New Jackson County Attorney outlines plans for office

The Jackson County Attorney’s Office is under new leadership after Bethany Lee was elected to the position during the general election.

At a recent Jackson County Commission meeting, Lee, who took over the position on Jan. 13, outlined some of her goals for the office. Lee said she wants to employ a victim witness advocate, which would be a new position for the office.  

“I plan to look at some different avenues to fund that position including several grants,” Lee said. “The paid advocate would reach out to victims regarding hearings about their case, explain how the system works and help answer questions they may have, such as restitution. The more communication we have with the public about their case the better.”

Lee said she is starting to train the assistants currently in her office to handle some of those tasks. She said that the victim witness advocate would also help the office when a diversion is being considered for a defendant in a case.

“We need to reach out to victims before a diversion is considered to see what their position is on the matter,” she said. 

Lee said she also wants to make some changes to the office’s diversion program. 

“Currently, our office is pretty limited on what diversions we can offer,” she said. “I would like to consider widening the program.”

Lee said that, in some cases, diversions can be revoked if a defendant doesn’t pay court-ordered restitution to victims.   

“Diversions are only offered to those with little to no criminal history,” she said. “It’s a case by case basis.”

Lee recently decided not to continue the county’s contract with attorney Kevin Hill to handle Child In Need Of Care cases for the county. Hill’s contract was for $40,000 a year.    

“I’ve taken over those types of cases. I think it’s important for someone directly in our office to handle Child In Need Of Care cases because, often times, it’s a criminal case,” she said.

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