Judge’s Ultimatum to Prosecutors: Name Crime Victims, or Cases Will Be Dismissed

A Minnesota judge fed up with cases coming to her without names of crime victims has ordered prosecutors to produce fully identified. Initials won't do.

Excluded from her ruling are cases involving juveniles or victims of sex crimes. However, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Judge Margaret Marrinan, of Ramsey County, has received four cases recently in which victims were identified only by initials.

Marrinan already dismissed the four cases, but gave prosecutors five days to appeal.

Addressing a prosecutor, Marrinan said, "Counsel, if you choose not to indicate publicly who the alleged victims of these cases are, you are denying the defense the opportunity to have the complaint stated with particularity. You are also attempting to avoid giving this information to the public and to the press."

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner told the paper this week that it's her office's practice to keep names of victims out of public complaints to protect the victims' privacy and safety.

"It's really that simple," she is quoted saying. "We do not believe that due process or specific statute require us to spell out the name of the victim in the complaint itself."

Hat tip Criminal Justice Journalists.