The commonwealth's attorneys in Charles City and Caroline counties are going full time, leaving just six localities in Virginia with part-time top prosecutors.

Rob Tyler, who ran for election unopposed in Charles City, has deep family roots in the county and has lived there the past 13 years. His great-great-grandfather was President John Tyler, who was born in Charles City.

Anthony G. "Tony" Spencer defeated incumbent and longtime Caroline Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Latney Jr. in November's election. Before that, Spencer worked as a deputy prosecutor in Richmond.

The state does not allow full-time commonwealth's attorneys to work in private practice on the side. As part-time commonwealth's attorneys, Latney and B. Randolph Boyd, who was Charles City's head prosecutor for more than three decades before retiring last year, also worked in private practice.

To go full time, a commonwealth's attorney must elect to do so to Virginia's Compensation Board. If the board consents, the full-time status is binding under state law for that locality's commonwealth's attorney and for his or her successors.

The General Assembly's 2009 budget funds full-time commonwealth's attorneys in Charles City, Caroline, Buckingham and Middlesex counties.

Those changes to full time take effect July 1 and will leave six Virginia counties with part-time attorneys.

Starting July 1, the newly full-time attorneys in Charles City and Caroline will get significant pay raises. Tyler's annual salary will increase from $47,878 to $110,080. The state will increase the amount it pays Spencer from $63,202 to $113,760.

The Compensation Board ranks localities by workload, based on the number of average felony defendants and felony sentencing events reported for 2004, 2005 and 2006. Based on that formula, the workload at the Charles City prosecutor's office ranks 10th-lowest out of 120 localities, and Caroline's is 27th-lowest.

Boyd said the numbers are misleading and do not fully reflect the workload. Tyler, who does not have any assistant prosecutors, notes that he handles everything from cases involving someone caught driving without a license to those accused of the most serious crimes.

Tyler said Boyd, who served for 32 years, could do things more quickly than Tyler, who has 3½ years of experience as an assistant commonwealth's attorney in James City County.

"He's left me in very good shape," Tyler said of Boyd. "I personally need it to be full time -- I'm here all day."

Tyler, 38, added that he hopes to remain Charles City's top prosecutor for the rest of his career.

"The art of the job is being able to decide who just needs to be corrected," he said, "and who needs a serious thumping."

Latney faced his first challenge in nearly 30 years when Spencer defeated him in November. Spencer, 49, had accused Latney of dropping too many charges and making too many plea deals.

Spencer already has worked on some high-profile cases, including the prosecution of a Caroline woman convicted in March of killing her husband, a state trooper. Last week, nine people were charged in Caroline with murder by mob in the death of a teen in November. Spencer also brought a case to a special grand jury that resulted in Friday's arrest of a man charged with killing his wife in 1995.

"There's more than one way to get the result that you want," Spencer said, "and I'd like to think that this office is going to be very open to doing things in a way that achieves results."
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.