Prosecutor

gregs@herald-mail.com While Assistant Washington County State's Attorney Viki Pauler is getting used to her new job as the county's violent crime prosecutor, law enforcement officials are holding high hopes for her latest position. Pauler, 29, will be the state's attorney who handles the majority of violent crimes in the county. She will be on call for homicides, robberies, rapes and serious assaults, and follow the case from beginning to end. The tactic is a shift in how most cases have been handled until now. There are two prosecutors who handle felony drug cases, but aside from high-profile homicides or other major cases, case files generally shift from prosecutor to prosecutor as they move through the judicial system, which usually is over the course of several months, and sometimes more than a year.

Washington County State's Attorney Ken Long made a surprise appearance Thursday in the Washington County Circuit Court building as a juror. Long said he didn't try to use his leverage as one of the county's top law enforcers to get him out of jury duty, but the irony didn't keep others from having a good time at his expense. "I wanted to do my civic duty. If you get the opportunity to do it, do it," said Long, who usually spends his days upholding the laws of Maryland as the county's chief prosecutor.

Prosecutor may get pay increase ANNAPOLIS - Washington County lawmakers reduced a proposed pay increase for the local state's attorney Friday, but the move might end up meaning even more money for the position than originally requested. That's because the legislation, approved by a 5-3 vote of the delegation, ties the state's attorney's salary to 90 percent of the pay of District Court judges. A raise has been proposed for the judges this year. The original proposal calls for raising the pay for the state's attorney from $67,840 to $89,200, a 31 percent increase.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W. Va. - Fearing a staff exodus to higher-paying jobs, Berkeley County Prosecutor Pamela Games-Neely received permission Thursday to give assistant prosecutors raises nearly four times what other county employees can get. Two of Berkeley County's six assistant prosecutors left this month for jobs in Jefferson County - Gina Groh to be a prosecutor, and Hassan Rasheed to be a public defender. Three other prosecutors "have job offers on the table" and a seventh position is open, Games-Neely told the Berkeley County Commission.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - Gina Marie Groh, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Jefferson and Berkeley counties since 1998, has been appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to the new judgeship for the Eastern Panhandle's 23rd Judicial Circuit. Manchin announced the 42-year-old attorney's appointment Friday in conjunction with filling two vacancies in the 4th and 9th circuits. "After a very thorough selection process and careful consideration, I am pleased to announce the appointment of three individuals who will be outstanding additions to the quality pool of jurists we're fortunate to have leading West Virginia's legal system," Manchin said in a press release.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - After initial DNA tests failed to provide a match, the Franklin County District Attorney's last week petitioned the court for a second set of tests on a man charged with raping a woman last year on the Appalachian Trail. Terry A. Boose, 33, of Gardners, Pa., also was charged with involuntary sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and simple assault in an attack on a 28-year-old Delaware woman last June on a remote section of trail in Quincy Township.

Brandon Morris' defense attorneys' contention that the Maryland death penalty method by lethal injection is "cruel and unusual punishment" is a "premature" argument, Washington County State's Attorney Charles P. Strong said in a response to one of about 50 motions defense attorneys filed in late July. Prosecutors on Friday filed responses to the motions filed July 28 by defense attorneys for Brandon Morris, 20, an inmate who faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the Jan. 26 shooting of Roxbury Correctional Institution Officer Jeffery Alan Wroten.

pepperb@herald-mail.com The trial of a man charged in the shooting death of a New Jersey man on North Jonathan Street in 2002 began in Washington County Circuit Court Monday with the prosecution's witnesses disagreeing on what clothes the shooter was wearing, but agreeing that the man's build fit that of the defendant. Karim Ali Ward, 28, whose last address before his arrest was 1725 Springhouse Court, Frederick, Md., is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and several handgun charges in the Dec. 14, 2002, death of Carl Anthony Wallace, 28, of Asbury Park, N.J. In his opening statement, Washington County Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Michael told the jury of eight women and four men that six people were gathered in front of 466 N. Jonathan St. in the early morning hours when the shooting occurred.

Editor's note: This is another in a series of Eastern Panhandle candidate previews that The Herald-Mail will be running over the next several months. The announcements also will be posted on our website, www.herald-mail.com, through the West Virginia primary on May 8. To submit announcements, email them and a color photo (preferably a jpeg) to billk@herald-mail.com or matthew.umstead@herald-mail.com. Any questions? Call 301-791-7281. Jefferson County Prosecutor Ralph Lorenzetti has announced his candidacy for a second four-year term.

The popularity of forensic television shows worries some prosecutors, who fear jurors will expect that DNA and fingerprint evidence will be collected with the same precision as it is on TV. Read the full story in Tuesday's Herald-Mail newspapers.