New assistant district attorney appointed

Randy Mitchell Staff Writer

Ada September 09, 2008 12:31 pm

— Pontotoc County District Attorney Chris Ross has announced the hiring of a new assistant district attorney.
Greg Pollard will serve in the Pontotoc County office and handle all juvenile cases, as well as some drug cases and violent crimes. He has previously served as an assistant district attorney in the 4th District in Canadian County and in the 23rd District in Pottawatomie County.
Pollard graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2002.
He is married with two children, and also serves as the senior pastor for Faith Assembly of God in Ada. He began work on Sept. 8, 2008.
This raises the number of assistants in the Pontotoc County office to three. There have been only two assistants since the 1970s.
“With the addition of another prosecutor, for the first time we won’t have more judges than assistants,” Ross said.
“As an assistant, having three judges and only two assistants added to the stress of the caseload, because they were often scheduled to be in two courtrooms at one time, or to finish one hearing only to go straight into a different hearing in front of another judge.”
Ross said the change in the case load over the years is staggering. In 1983, there were 1,709 cases filed, including 233 felonies with only two assistants working the cases.
“In 2007, my last year as an assistant, there were 4,518 cases filed, including 572 felonies, and there were still only two assistants handling them,” Ross said.
“Thus, the case load has grown by about 250 percent, but the number of prosecutors has never changed. In 2008, it appears there will be over 600 felonies filed, and the total number of cases will exceed that of 2007.
“It is clear to me that I cannot just accept the status quo and watch the caseloads continue to grow without trying to increase the number of prosecutors on my staff,” he continued.
“It is my belief that as district attorney it is imperative that I do everything possible to ensure that the people of this district receive the best representation possible. I believe the greatest threat to providing the best representation possible is the large number of cases each assistant is assigned. By adding a prosecutor, the caseload will be more manageable and all assistants will be able to devote more time to each case.”