ABSTRACT
If the crime remains unsolved, life returns very gradually to normal, but to a changed normal. The town will never be the same.
If a suspect is caught, indicted, and brought to trial, everyone in town focuses on the next step. They expect justice, meaning a conviction. If the
One person experiences unique anxiety. The elected county prosecutor, who has never prosecuted a capital case, feels growing pressure not to blow it-not to overlook anything, not to miss or mishandle evidence, not to get trumped by the defense attorney, who has come to town for the duration of the trial. Wisely, the county prosecutor takes the advice of colleagues and asks for assistance from the Office of the Ohio Attorney General. That is when, as attorney general, I would turn to Chief Deputy for Criminal Justice Jim Canepa. He, or one of his staff prosecutors, would carefully review the files, drive to the small town, and prosecute the case before the trial judge in the county courthouse, with the county prosecutor sitting by his side.
