A Brief for Courage by Alan Finder
Newsday, 1983
It is late in the afternoon and Ken Kunken, a young Nassau County assistant district attorney, is going through a 6-inch-thick stack of manila files, his caseload.
“Write down: ‘Took $211 worth of clothing from Sears and left store,’” Kunken says. His attendant, Kathleen Kiev, jots down the information on a small card.
Kunken finishes scanning the page, which contains a detective’s report and background on the man accused of the department-store theft.
“Okay,” he says. Ms. Kiev turns the page over. Kunken continues to read, concentrating intensely. “Write down: ‘No priors,’” he says. His aide notes that the alleged thief hasn’t been arrested before.
Kunken finishes reading the report. “Okay,” he says. Ms. Kiev returns the piece of paper back to its file and they go on to the next case. The process continues like this for almost two hours. /full article/
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