By JIMMY LAWTON

CANTON -- After a six-month absence of prosecutors in local courts that created a massive backlog in unsettled cases, assistant district attorneys are returning to municipal chambers.

In August of 2015 District Attorney Mary Rain announced that assistant district attorneys would no longer be making regular court appearances. Rain said her office was overburdened and understaffed. Under that policy, ADAs appeared in local courts only for official hearings and trials.

ADAs serve as prosecutors and typically appear in local courts to flesh out plea deals with defense attorneys. Their lack of availability in local courts caused cases to be delayed.

Chief Public Defender Steven Ballan referred to the policy as a disaster. He said it created the largest backlog he has ever seen and caused many St. Lawrence County residents who were wrongly accused of crimes to wait months for resolution on cases that should have been dismissed quickly.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the expression ‘justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.

Ballan said many St. Lawrence County residents walked around with “clouds over their heads” for longer than they needed to, just because they had been accused of crimes they didn’t commit.

When the policy was enacted it also drew concern from Morristown Town Justice James Phillips Jr., who is president of the St. Lawrence County Magistrates Association. However, attempts to reach Phillips after the policy was in place were unsuccessful.

Despite the criticism, the policy was implemented out of necessity, according to Rain.

Since taking office, Rain has struggled to maintain staffing levels. Several ADAs have left the office since 2014. And in some instances Rain struggled to get approval from county legislators to fill the vacancies.

Rain eventually convinced the legislature to fill the positions, but said massive caseloads and a lack of experienced attorneys has made for a difficult climb back.

“We are still dealing with the backlog of unresolved cases from the prior administration. Some of the cases are closed but were not closed in our system and the files were not archived. That is over 2,000 misdemeanors and violations, which need to be reviewed to determine if they are closed or not prosecuted. That takes a considerable amount of time, which we have worked on for the past two years, but, now we’re able to really tackle it with the additional staff and the assistance of interns,” she said.

Rain says each of the county’s three felony ADAs should be handling 45 to 50 cases per year, but currently carry 200 to 230 felonies at once.

Despite the uphill battle to catch up, Rain says ADAs are now appearing at local courts and their presence is expected to increase in the near future.

In January, Rain issued a letter to local courts stating that ADAs would be returning more frequently in local courts.

“On August 17, 2015 I wrote you a letter regarding the inability of this office to provide prosecutors for calendar in local court due to dangerously low staffing issues. At that time I promised to accommodate the courts for hearings and trials, which was accomplished. This was a temporary emergency for a period of six months at which point I promised to reevaluate this position. I am happy to convey my ability to reassess a little sooner than six months,” Rain wrote.

Rain credited ADA Frank Cositore for helping to turn things around. She recently announced Cositore would replace Chief ADA David Haggard, who said he would be leaving the district attorney’s office.

Rain said she has several eager but inexperienced attorneys in her office and Cositore has played a major role in bringing them up to speed.

“Recently, I hired an experienced A.D.A., Frank Cositore, who will supervise the institution of this plan and the training of the Assistants. A.D.A. Cositore has been a law enforcement officer, prosecutor, defense attorney and local court judge. Because of his experience in all areas of criminal justice, most particularly as a local court judge, I expect he will implement a smooth transition back into your courts. He will also provide the new assistants the unique perspective of the courts and how to make their appearance at calendar the most helpful and productive,” she said in her January letter.

Although things appear to be straightening out, Rain says she is having trouble finding experienced attorneys to fill vacancies that still exist. In an emailed response to questions Rain said there is a “glut” of ADA positions open throughout the state.

“It looks like it’s a statewide phenomenon. I’m surprised in this economy that it’s not an employer’s market but, looking at the website confirms it’s an employee’s market for Assistant District Attorneys,” she said in the email.

The chief public defender said things are improving and he is hopeful they will continue down that path.

Ballan said in recent weeks ADAs have had an increased presence in local court. He praised Cositore’s addition to the ADA’s office and said he is hopeful things will get better.

“Frank has done a really nice job trying to get things back on track. If Frank is going to be able to direct things, I suspect things will continue to improve. But we aren’t there yet,” he said.