Daniel Medwed, a criminal-law professor at the University of Utah, questioned whether the Republican D.A. had skewed the stats by lowering screening standards and pursuing more cases.
But the second-year D.A. defused those political explanations with in-house data showing that the office has prosecuted the same percentage of cases the past three years.
Miller's office also supplied this internal e-mail from a top staffer in the criminal division, which appears to bolster the D.A.'s defense:
"I have had some cases come to my attention that cause me to wonder whether we are becoming a little too conservative on our approach to prosecutions," the staffer wrote to the prosecutors. "Please do not take this as an accusation. I do not mean to reprimand or to offend, but I wanted to discuss with you some points that I hope will help you with your evaluation of your cases."
Even without an aggressive strategy, criminal filings have jumped 13 percent since July 2007.
Budget cutting - up close and personal: West Bountiful has run into money troubles.
A tax mishap occurred, and the southern Davis County city owes the Holly Oil refinery about $646,000. Now city leaders want to slim down their budget from last year's $4.2 million to $3.5 million.
To help the city cut costs and better manage its money, officials recently hired Craig Howe as a deputy city administrator/finance director. As Howe scoured each line item for possible trims, one new addition jumped out: his own $81,750 salary.
"I almost felt guilty when I saw my impact on the budget," he told the City Council.
Not enough to scrap his job, though.
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