State DA Defendants
"State DA Defendants" can have slightly different meanings depending on whether the state's District Attorney's Office (the "DA") is conducting an investigation or whether it has filed a formal lawsuit in court against a person or a company. In some States, criminal prosecutors' offices like District Attorneys' Offices are part of the State Attorney General's Office. Sometimes people refer to the District Attorneys' Offices as the AG. Often, though, "AG" is used to refer to the statewide Attorney General's Office (or the statewide prosecutor's office if it goes by a different name), as opposed to a local District Attorney's Office or other local prosecutor's office. In some States, the local prosecutor's office may be called the "People's Attorney" or some other name, rather than "District Attorney".
Each State has its own laws and rules concerning investigations by its District Attorney's Office. Those rules may be quite different from one State to another.
When a DA is conducting an investigation it usually believes, based on evidence available to it at the time, that a crime under that State's laws may have occurred. The DA may be assisted in its investigation by the police and/or one or more other state investigatory agencies. During a DA's investigation, a person or company that the DA believes actually did commit a crime may be referred to as a "target" of the investigation. Over the course of a DA's investigation, a person or company that the DA initially believes may be a potential "target" may come to be viewed as just an innocent witness. Likewise, someone who the DA initially believes is just a witness may come to be viewed as a "target". During an investigation, sometimes people outside of the District Attorney's Office may refer to a "target" of the investigation as a State DA defendant in the investigation.
If the District Attorney's Office brings a formal lawsuit in state court against a person or company, that person or company is usually called a "defendant" or "respondent" in the lawsuit. This lawsuit in a state court may be referred to as a "prosecution" or a "criminal case".
If you would like information about The Pickholz Law Offices' experience representing State DA Defendants, or those who believe that they may become a State DA Defendant, please feel free to click on the "Our Cases & Results" link and the other links on the right side of this page.