TEXARKANA, Ark. -- Miller County's Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell will be able to hire another investigator after the county's Budget and Finance Committee approved her request.
Mitchell's office will receive $39,939 in salary for a new investigator and a little more than $5,000 to raise the current investigator salary to the same level.
"I am very pleased. We have had one investigator, Alan Fincher, and we have run him ragged," Mitchell said. "We will put them (new investigator) to good use."
Considering the investigator's range of duties -- everything from trying to determine the facts of a case to tracking down witnesses who have moved -- Mitchell said having an additional investigator would help her office keep a handle on the work.
Mitchell cited Miller County's place among the seven other Arkansas Class 4 counties, which have a population between 30,000 and 49,999.
"Miller County has filed more criminal informations than any other Class 4 counties," she said.
An information is a formal charging document that describes the criminal charges against a person and the factual basis for those charges. Unlike an indictment, an information does not require a grand jury's vote.
Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, the prosecutor's office filed 763 formal criminal accusations, Mitchell said. That is in addition to the 1,200 open felony cases from years past, which includes 25 cases of murder.
The seven other Class 4 counties in Arkansas are Baxter, Boone, Green, Hot Springs, Independence, Mississippi and Union.
Baxter filed 334 informations this year, Boone filed 314, Green filed 732, Hot Springs filed 316, Independence filed 237. Information for Mississippi and Union counties was unavailable.
The majority of felonies filed in Miller County are property crimes, crimes against persons including assault and battery.
Somewhere between a third and a fourth of Miller County's felony cases are related to drugs.
Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell opens a row of filing cabinets — many of them full with case files — at her office Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, at Miller County Courthouse in Texarkana, Ark. Mitchell said in all, her office is working on 1,200 felony cases. The large number of cases moved Mitchell, who represents the 8th Judicial District South, to request a second investigator. The Quorum Court approved the request earlier in December. (Staff photo by Stevon Gamble)
Alan Fincher, an investigator in the prosecuting attorney's office, reviews a case file in his office Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, at Miller County Courthouse in Texarkana, Ark. (Staff photo by Stevon Gamble)