State v. Tkacz

¶ 1. In this case, the prosecuting attorney previously represented Peter G. Tkacz in a civil forfeiture action before joining the district attorney's office. Tkacz sought to remove the prosecutor prior to trial claiming a conflict of interest. As did the trial court, we adopt the "substantial relationship" test when the issue is raised pretrial during criminal cases. Because the prior civil action and this criminal action were not substantially related, we affirm the trial court's denial of Tkacz's motion. We also address and reject Tkacz's two other issues: that Tkacz's trial counsel was…