Commonwealth's attorney

Commonwealth's Attorney is the title given to the elected prosecutor of felony crimes in Kentucky and Virginia. Other states refer to similar prosecutors as district attorney or state's attorney.

The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law, initiating and directing further criminal investigations, guiding and recommending the sentencing of offenders, and are the only attorneys allowed to participate in grand jury proceedings.

A commonwealth's attorney is the highest law enforcement official in his or her jurisdiction and in many jurisdictions supervises a staff which includes a chief deputy commonwealth's attorney, deputy commonwealth's attorneys and assistant commonwealth's attorneys.

A commonwealth's attorney is a constitutional officer, which means that the job is established in the state's constitution which defines the position, the broad powers of the elected officeholder and in Virginia, the requirement that every county and every city be served by a commonwealth's attorney. Cities in Virginia are independent jurisdictions (hence the term "independent city," a designation conceptually similar to that of cities having imperial immediacy under the Holy Roman Empire) and not part of any county.