While negotiations continue in Sacramento to hammer out California's budget for the coming fiscal year, officials at the Tulare County District Attorney's Office already know one thing about it. The budget will not include money for three of its "vertical prosecution" programs to help prosecute suspects accused of child sexual abuse, elder abuse and career criminals. Those programs involved assigning prosecutors and an investigator to work just on those types of cases. "What that means is having a specific, experienced and trained prosecutor dedicated to the function of handling the cases - handling it from day one and all the court appearances through the conclusion of the case," said Assistant District Attorney Tim Ward. Being highly experienced in particular types of cases helps improve the chances of successfully prosecuting them, and it helps victims to deal with the same prosecutor and investigators from beginning to end "rather than dealing with multiple prosecutors shuffling in and out of cases," he explained.