Nevada state taxpayers have a lot of questions that could and should be asked of the Clark County district attorney’s office.
Witnesses are legally required to be paid $25 to appear in court as well as being paid for their milage. However, recent news on private email exchanges has brought to light how the DA’s office wasted more than 300k on witness payments.
By way of employees using fake subpoenas, officers being paid to appear in court who were already on duty and the DA’s office
extending witness payment to include pre-trial meetings, it was estimated that a total of $337,200 of taxpayer money was spent in “wasted money”.
The issue first came to light after a prosecution witness told defense attorneys she had lied to get money to fuel her crack cocaine habit. She got $25 for showing up and another $25 for a taxi she said she didn’t take.
One concern this alleged occurrence brings into question is the validity of witness statements and the authenticity of the prosecution’s cases.
While there was an internal investigation was conducted in 2014 to audit fiscal efficiency, no action taken or investigation into best practices with concern to criminal justice.
In 2014, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, Tod Story, called for the state attorney general’s office to take action about the DA’s office. No action was taken on the matter.
According to Story, at this point it would take an outside agency coming in to scour the books to ensure that justice as well as taxpayer money is safe-guarded.
