Kym L. Worthy accuses Wayne Co. Ficano's administration of mismanagement
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy held a press conference Wednesday morning to discuss the consequences of Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano action March 14, in which he laid off 26 of the Wayne County prosecutor's office contractual employees. A T.V. slide-show stood beside her higgling quotes from news articles expressing some of the controversies surrounding Ficano. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)
DETROIT, MI - Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says there are nearly 40 known murderers, 180 child abusers and up to 150 sexual predators freely roaming the streets of Detroit and Wayne County.
That's because she doesn't have staff members to investigate the cases and secure warrants.
"It is a fact that public safety is not an issue in this town," she told members of the Wayne County Commission Public Safety Committee Wednesday while making a plea for more funding.
Worthy and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano have been in a budget battle since 2012. Worthy says Ficano reneged on a three-year deal and slashed her office's budget. The result: she lost 73 employees, including 61 attorneys, making it difficult for her office to operate effectively.
Worthy sued Ficano and the county over her budget, and, in late-April, announced her office reached a tentative agreement that would increase her budget by $5 million. On Wednesday, Worthy said the case is dragging out and unresolved.
Speaking decisively and with an air of frustration, Worthy explained how her lack of resources is impacting the county.
One of the biggest issues, she said, is "not-in-custody" warrants, or cases police have completed their investigations on, but her office hasn't had time to review and present for charges. That means the suspects remain free.
"Every day is a situation of holding your breath, hoping that something is not going to happen a night before, the week before, and then we go through these not-in-custody warrants and, lo and behold, a warrant request that was in there is a person who did something awful," she said.
She spoke about green attorneys being forced to take cases above their experience level, attorneys reading case files as they enter the courtroom and not being able to collect evidence or speak to witnesses prior to trial.
This is causing the office's 95-percent-plus conviction rates to plummet, sometimes to 70 percent or lower.
"If that is acceptable to people, either on this committee or the people in this county, then fine," Worthy told the committee. "If that's acceptable behavior to the victims of crime in our county, then I guess we're doing OK."
About a month ago Worthy sat around the table with prosecutors from some of the largest cities in this nation while at a conference in Washington D.C. and discussed staffing.
"Everybody has double and triple what we have here for jurisdictions about our relative size," Worthy said. "We are a laughing stock. In fact, they use us as an example of how not to run the office of the prosecutor across this country."
Committee members seemed sympathetic to Worthy's plight and are planning to meet with members of her staff some time after Thanksgiving.
"I really hate that we're being viewed nationally as a joke," said Commissioner Irma Clark-Coleman. "If I could wave a magic wand and give you what I know you deserve I would do just that. It's just hard considering we're getting cut to the bone."
The county entered the 2013-2014 fiscal year facing a $155 million deficit.