Embattled Nebraska Prosecutor Defends Himself After Workers Question His Comments, Work Ethic
An embattled prosecutor in York County, Neb., is defending himself after workers alleged he made inappropriate comments and indicated he did not want to prosecute cases involving the prosecution of child pornography.
York County Attorney Bill Sutter told the York News-Times that he had not seen the allegations until he read them in the newspaper. “Obviously some people in my office … all of them … don’t like me,” he said in an interview with the newspaper. “And that I can’t help. I’m not ashamed for anything I have either said or done with them.” The Associated Press also has a story.
The workers’ allegations spurred county commissioners to launch a recall effort against Sutter. The officials acted after reviewing a statement of 18 allegations made by Deputy County Attorney Candace Dick and two other office employees. Among the workers’ claims: Sutter made comments about his scrotum to a secretary, made an inappropriate comment about rape, and goofed off in the office.
Sutter addressed each of the 18 points in the News-Times interview. He said the child porn allegation appeared to be “the most grievous” but the truth is that he declined to file charges immediately because he was unfamiliar with the case. When the state Attorney General’s office offered to prosecute, he acquiesced.
He also addressed an accusation that he said losing a case was “like a woman getting raped; eventually you just have to sit back and enjoy it.” Sutter told the newspaper he was quoting Bobby Knight. “Now, I did not originate that comment and so forth,” he said. “If that was in poor taste, I apologize for it, but it was made in jest in the office.”
He does not remember making comments about having an enlarged scrotum when he was sick, but he did have some health problems. “If I did, it was not with any malicious intent or anything like that because I was a sick man,” he told the newspaper.
He also asserted that his office gets good results. “I just totally disagree with all these things about how [inefficient] the office is,” he said. “I think you talk to the judges, talk to the public defender and they’ll tell you I do a pretty good job. We get people convicted around here. We get them convicted fairly and we treat them fairly.”
