Kimberly Leonard	Hays County Justice Center Texas State University Sociology Department
Applied Sociology Internship Summer 2007

	My internship at the Office of the Criminal District Attorney of Hays County was a rewarding experience.  I learned a good deal about work environment and legal procedures.  My site supervisor is the office administrator Carolyn Hale.  She facilitated my learning expereince by offering me her own experience and by choosing interesting tasks.  Together we worked on the budget for next year and my special project on Grand Jury.  For my special project, I researched the volume of Hays County's Grand Jury from 2000.  I also traveled to Williamson County to inquire about how their Grand Jury records are kept.  My project led to Hays County updating their system of record keeping for Grand Jury. I also had the opportunity to sit in on several trials from jury selection to judgment hearing.  I was particulary involved in one case, the Ragland trial.  I went to the narcotics task force to view evidence, I helped build the trial binder, and I got to observe and offer a non-lawyer perspective.  Ragland was sentenced to over fifty years in state jail for possessing methamphetamine.  It felt great to be a part of that. I also did a lot of filing!  That is one part of being an intern that seems to be universal.  I loved interning at the District Attorney's Office because I felt that even my small part of  filing on a daily basis was very appreciated and let the attorney's have more time to work on their case load. In conclusion, I learned very much by interning at the District Attorney's Office here in Hays County.  I was able to observe how an office is run and the elements legal procedure.  I feel much more kowledgeable since I had the opportunity to be an intern.
	Contact Information: KL1069@txstate.edu