Be careful what you wish for.

"Media Maven" Marcy Burstiner is "...frustrated with the two dailies because they each go about covering crime and the courts in a superficial manner." She makes some excellent points in a well written piece, and she does the right thing, noting: "Now, before all you bloggers with too much time on your hands go ballistic on me, here’s the disclosure you want to see: My husband works as a deputy district attorney and he used to be a criminal defense attorney."

It's a good thing she included the disclaimer this time. Her husband is not just any Deputy District Attorney, he is Jeffrey "yougofree.com" Schwartz, the source of much of the frustration surrounding the DA's Office itself. The same "Jeffrey, Schwartz" listed in the yellow pages under Attorneys, with a cell phone number as his office number, while he is serving as a public prosecutor.

The Maven's column addresses trial coverage, which of late has been territory largely ceded to The Eureka Reporter. And, as she points out, reporter Kara Machado sticks to "the facts, Ma'am, just the facts." The Maven would like to see the story behind the story, and oddly enough, we are in agreement here. Funny thing, though, it is The Journal that has traditionally filled that niche, telling the story behind the story, and rounding out the coverage.

But, be careful what you ask for, Marcy. It would be interesting, for example, to hear from the woman who was tied to a tree and raped for three days whether or not she was willing to testify against her attackers, and how she was treated by the DA's office, whether or not she was encouraged to stand up, or guided into not testifying. It would be interested to hear how the victims and the victims families feel about all the plea bargains of late. It would be interesting to hear how the jurors felt about how the trials went. It is indeed the way it is done in other places.

What may really shock Marcy the most though, is just how little the public cares about the people in the DA's office. How little they know about the work they do, about the long and thankless hours that they put in on behalf of the public. They do indeed care more about the cast of "Law and Order" than they do about the people working for them.

The prosecutors who have left, and who have been fired found out. They found that the people they had toiled for did not even raise an eyebrow at their passing. Did not squawk about the talent they were losing, expressed no appreciation for the years of work, and laughed it off with the notion that any pro-bono attorney (or defense attorney) could be brought in to fill their shoes.

Perhaps it will be a sobering realization when it hits home.

Question really is, Who's left?