The District Attorney is the public prosecutor for the county, required to attend county courts and prosecute criminal offenses, including misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and felonies. The attorneys of the criminal division appear routinely in cases at the Carson City Municipal Courts, Justice Courts, Juvenile Court, First Judicial District Courts, Nevada Court of Appeals and the Nevada Supreme Court.

Since Carson City has a combined city-county form of government known as a "consolidated municipality," the DA's Office Criminal Division attorneys handle cases which in the other 16 Nevada counties are the responsibility of "city" prosecutors (misdemeanors in municipal courts) and we act also upon all county cases (misdemeanors in the Justice Court and gross misdemeanors and felonies in the District Court.)

The prosecutor's "client" is the people of Carson City. The District Attorney prosecutors are ethically obliged to enforce the Constitutions and laws of the State of Nevada and the United States as well as ensure that substantial justice is served in criminal cases.

The District Attorney prosecutes all crimes occurring within the geographical borders of the county, from minor misdemeanor offenses to major felonies. The duties encompass reviewing law enforcement investigative reports, preparing search, seizure and arrest warrants, extraditing defendants to and from other jurisdictions, prosecuting crimes under the Carson City Municipal Code and Nevada Revised Statutes, and representing the State in post-conviction and appellate criminal proceedings.