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Prosecution

9th Circuit District Division Manchester
9th Circuit - District Division - Manchester

The Manchester Police Department Legal Division is comprised of the Adult Arraignment Officer, the Juvenile Court Officer who are overseen by the Legal Division Lieutenant.  The Adult Arraignment Officer is responsible for conducting all criminal arraignments involving adults arrested or summonsed to the 9th Circuit Manchester District Court by the Manchester Police Department., conducting, on average, approximately 185 adult criminal arraignments per week.

Arraignment sessions are conducted each weekday.  At these sessions, among other things, the Legal Division prosecutors meet with those defendants who have entered a not guilty plea and/or who have requested an opportunity to speak with a prosecutor.  The prosecutors review each case file and attempt to negotiate a disposition to the pending court case.   Dispositions offered to the defendant during these negotiations mirror the types of sentences the defendants would receive in the event they were found guilty at trial.  In this way, over 1,000 cases are resolved yearly, keeping court-related costs down, reducing the size of the court dockets at the Manchester Circuit Court and the case-load of the City Solicitors Office as well as the clerical duties of the Records Division of the Manchester Police Department.

As the name implies, the Juvenile Court Prosecutor prosecutes juvenile offenders at the Manchester Circuit Court.  The Juvenile Prosecutor handles all aspects of juvenile prosecution, from the initial hearings straight through to trial when necessary and will participate in roughly 25 hearings pertaining to the adjudication of juvenile offenders during the course of an average week.  The success of Legal Division remains contingent upon the continued support and cooperation of the Manchester Circuit Court staff and the members of the City Solicitors Office.  The invaluable assistance of the personnel of the Records Division remains integral to the success of all that we do.