Commonwealth's Attorney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Commonwealth's Attorney is the title given to the elected felony prosecutor in states that are officially called "commonwealth." The Commonwealths of Kentucky, and Virginia use this title while other states refer to these prosecutor's as District Attorney, or State's Attorney for their felony prosecutors.
The Commonwealth's Attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of Assistant Commonwealth's Attorneys.
All states also have an State Attorney General who serves as the chief legal advisor to the state government and the chief law enforcement officer in the various states.
The role of Commonwealth's Attorneys, District Attorneys, and State' Attorneys should not be confused with the role of a County Attorney or City Attorney whose authority is usually limited by individual state constitutions to non-felony infractions or misdemeanor cases.
Kentucky derived the title of the office from Virginia, as it did much of its law when it was broken away from Virginia to become the 15th state.
Commonwealth's Attorneys are elected in their separate jurisdictions in both Virginia and Kentucky.
[edit] External links
- www.prosecutor.info indexes 2,900+ prosecutor and Commonwealth's Attorney web sites throughout the USA and other countries.
- Constitution of Virginia
- Kentucky Constitution
- Virginia Statutes
- Kentucky Statutes
- Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney, Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney, Chesterfield County, Virginia (Chesterfield)
- Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney, Jefferson County, Kentucky (Louisville)
- Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney, Fayette County, Kentucky (Lexington)
