Shari Konarske stands up for the victim

CEDAR RAPIDS — Shari Konarske said her role as the victim-witness coordinator with the U.S. Attorney's Office has allowed her to create policies and protocols locally and across the state for other coordinators. But she gets the most satisfaction out of helping the victims move past a 'horrible situation in the most positive way possible.'

'Usually victims or witnesses in a case don't understand the process or what it's like to testify, so I explain what will happen, explain victims' rights, manage expectations and provide support,' Konarske said in her typical rapid and upbeat tone. 'Many times, I just talk to them.

'Every situation is different. In one case, we had a child victim and he wouldn't speak, so I got him to speak by writing notes back and forth with me.'

Konarske said her job is a delicate balance of being the victim's liaison through the criminal system and developing a rapport, while at the same time not becoming emotionally involved so she can help the prosecutors gain as much information as they need.

'You can give her a list with basic information and you know she will have the witnesses there and ready to go,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan said. 'The witnesses are not always happy to testify, but Shari is great about putting them at ease and making sure they have other services they need. She never allows herself to get overwhelmed by things.'

Konarske, who majored in sociology and political science at the University of Iowa, wanted a career in criminal justice but couldn't decide between going to law school or pursuing law enforcement.

Before graduation she started an internship with the Johnson County Attorney's Office, in 1986, just after a state law was passed that required county attorneys to notify victims of court proceedings. Johnson County had the first victim/witness coordinator in the state.

That next year, Konarske also became a reserve Johnson County Sheriff's deputy in 1987.

She eventually chose her profession, becoming the first coordinator for then-Linn County Attorney Denver Dillard, now a senior judge, in September 1989.

'It gave me the opportunity to develop a program from the ground up and work with both prosecutors and law enforcement, my blended interests,' Konarske recalled.

She was the second coordinator in the state. There are 75 today.

'It's more of a profession now than when I started,' Konarske said. 'Professionalizing the victim-service field is the outgrowth of the national crime victims' rights movement that started in the 1970s.'

Konarske, who also was the first coordinator for the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1998, has created training and certification programs for service providers in this field across the state through the Iowa Organization for Victims Assistance (IOVA), a not-for-profit that provides training and is a support organization for victims, survivors, witnesses, advocates and professionals.

She helped lead a working group on victim services and addressed the South Carolina Legislature in 2008, as part of a University of South Carolina professor's work of developing a set of standards that could be adapted for all states. Konarske was involved because she was heading up the creation of standards for service providers in Iowa, which in 2003 turned into the IOVA Certification Program.

One important thing to understand about Konarske, Deegan said, is that she 'can't stand inefficiency. She comes up these great ideas and they are borrowed around the country to help others.'

Konarske has had some interesting federal cases in the Northern District that have presented various challenges, such as type of cases, number of victims and witnesses to identify and contact, and even dealing with cultural differences.

In the 2013 case of Russell Wassendorf Sr., founder of Peregrine Financial Group in Cedar Falls, who embezzled $215 million over 20 years from the brokerage company and is serving 50 years in federal prison, there were 14,000 victims who had to be identified and contacted.

Konarske said in large fraud cases such as Wassendorf's, it's not uncommon that there isn't a complete set of records to identify victims. Many times the office will publish notices online and issue news releases asking victims to contact the prosecutors.

There were also numerous witnesses in another high profile trial, Sholom Rubashkin, former vice president of Agriprocessors, who was convicted of bank fraud and money laundering stemming from the 2008 immigration raid of the kosher meatpacking and slaughter house in Postville. Many of the witnesses were Jewish, and Konarske said she always wants to be sensitive to others' traditions and practices.

Training on different cultures is something generally presented at conferences she attends.

It's not just high profile cases where needs may come up, Konarske said. A recent heroin distribution case involved a victim from out of town who needed to stay on a methadone program while in Cedar Rapids for court proceedings.