Standing before a group of Republicans earlier this week, our present DA beamed as he recounted the 95% conviction rate of his office.  Apparently this statistic is frequently used by our District Attorney to trumpet his success.  I know this because after the meeting a member of the group came up to me and said, “Everytime I hear him say that, I cringe.  He will charge a felony, accept a plea to a summary, and call it a win.” 

British Statesman Benjamin Disraeli said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Let me introduce a bit of truth and reality to this creative report.  The office frequently overcharges.  The philosophy seems to be; throw mud on the wall and we’ll see what sticks.  What sticks then counts as a conviction. All this overcharging costs money, and guess who pays?  One case I had was charged as murder 1, carrying a mandatory life term without parole.  The defendant went to a jury trial and was only convicted of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. Under their statistical analysis, that was a conviction.  Show our community what was charged vs. what was convicted.