‘Help wanted’: Indianapolis taking applications for special federal prosecutors
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — City and federal leaders on Tuesday said new special prosecutors will be a powerful tool in the fight against violent crime.
The Indianapolis City-County Council last week approved $225,000 to fund three special assistant U.S. attorney positions. The attorneys would work for the city, but focus solely on bringing federal charges in crimes involving guns.
Zach Myers, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, which includes Indianapolis, says federal law clearly limits what crimes his office can and cannot prosecute. Despite this, it still leaves him with plenty of options to go after Indy’s worst criminals.
“Robberies of businesses, robberies of banks, carjackings, those are things that we are able to bring federal charges on in the right cases with or without firearms, but firearms significantly escalate the aggravating circumstances that make us more likely to bring the case federally,” he said.
Myers says federal charges usually carry longer prison terms than state charges, especially since possessing or using a firearm in a crime often brings a mandatory minimum sentence.
Moreover, if someone commits crimes in several different locations, Myers says federal prosecutors can consolidate all of those charges into one trial and negotiate a single, long prison sentence based on all of the charges on which someone is convicted. The federal court system also does not allow for cash bail or parole.
Mayor Joe Hogsett, who held Myers’ job a decade ago, says he would like to see the program become permanent.
“I would think any mayor of Indianapolis would want to take advantage of this type of commitment,” the Democrat mayor said.
The program already is winning praise from one community advocate. The Rev. Charles Harrison, president of Indy Ten Point Coalition, says he estimates most of the violence in Indianapolis stems from the actions of 200 to 400 people.
He adds that removing those people from the streets via federal charges will do much to bring down the number of shootings and homicides. Harrison says he doesn’t believe the program will lead to over-policing because of limits on federal jurisdiction.
“If you focus on violent crimes and not nonviolent crimes, I think you’re going to focus on just a small percentage of the people who are causing the problem,” he said. “We need to get those individuals off the street and not allow them to terrorize these neighborhoods.”
Myers and Hogsett say anyone who lives in Marion County and has a law degree and three years of litigation experience can apply for the special assistant attorney positions online.