Kleberg County usually has four prosecutors and District Attorney John Hubert, but this month the department is down two prosecutors.
“We’re a bit tighter now than I would like but we’re not falling behind yet. That leaves not a whole lot of extra space for the rest of us, so if I have a prosecutor that needs to go out for family issues or something else, it really tightens it's down that much further,” Hubert said.
Hubert said a long stretch of Highway 77 is part of the county, which means cases stack up quick because of criminal activity along that area.
“We interdict a lot of smuggling, drugs, guns and money. But mostly human smuggling at this point,” Hubert said.
Hubert said prosecutors aren’t getting to cases as fast as they would like, which could start to cram the county jail.
“If you can get them evaluated, either get them dismissed… you can get that process moving faster. So if they are going to plea you can get them out of jail and on probation and back into life and obeying the law. Or you can send them to prison as fast as possible,” Hubert said.
A smaller crew also means less time to evaluate a case. Hubert said less evaluation means less quality cases will go to trial.
“Evaluation of the case is so important to spot the holes, to spot the deficiencies…” Hubert said.
The county worked with Governor Greg Abbott to pay their workers adequately, but even with that on their side, the struggle continues.
“There’s also a high burnout rate. You take more cases home to evaluate which increases the burnout which increases the shortage which decreases the time for evaluation and it's a vicious cycle,” Hubert said.
Hubert added that another reason why it’s hard to find prosecutors statewide is that the pay has not caught up to law school tuition, possibly discouraging potential applicants.
Kleberg County is looking for one more prosecutor. Hubert encourages young aspiring lawyers to apply. If needed, Kleberg County will call other nearby counties to help out with cases for the meantime.
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