Prosecuting Hard Cases

Hey all,

I’ve done a lot of thinking in the last week about what has been going on with me mentally/emotionally. I want to start out by saying I absolutely love my job—being a prosecutor is my dream job and the people I work with are amazing. It is rewarding probably between 90-95% of the time. It is that other 5-10% that gets me. In both October and November I had jury trials that were in the same case. In October there was a mistrial declared on day 7. In November we took 6 days and the case went to the jury. The result was that this defendant was found not guilty on all counts. Why am I sharing this? Because this case got under my skin. It is a case that included serious crimes that I still believe happened, even though the jury determined I had not proven it beyond a reasonable doubt. This case had a victim that has had a hard life but still keeps going and has been working very hard at bettering herself. It is a case that got under my skin and lived haunting my brain for far too long. The case was hard for me to process, to try, and to lose. I am not over the loss in court, but I accept it. And in a strange way, being done with the case, even in a negative way, has made it easier to move on and look ahead again. I’m sleeping better again. I’m doing okay. But I thought I would write this quick post to say that while being a prosecutor is what I am called to do, some cases are very hard. And when those hard cases get worse by getting under my skin, it was so nice and comforting to have Andrew and our family and friends support. We have a fantastic support system, and I would not be where I am without it.

~Natalie