By MITCH WORD

NOTE: This is the seventh in a series of the various county offices and their functions.

Terry County Attorney Ramon Gallegos will be the first to tell you one thing about his job: It’s not much like what you see on Law & Order.

Gallegos has served as the County Attorney since February 2004 when he was appointed to fill out a term. He was then re-elected later that year and was re-elected again in 2008. His current term expires at the end of 2012.

Gallegos passed his bar exam in 1982 and quickly went to work, serving as Assistant County Attorney here in Brownfield. In 1988 he moved to Lubbock and remained there until 2000, when he came back to Brownfield.

His staff includes Assistant County Attorney Jason Bujnosek, Investigator Gary Cook, Crime Victims Coordinator Mamie Tells, Felony Secretary Yvonne Rocha, Misdemeanor Secretary Gerry Gonzales and Hot Check/Juvenile Offender Secretary Shannon McKee.

Gallegos also fills the role of District Attorney. He is one of only 22 attorneys in the state who fill both roles. He estimated that approximately 25 percent of the job deals with his DA duties, while the other 75 percent involves County Attorney work.

The duties of a County Attorney involve representing the state in criminal cases involving misdemeanors, while the District Attorney role involves felony cases. His other duties involve prosecution of juvenile offenders and representing victims of violence in protective orders.

Gallegos said he enjoys his job as a prosecutor because he feels he is contributing to society.

“I like being a prosecutor because you’re helping protect people who live in your community,” he said. “I’m not patrolling the streets, but I ‘m making sure justice is done. If I can get offenders off the street so they won’t harm anyone else, I feel I’ve done my job.”

Gallegos said he enjoys working with juries but said that sometimes television can make his job harder.

“Most people think that I would have a hard time with all the lawyer shows, but the ones that make my job hardest are the ones like CSI, where they deal with forensic evidence,” he said. “People think that we have the same technology available to us that they might have in New York or Los Angeles. Plus, they get the crime solved in a one-hour TV show. That’s just not how things really work.”

Gallegos has been involved in only two capitol offense cases in Terry County.

“One of the most interesting cases I was involved in was where a young farmer named Darrell Vandivere was kidnapped here and then killed in Gaines County,” the attorney said. “He was a really nice guy and took these two guys in. They wound up stealing his truck and killed him. They both got life in prison and they’re still in prison.”

Gallegos said he likes his job and sees no end to it in the near future.

“I like what I do, and I like Brownfield,” he said. “I have a lot of friends who are in law enforcement or are judges or attorneys, and they seem to retire only after they’ve gotten so old that they can’t enjoy their retirement. I would like to retire while I can still do physical things like traveling.”

The County Attorney’s Office is located in the Terry County Annex at 507 West Broadway.

The Terry County Attorney's Office staff includes (from left) Gary Cook, Gerry Gonzales, Jason Bujnosek, Ramon Gallegos, Yvonne Rocha, Mamie Tells and Shannon McKee.