His is a thankless job for many reasons, and most of the complaints against the DA are perennial rather than being specific to Furse. No district attorney should be blamed for the way the system is set up to work, including the use of plea bargains. Defendants’ friends and family believe in their innocence beyond all reasonable doubt; victims’ friends and family cannot understand why more cannot be done. It is the DA’s job to rise above that and analyze the evidence.
That said, Furse has botched some cases. The most notable relates to a double fatality on Road G. He jailed one woman for several months, then released her and tried another woman as the driver. After two trials, the charges were dismissed. That is not an effective use of resources.
Likewise, the recent Baxstrom attempted murder trial was troubling, also because of evidence problems.
He frequently assigns responsibility for the lack of convictions on the evidence provided by investigators, and that very well may be the problem. In that case, it is time for him to work more closely with law-enforcement agencies to strengthen that evidence.
He prefers to speak to journalists “off the record,” which is disturbing. Anything reporters want to know, the public does too, and, with rare exceptions, anything that can be told to a journalist should be available to the citizens. Using confidential communications as a way to avoid being held accountable is not the way to build public trust.
Furse now has a full term under his belt. In his second term, he needs to step up his leadership. He should work on bringing better evidence to the courtroom and making fewer mistakes.
