The Northampton County District Attorney's Office is responsible for prosecuting all crimes committed within Northampton County. Northampton County's first District Attorney, Henry M. Mutchler, served from 1851-1854. The Office's most recent past district attorney, John M. Morganelli, was the Office's longest-serving District Attorney, holding the position for 28 years. Over the last 169 years, the Office has changed dramatically in terms of number of employees, volume of cases, and increasing responsibilities.
On January 6, 2020,
Terence Houck was sworn in as the County's twenty-second District Attorney. Today, the Office is comprised of the District Attorney, 21 staff attorneys, nine detectives, and 18 staff members.
The District Attorney's Office works closely with local police agencies to investigate crimes that have occurred within Northampton County and to file criminal charges. There is a wide variety of crimes the Office is responsible for prosecuting, from summary crimes, such as harassment, to misdemeanor offenses, such as simple assault and retail theft, up to and including the most serious felony offenses, such as rape, robbery, and homicide.
The District Attorney's Office is responsible for the prosecution of criminal matters at all stages of the process, including preliminary hearings, pre-trial conferences, guilty pleas, trials, appeals, and collateral proceedings. Attorneys from the Office regularly appear before local magisterial district judges, the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.