North Dakota Code 11-16-01 – Duties of the state’s attorney
1. The state‘s attorney is the public prosecutor, and shall:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 11-16-01
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Verified: means sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths. See North Dakota Code 1-01-42
- year: means twelve consecutive months. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33
a. Attend the district court and conduct on behalf of the state all prosecutions for public offenses.
b. Institute proceedings before magistrates for the arrest of persons charged with or reasonably suspected of public offenses when the state’s attorney has information that such offenses have been committed, and for that purpose, when the state’s attorney is not engaged in criminal proceedings in the district court, the state’s attorney shall attend upon the magistrates in cases of arrests when required by them except in cases of assault and battery and petit larceny.
c. Attend before, and give advice to, the grand jury whenever cases are presented to it for consideration.
d. Draw all indictments and informations.
e. Defend all suits brought against the state or against the county.
f. Prosecute all bonds forfeited in the courts of record of the county and prosecute all actions for the recovery of debts, fines, penalties, and forfeitures accruing to the state or to the county.
g. Deliver duplicate receipts for money or property received in the state’s attorney’s official capacity and file copies thereof with the county auditor.
h. On the first Monday of January, April, July, and October in each year, file with the county auditor an account, verified by the state’s attorney’s oath, of all money received by the state’s attorney in an official capacity in the preceding three months, and at the same time, pay it over to the county treasurer.
i. Give, when required and without fee, the state’s attorney’s opinion in writing to the county, district, township, and school district officers on matters relating to the duties of their respective offices.
j. Keep a register of all official business in which must be entered a note of each action, whether civil or criminal, prosecuted officially, and of the proceedings therein.
k. Act as legal adviser of the board of county commissioners, attend the meetings thereof when required, and oppose all claims and actions presented against the county which are unjust or illegal.
l. Institute an action in the name of the county to recover any money paid upon the order of the board of county commissioners without authority of law as salary, fee, or for any other purpose, or any money paid on a warrant drawn by any officer to that officer’s own order or in favor of any other person without authorization by the board of county commissioners or by law.
m. Institute an action in the name of the county to restrain the payment of any money described in any order or warrant of the kind described in subsection 13 when the state’s attorney secures knowledge of such order or warrant before the money is paid thereon.
n. Assist the district court in behalf of the recipient of payments for child support or spousal support combined with child support in all proceedings instituted to enforce compliance with a decree or order of the court requiring such payments.
o. Institute proceedings under chapter 25-03.1 if there is probable cause to believe that the subject of a petition for involuntary commitment is a person requiring treatment.
p. Institute and defend proceedings under sections 14-09-12 and 14-09-19 and chapters 14-15, 27-20.1, 27-20.2, 27-20.3, 27-20.4, and 50-01 upon consultation with the human service zone director or the commissioner of the department of health and human services or designee.
q. Act as the legal advisor and represent a human service zone as set forth in a plan approved under section 50-01.1-03. The state’s attorney within the human service zone, by way of agreement, shall designate a singular state’s attorney’s office, within or outside the human service zone, to act as legal advisor of the human service zone. The host county state’s attorney shall serve as the legal advisor if no agreement is reached. The agreement may not limit a state’s attorney’s individual discretion in court filings and representation.
r. Act as the legal advisor and represent the human service zone regarding employer actions, including grievances and appeals, taken against the human service zone team member. The state’s attorney of the county by which the human service zone team member is employed shall act as the legal advisor of the human service zone, unless a different agreement is established by the affected state’s attorney.
2. The state’s attorney may not require any order of the board of county commissioners to institute an action under subdivision l or m of subsection 1.