Alex Slitz/Daily NewsAssistant County Attorney Jill Justice speaks with Bowling Green Police Department Officer Ben Carroll during a pretrial hearing Wednesday for a driving under the influence case at the Warren County Justice Center.

When Bowling Green Police Department Officer Ronnie Ward walks into Warren District Court to testify against someone he has arrested for driving under the influence, he is confident that Assistant County Attorney Jill Justice is well-prepared for the prosecution.

Justice oversees the DUI division in the Warren County Attorney’s Office, prosecuting the majority of people charged here with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“She’s very thorough,” said Ward, a four-year veteran of the city police department. “She doesn’t miss details. She knows the law.”

Last year in Warren County, 1,075 people were convicted of DUI, according to a recently released Kentucky State Police study. The high number of convictions places Warren County among the highest per capita in DUI convictions in the state.

“I had a good friend who was hit and killed by a drunk driver in Louisville while I was in law school,” Justice said. “I saw the devastation it caused her family. It not only ended her life, it drastically changed (her family’s) lives forever.

“If what I do stops that from happening to just one person, the long hours and the time away from my family are worth it,” she said.

In Warren County, on average, about 100 people a month are charged with DUI.

“We’re above 90 percent in our conviction rate,” Justice said. “I give a lot of credit to law enforcement because they give us good cases. They’re really the ones that put their lives on the line. I really just try to make sure that their hard work results in a conviction.”

In the courtroom, Justice takes a no-nonsense approach to questioning those charged with DUI and those who are witness to the offense. Unlike popular court television shows, Justice doesn’t use theatrics to make a point and is seemingly unmoved by those who do. Instead she relies on testimony and the law.

She is a copious note taker who pays close attention to details in testimony and quickly calls out witnesses who change their stories.

“I think the people of Warren County should be very happy that she is in that position,” said Justice’s boss, County Attorney Amy Milliken.

Justice is a 1992 graduate of Warren Central High School, a 1996 graduate of Western Kentucky University and a 1999 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law. Justice began working in the county attorney’s office in 2000 and took over DUI prosecutions July 1, 2008.

“She has the morals and the character to do what’s right,” Milliken said.

“She is one of the hardest workers I have ever met,” Milliken said. “I think she kind of looks at it as her passion. Sometimes I don’t think she sees how hard she works.”

Justice estimates that she works 55 to 60 hours during weeks when she is trying a case.

“Drunk driving is a serious crime, and that prosecutor is taking it very seriously, and we are very glad to see that,” said Kristen White, a victim advocate with the Kentucky division of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“When you have someone who believes this is a serious crime, they are going do what they need to do to hold those persons accountable, and it makes a huge difference,” White said.

Milliken sees DUI cases as one of the most important category of crimes her office prosecutes.

“These cases are special because every time someone drinks and gets behind the wheel of the car, they have a loaded weapon on their hand. They could hit someone walking or biking. They could hit another car head-on. They have the potential of harming themselves or someone else. We certainly think that and remember that every time we prosecute a case.”