Courts
La Crosse County catching up with court cases
They could still use more prosecutors, but the staff of the La Crosse County district attorney’s office is gradually getting control of a heavy caseload.
Deputy DA Jessica Skemp reports to a county board committee that staffers are back at the courthouse after a year of “hybrid” staffing, where some worked from home on a rotation system during the pandemic. COVID-19 hit shortly after the county was assigned two additional prosecutors by the state of Wisconsin.
“The state budget gave us authorization for 10 full-time equivalent attorney positions,” Skemp says. “For many, many years we have been operating at 8 full-time equivalents, which was about 60 per cent of our caseload staffing.”
A recent study said La Crosse County could use up to 13 prosecutors. Skemp says the county has a jury trial scheduled this month, for the first time in over a year.