PARKERSBURG – A change in the magistrate court subpoena process effective mid-June could mean more work and additional expense for the office of the Wood County Prosecutor.

“Effective June 15 we may be required to take over issuance of subpoenas from magistrate court. We are in the process now of taking steps to address the change,” Prosecutor Jason Wharton said.

Meeting with county commissioners on Thursday, Wharton said the change was from an interpretation by the West Virginia Supreme Court administrator’s office that magistrate court was not responsible for generating subpoenas for its proceedings, but that it was the responsibility of the prosecutor’s office.

Wharton said he was only recently notified of the change and working with officials to institute the best means of handling the procedural change.

The prosecutor said after the subpoenas are issued, they are delivered to the sheriff’s department where they are given to process servers to be delivered. Wharton said with 45 or more misdemeanor cases per year in magistrate court, there could be 10 witnesses depending on the type of case.

The prosecutor said he contacted officials in another county already using the prosecutor’s office for the magistrate court subpoenas to see how it was being handled.

“I contacted the county’s IT (Information Technology) department, and they recommended we go outside to find someone to do the programming; this isn’t something they are familiar with,” Wharton said.

The commissioners asked about a case management system Wharton’s office was using.

“We had a case management system that was costing $500 a month in my office. We eliminated that and the county commission took back those funds since we were no longer using that system,” Wharton said.

Previously, magistrate court could insert the information from their files and print them the subpoenas, he said. The court now will send information to the prosecutor, Wharton said.

“So there’s going to be a lot more coordination needed than before and it could be a big undertaking,” Commissioner Blair Couch said.

Wharton said he has a meeting scheduled with Circuit Court Chief Judge J.D. Beane, who oversees magistrate court, to discuss the process change.

“We are looking at ways to try and streamline the process,” Wharton said.

The change means additional duties for the prosecutor’s office, he said..

“And I may need some additional funds. We are trying to come up with the best solution, but we need an automated system, if we have to do it all manually it will be a lot more time-intensive,” Wharton said.

Wharton said he’s also contacted the supreme court administrator and the executive director of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute.

“It’s a statewide concern, other prosecutors are facing the same issues, we are trying to see how best we can address this,” he said.