Welcome to our online chat with Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson.

The chat took place at 1:30 p.m. today, Sept. 1, and is now closed, but you can read the full transcript on this page.

Moderator: Good afternoon. Thanks for joining our chat today with Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson.

Mr. Branson is with us today in our News Center office, ready to respond to your questions.

We have a lot of questions already in the hopper, so we’ll get started.

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: Hello, I am glad to be here.

David: Could you explain the reasoning behind devoting so much time and resources to an investigation involving quite simply, a bar fight, which happens all the time.

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: I assume you are referring to the Moon Bar incident (J-W story – Giddens charged in bar brawl). It is important that every crime be investigated, even a bar fight, and where practical, that those responsible be brought to justice. As far as the time spent on this matter by my office, we have spent no more or less time reviewing the matter than we would any other case. This case has just had more publicity than any other case.

Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson responded to questions from readers this afternboon during an online chat on LJWorld.com.

Jonathan: When are you going to start a White Collar or Consumer Protection crime unit? Didn’t you promise something like that in the campaign?

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: Hi Jon. We are in the process of doing that right now. We plan on bringing on a full-time investigator that will be part of the consumer protection program. It is hoped that we will have everything in place by the end of the year. I had hoped to do so sooner, but we have been making a lot of other changes in the office and the roles of support staff to address immediate needs.

Jen, Lawrence: So what have you done differently than your predecessor in the last eight months?

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: We have reassigned many of the support staff roles in the office to try and make things more efficient. We now have two trial assistants that directly support our division (criminal docket) attorneys so that the attorneys can devote more time to being in the courtroom. Additionally, I have revamped our domestic violence program to better assist victims of domestic violence. We are currently working with the KU School of Social Welfare and Women’s Transitional Care Services to develop an intern program to assist victims during the court process. We also will be announcing a new victim witness awareness program in the next few weeks. We have had an attorney cross-designated in the Federal court system to handle serious drug cases that the Feds were unable to take. We are also working on several other projects to make the office more efficient and more responsive to the needs of the public.

JC, Lawrence: Are there any measures the prosecutor’s office can take to help devoid the local courts of non-violent offenders such as minor possession of marijuana other than redirect them do a different class of courts? is this the solution? Why is this being considered? Is it a matter of resources? Do the other courts have the resources and manpower to handle the redirected cases? Do you care?

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: You mentioned drug cases, so I will focus on that a little. It is my philosophy that non-violent first-time drug offenders should be steered toward treatment programs. This can be accomplished by diversion agreements or other similar processes. Another solution is that these cases can be directed to municipal court where they can be expedited for the benefit of the state or city and the defendant. Protracted litigation in any of these cases serves no one.

Tommy, KU journalism: I happened to be a casual observer at your campaign announcement last year in front of the courthouse. You made what I thought was a strange campaign promise “to do more with less”? Don’t get me wrong, I think you have done a great job so far, but… how has that worked out?

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: Tommy, you must be going into investigative reporting.. Good Question. So far we have been able to do just what I promised. The base budget I submitted for the fiscal year 2006 was actually .01% below the 2005 budget. That is practically unheard of in this day and age. However, our final budget did go up with funds to add an additional support staff person due to the expansion of the district court. In January the court expanded to six divisions, not including the pro tem division that was supposed to be eliminated. Instead, the pro tem division was kept and the result is that we had another division to cover. So far, we have been able to make a real difference in the cost of local government.

Justin, Lawrence: What effects do you think would happen with the proposed changing of the marijuana ordinance to municipal court?

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: I think it has the potential of being more efficient. As I stated in an earlier response, protracted litigation serves no one. If the police can write a citation for the offense instead of writing an investigative report, that saves time. If the matter can be heard in one court appearance without bringing in a jury, that saves time and money.

Moderator: This next question will be our last question.

Terri: What, if anything, can be done with regard to all the under-age drinking that goes on in town and out in the country? How often does your office file charges against the owners of bars (or adults) who provide liquor to minors?

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: Most of these charges will likely be municipal court charges unless the report is taken by the sheriff’s department. We work closely with other agencies such as the police department, sheriff’s department and ABC (Kansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division) to prosecute bars and business owners that supply alcohol to minors. I cannot provide you at this moment with the exact number of cases we file on these instances. However, I think the best prevention starts at home.

Moderator: Thanks to everyone for participating today.

Dist. Atty. Charles Branson: Thank you for having me here today. If anyone has questions they did not get answered, please contact me.