1.   As county attorney in Russell, Kan., he has said, he signed the welfare checks that went to his own grandparents.

2.   As county attorney, Ms. Slaatten helped draw up the terms of the changeover.

3.   Barbara Kukowski, the deputy county attorney who is prosecuting the case in Family Court, asked Heacock his definition of a secure placement.

4.   A county attorney in Nebraska once complained that Osborne had interviewed witnesses and confiscated evidence from a few players in trouble.

5.   A related problem was that court rules forbid county attorneys from helping state attorneys try cases about county laws.

6.   Brant Light, the Montana county attorney who is prosecuting the current cases against Bar-Jonah, said he did not see it that way.

7.   Brown made the move after getting a legal opinion from county attorneys that the situation appeared to violate state law.

8.   But Barnett Lotstein, special assistant to the county attorney, said these people would not have gone to prison anyway.

9.   But hold on, says Arthur Markham, a Yavapai deputy county attorney who handled the case.

10.   Byron Howell, deputy city and county attorney in Broomfield, said state laws on confidentiality prevented him from commenting on any aspect of the case.