Crown attorneys say they're victims of increasing verbal assaults, threats

HALIFAX_ They've been punched, threatened, spat upon, lunged at and called vulgar names.



Crown attorneys in Nova Scotia say they are finding themselves the victims of a range of attacks, with some taking place right inside court.



``I have had several comments made to me by accused persons in court with no intervention by the bench,'' one prosecutor wrote in a March 2007 e-mail to Crown attorney Jennifer MacLellan, who is a member of one of the province's court facility security committees in Halifax.



``One judge finds it amusing, one sits mute, whilst the others don't know what to do (nor) the sheriffs.



``Crown attorneys are a dime a dozen and nothing fundamental will be done to improve courthouse security until a judge is killed or harmed.''



In the e-mail, recently provided to The Halifax Chronicle-Herald on condition that the author's identity not be revealed, the prosecutor said he holds his tongue rather than complain ``because the courthouse network cannot withstand the criticism.''