Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson's office gets 3 grants worth $498,000

Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson's office has received three grants totaling $497,925 — one from the U.S. Department of Justice and two others from the Ohio Attorney General's Office, he announced in a news release Monday. The grants include a $385,0000 Smart Prosecutor grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Tomlinson's office is required to contribute $50,000. The grant will pay for two new positions in the prosecutor's office for two years. The Smart Prosecutor grant is focused on the prosecution of felony cases involving child victims, according to Tomlinson. "It is anticipated that this area of attorney and support staff personalization will enable a move to victim-focused use of office personnel," according to the news release. "The attorney who prosecutes these cases, the paralegal who provides professional assistance to this prosecutor and the victim advocate who guides child victims and their families through the criminal procedure will have no other competing responsibilities." Tomlinson said he expects the grant will help reduce the burden on six assistant prosecutors who prosecute the more than 1,500 felony cases filed each year in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Preparing child victims, who are often traumatized, for trial "requires frequent, in-person meetings and the careful coordination of available social services, including long-term counseling," according to the news release. These cases can "quickly overburden an assistant prosecutor who is required to manage an otherwise full docket" of cases, according to the news release. Removing child victim cases from the dockets of other assistant prosecutors will give them more time to meet with the victims and law enforcement who investigated the cases, "and thus more time to prepare their cases for trial," according to the news release. Victim advocate services "are especially important to child victims and witnesses who are otherwise called upon to testify," according to Tomlinson's office. A second grant of $108,000 is the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA, Grant, which will help pay the salaries of six victim advocates who assist prosecutors and victims of crimes by helping them through the trial process, counseling victims and their families and connecting them with community resources to manage emotional trauma. The third and final grant, worth $4,925, is also from the attorney general's office. It will pay for Tomlinson's investigators to get body armor to wear when they assist the 18 Lorain County police agencies in their investigations. Tomlinson's office has openings for one assistant prosecutor and one paralegal. Requirements for the jobs are listed on his website, LCProsecutor.com, and on his Facebook page, Facebook.com/LorainCountyProsecutorsOffice.