But 50 percent of misdemeanor cases are dropped because the victims will not cooperate.

We process 14,000 misdemeanor cases a year and 100 to 150 at a time.

"And misdemeanor cases become hard to devote all your resources to."

Last year the county paid private lawyers $3 million to handle 12,000 misdemeanor cases.

One lawyer was assigned more than 1,600 misdemeanor cases last year.

Of more than 100,000 misdemeanor cases last year, he said, only 300 went to trial.

In a misdemeanor case, the court may set the trial date at the initial appearance.

The next court action in a misdemeanor case is the arraignment.

Two weeks ago, he was hearing misdemeanor cases in county court.

This year, more than a million misdemeanor cases will be filed statewide, up from about 790,000 in 1989.