I spent time with District attorney elect Joseph Early when he announced the appointment of Edward Karcasinas Junior, 37, as his assistant. Karcasinas, is a graduate from St. John High School and the University of Maine. He also studied law at the New England School of Law. Early predecessor, John Conte had worked as an assistant district attorney in Worcester County. He has been a prosecutor for the last 11 years and has served Mr. Conte by liaising with various watch groups and community boards to combat crime in the Worcester County.
This is the time to replace Mr. Conte, Mr. Early felt. He confirmed to Karcasinas that his assignments as his assistant were to handle all office problems according to his philosophy. Mr. Early believed that he could rely on Karcasinas as a second commander and as an advisor in policy implementation and sound decision-making. He was to report daily as an assistant to the attorney in his offices at Worcester Trial Court, ground floor, 225 Main Street at 8 a.m.
During my first day shadowing assignment, I met Karcasinas, the newly appointed assistant District attorney. Shadowing Karcasinas was not a difficult task since he mentioned being shadowed before. After his appointment, Karcasinas showed a lot of trust. He controlled daily operations of the law office, which consisted of one hundred and fifty employees. He was also responsible of overseeing an annual budget of $ 8.4 million and in criminal prosecution in eleven courts in the county. Controlling daily chores in Mr. Early’s office was a hard task to Karcasina since he could not predict on what to expect upon arrival in his office. He is seen as an optimistic and motivated man when he explained that he would respond to things as they appear and each an every workday is different.
On my second day of assignment, I met Karcasinas upon arrival in his office; he had received a phone call from police detectives on an issue concerning a human skull, which was discovered in the morning at woods, off Reservoir Street. Mr Karcasinas has to make follow ups of the cases to Room 18 of the third floor where criminal offenses cases are heard. Accompanied by many duties, Karcasinas was to remind Jeffrey, an assistant district director that Mr. Early was to be updated about a fire investigation case. He also made a brief conversation with Thomas Landry, an Assistant District attorney who supervises cases in Worcester superior Court, together with other colleagues before he left. Mr. Early relies mostly on Mr. Karcasinas and Mr landry in assigning cases to prosecutors. He also values them due to their expertise.
Mr. Karcasinas receives many emails from supervisors from the office of the District attorney. He says that this makes communication and management effective. He also explains that this communication is internal where Eddie acts as the mediator between him and the supervisors.
After making daily follow-up of cases from office to office, Karcasinas is back to his office at around 10:35 a.m. You hardly meet him alone in his office. I happen to meet him having a meeting with Luis Perez, an acting chief of the court. The chief was here to seek what charges to make to two women who were reported to him having been fighting that morning just outside the courthouse. It sounded ironical to me on how people can fight at the eyes of lawmakers. The chief further revealed that a court officer was injured while calming the two women. In a short while, Blake Rubin, an assistant District Attorney was knocking at the door. Mr. Karcasinas allowed him in. He was here to ask Mr.
Karcasinas to sign off an agreement made preliminary with a witness concerning a murder investigation. The agreement was to safeguard the witness. I found out that Mr. Karcasinas had a tight schedule of the day. At 11.am, he was to attend meeting with District Attorney fugitive members. Week in week out, he is faced with the same daily activities.
On my third day of assignment, I visited him a week later at 5.00 am, I found him revising on a police arrest warrant in association with a fatal killing in Leominster. Karcasinas was in the office three hours later making calls in Leominster District court to find out whether the suspect was arraigned in court that morning.
After following Karcasinas assignment as an assistant District attorney, I have found that this assignment have helped me in improving both oral and written communication skills. I have also gained confidence through interacting with high profile leaders. This will help me to further my career to a leadership position. I have also learned that dealing with the public is quite a difficult and involving task as I witnessed during my assignment.
