By JIMMY LAWTON

St. Lawrence County Legislature Chairman Joseph Lightfoot says District Attorney Mary Rain should reconsider a recent policy change that he says will cause problems for village and town courts.

Rain announced assistant district attorneys (ADAs) would appear in local courts only for official hearings and trials after the St. Lawrence County Legislature denied a request to fill a vacancy in her office.

“All other physical appearances will be temporarily be suspended for six months, at which point the office will reevaluate its position,” Rain wrote in a letter issued to town justices.

“This means judges and defense attorneys will not have conversations started with the DA’s, no discussions about reductions, no presence at preliminary hearings, this is going to slow things down,” St. Lawrence County Legislature Chairman Joseph Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot says Rain’s new policy is too drastic considering her department lost a single ADA.

“Across the board you have cut appearances in every court in the county because you lost one attorney. I think that’s a little draconian and a little unnecessary,” he said.

Lightfoot said he understands the office has a massive workload, but said he would like to see Rain reconsider the decision.

He suggested looking at the courts with the highest need such as Massena, Ogdensburg, Canton and Potsdam and other densely populated locations and at least send ADAs to those areas.

Lightfoot said Rain’s policies will likely strain local courts and perhaps push the judges to push for more ADAs.

“It’s definitely going to slow things down. It’s true they can do the same thing in a phone call, but the client might not be there. So you might have an attorney going back and forth between his client and the DA’s office,” he said.

Lightfoot said he believes Rain has the staff she needs to perform her office’s duties even with the loss of an ADA.

He noted that former DA’s have accomplished more with fewer staff members.

In her letter Rain says prosecutors will be accessible to the community during weekly office hours at the County Courthouse on Mondays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Rain says citizens seeking reductions for non-DWI traffic infractions can meet with a prosecutor on a walk-in basis at these times.

Rain says prosecutors will also take meetings with defense attorneys by appointment.