BYRON WARNKEN: You'll get arrested, or there has been a complaint filed by another citizen that your conduct was criminal and it goes through the process and eventually it lands on the desk of a prosecutor. And the prosecutor is going to look out and the prosecutor decides there is not much here. The prosecutor may well dismiss it.
ANDY RADDING: That judgment making ability that discretion is a very very strong powerful tool for the prosecutor.
BYRON WARNKEN: We use fancy Latin terms in the law because of the system we came from. We say null pros, which really means "nolle prosequi", which is nothing more than a dismissal of the charges.
ANDY RADDING: The prosecutor in a given case has the discretion to decide whether that case should go forward.
BYRON WARNKEN: The prosecutor has the power to decide what charges to bring, what charges not to bring.
ANDY RADDING: He looks at the evidence. He looks at the potential defendants, the participants, the victims, the circumstances, and he makes a judgment on whether the case should go forward.
BYRON WARNKEN: As long as the prosecutor is not making that decision based on your race, your gender, your ethnicity, and your religion, a prosecutor can do anything he or she wants.