2016-CR-00125), Dockter pleaded guilty to Child Neglect, a Class C Felony. On Nov. 9, 2017, the Court sentenced her to one year and one day in jail with 336 days suspended for five years, and that during said period she would be on supervised probation.

Dockter's probation officer filed a Petition for Revocation after she tested positive for methamphetamine in November and December 2017, and for convictions of "Child Neglect, a Class C Felony, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a Class A Misdemeanor, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a Class B Misdemeanor, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, a Class C Felony, and Ingestion of a Controlled Substance, a Class A Misdemeanor," all charges in Stutsman County (Case 47-2018-CR-00008).

At the Revocation of Probation hearing, Dockter admitted the allegations of the Petition. Based on the State's recommendation, the Court committed her to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for a period of 1 year and 1 day, with credit for 31 days served, and placed her on probation for 5 years.

She appealed the decision, and on June 10, 2019, her attorney Samuel A. Gereszek and Lies went before the Supreme Court for Oral Argument on the case. Gereszek argued two main issues: First, that the 5-year term of supervised probation was illegal, and second, that although she admitted the allegations, she was not in violation of her probation as she committed the offenses in 47-2018-CR-00008 prior to her release from incarceration on 14-2016-CR-125. The Court sided with the State and found she did violate her probation, upholding the District Court's sentence, but did remand the District Court to correct the five year supervised probation term, which was illegal. On Dec. 12, 2019, Dockter's supervised probation period was reduced to the three year maximum allowed by law.

With 2020 on the horizon, Lies outlined several goals for her second year in the role. The most quantifiable is to consistently file charges within one week of receiving information from the Eddy County Sheriff's Office. Also on the docket are presenting quarterly informational seminars to the public, finishing the digitization process of all case files and researching drug addiction alternatives to prosecution.

The full report is available on our website, at http://www.newrockfordtranscript.com.