Los Banos Rotary Club History
District Attorney Tells Of Work

One of the most discouraging problems in connection with the prosecution of crime in this country, according to the Merced County District Attorney Steve Galvin, is the general reluctance by the individual citizen to come forward with eye witness information or pertinent facts which might be used in determining the innocence or guilt of persons being prosecuted.

Speaking before the local Rotary Club Tuesday noon, Galvin said that as a people the public wants our laws enforced and the guilty convicted. Yet on an individual basis these same people who might have valuable information concerning specific crimes and violations remain silent because they do not want to be bothered or inconvenienced by the possibility of having to appear in a court to present such pertinent testimony.

This is particularly true, he said, in the prosecution of the guilty in highway accidents. Many eye witnesses to highway accidents willingly stop to offer aid to the injured, but are overly reluctant to give their name and address because they are unwilling to subject themselves to the possible future inconvenience of having to appear as a witness in a court action.

"The law system of this country," Galvin said, "is the best in the world. It is yours to support and uphold. Every American citizen should think a long time before knowingly avoiding the responsibility it incurs."

In a brief review of his own office, Galvin explained that whereas a few years ago the district attorney's office was charged both with criminal prosecution and serving as counsel to the board of supervisors, the several school districts and other public bodies within the county level, today the duties of the office are wholly concerned with criminal work, while the civil duties are handled by the office of the County Counsel.

Recounting some of the problems connected with the gathering of evidence for the conviction of persons charged with crime, Galvin related some of his own experiences and problems in unearthing the facts and evidence necessary to convince a judge or jury of the guilt of the accused. "There are even times," he said, "when we have dictated statements from arrested persons acknowledging their guilt. But after a day or two in jail and the inevitable 'legal advice' of cellmates, these same persons so change their stories that judge or jury find themselves unable to distinguish between truth and lies."

Adding to this particular type of problem, Galvin said, is recently enacted legislation ordering that legal counsel for any accused person may demand from the district attorney or court a true copy of any previous statement made by the defendant in connection with said crime. "I guess this is the American way and the fair way," Galvin said, "but too often it gives the accused person and his legal counsel an opportunity to revise or re-slant the defendant's story when he appears in court.

Galvin was introduced to the club members by Jess Telles, local attorney and member of the Los Banos club.

The luncheon marked the return of Ed Evans to his post of club president. Evans and his wife returned home last weekend from a combined business and vacation trip to the east coast.

September 13, 1957

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