Boone Co. attorney asking for more trial funds

The Boone County prosecuting attorney’s office is asking commissioners for more money. Dan Knight said it’s not unusual to need more money for trial costs. He said jury trials are expensive and this year his office has tried 22 of them.

Knight was in front of the commission on Thursday asking for emergency funds to cover trial costs.

The prosecuting attorney’s office usually needs between $35,000 and $45,000 a year to cover costs such as witness expenses.

This year the office budgeted for a round $35,000 and is asking for about $11,000 more to cover costs.

Knight said the office does its best to come up with a budget based on trends from past years, but said it’s difficult to predict.

“This year we came up just a little bit short and it was difficult and really impossible for us to know — last year during our budget session that would have already incurred, already had 22 jury trials with more to come,” said Knight.

Depositions are one of the major costs for the county. Already this year the county has paid out about $10,000 for depositions and it’s expected it will need about $5,000 more for the year.

Knight said his office has had a successful year. Out of the 22 jury trials prosecuted, only two have been acquittals.