Public Defender Investigator

State of North Carolina • Rockingham County, NC

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Office of the Public Defender, District 22, which consists of Rockingham and Caswell counties, seeks a qualified individual to investigate all areas of serious misdemeanor and felony indigent defendants' cases that have been assigned by the courts to the Public Defender's Office. This role involves collecting information to verify evidence or substantiate innocence, conducting client interviews, assessing bond reduction appropriateness, gathering witness information, photographing crime scenes, arranging defense expert witnesses, researching criminal histories, ensuring witness appearance at trial, assisting counsel during trial, and conducting special investigations as directed.

Requirements

• Knowledge of criminal law and the local court system.
• Knowledge of evidence collection, investigation, and identification techniques and procedures.
• Knowledge of information sources and the ability to extract information from those sources.
• Skill in using computers and word processing to prepare reports, motions, orders, subpoenas, and other legal documents.
• Skill in effectively communicating with people of diverse backgrounds both orally and in writing.
• Ability to plan and organize an effective approach to the investigation of complex cases and to independently develop leads.
• Ability to schedule work to achieve results on time.
• Ability to prepare clients, their families, and witnesses for court.
• Ability to work irregular hours in conducting investigations.
• Ability to make pertinent observations and to analyze those observations with the charges in a given case.
• Ability to inspire the confidence of the community in the public defender's office.
• Valid North Carolina driver's license required.
• Graduation from a four-year college or university, preferably in the field of law, criminal justice, psychology, or sociology, and one (1) year of experience in legal, judicial, law enforcement or investigative work.
• An associate degree with three (3) years of experience in the above mentioned fields may substitute for the four year college degree requirement.
• Other combinations of education and experience that provide the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities may be considered.

Responsibilities

• Investigate serious misdemeanor and felony cases to collect information used to verify evidence or to substantiate innocence.
• Visit clients in jail to conduct initial interviews, and when indicated, consider the appropriateness of and expedition of bond reduction.
• Determine what facts, opinions, or background information witnesses have that is relevant to the case and prepare a written report, and/or evaluate information with the assigned attorney.
• Photograph, measure, and draw the crime scene to scale to determine its relationship to the physical evidence.
• Arrange defense expert witnesses, review experts' credentials, evaluate their potential effectiveness with the jury, and coordinate delivery of evidence to experts.
• Research criminal histories of defendants, witnesses, and potential jurors.
• Ensure appearance of witnesses at time of trial and assist in witness preparation.
• Assist counsel with facts of the case during trial.
• Conduct special investigations as directed.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level