The job of District Attorney

In Alabama, the District Attorney is elected for a six-year term and is part of a unified state court system. Baldwin County District Attorney Robert Wilters was elected to a term beginning in January 2017, and serves the 28th Judicial Circuit.

Many people think that the District Attorney’s only job is to prosecute criminals. That is certainly an important role, but there is much more to this elected position.

The National Center for Prosecution Ethics explains in a quote from Berger v. U.S., 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935) that a prosecutor is:

“in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape nor innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor—indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.”

The Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office represents the state of Alabama and prosecutes the felony, misdemeanor and juvenile cases that occur in Baldwin County.  Duties include the screening of cases, their presentation to the Grand Jury, trial preparation and presentation of evidence in Circuit and District Courts.
As the Baldwin County Chief Law Enforcement Office, and in close cooperative partnership with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, we represent crime victims (link here to Victim Service Page) and the citizens of Baldwin County, while taking a proactive stand in preventing and reporting drug offenses, domestic violence, sexual assaults and child abuse.

Learn more …
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