Ever sat in an arraignment on a Monday or Tuesday morning in Keene District Court? The room is usually packed full of people, the supermajority of which have never harmed another person. They are there for harmless traffic tickets, drug possession, open container, or some other nonsense “crime against the state”, where there is no true victim. Well, correction, the people who are in court for these “crimes” are actually the victims of aggression by the people calling themselves the state or city. They shuffle in and line up to cut a “deal” with the prosecutor and pay in many cases hundreds of dollars just to make the awful experience go away.
You can almost hear the cash register ring to the tune of thousands of dollars each day. Most of the people who are being caught for these things certainly cannot afford to pay these fines whether or not the economy is doing well. Many of them have to go on payment plans, because they certainly don’t want to go to jail, which is what is done if they don’t pay up. You’d think that with all that cash rolling in from these victimless “criminals” that the system would be in the black. You would be wrong. This is bureaucracy we’re talking about, and they don’t have the ability to run efficiently, period.
The Keene Sentinel’s Phil Bantz reports that the courts are in such dire financial shape, they have to shut down – not completely, but enough to make scheduling and “speedy trials” even more difficult. Many trials of local liberty activists are already set into late spring, and may be delayed even longer with the pending shutdown.
Perhaps if the police would stop aggressing against peaceful people then the caseload would be manageable and they wouldn’t have to be going through this.
Can you imagine what would happen if 5-10% of the victims of state aggression stopped plea bargaining and took their cases to trial? The entire system would crash and burn. Their power rests on your obedience, so set the example and refuse to take a plea. Make them pay to schedule a trial and if you can afford to, take the jail time rather than pay them fines so it costs them even more.
Perhaps they’ll eventually do the right thing and leave peaceful people alone and only go after real criminals who harm others. Here’s the Sentinel story:
Already understaffed and overloaded with cases, Keene District Court and Cheshire County Superior Court, in the heart of the city’s downtown, are bracing for monthly closures and temporary layoffs.
Saying it was the saddest moment of his 37 years in the state’s judicial system, Chief Justice John T. Broderick Jr. met with judges and marital masters last Friday and asked them to take furloughs, an unprecedented request.
Unprecedented, but necessary, Broderick says, to accomplish the $3.1 million cut in court spending Gov. John H. Lynch has ordered as part of a plan to slash $25 million from statewide personnel costs.
The furloughs are mandatory for the 230 non-union employees and 147 court security officers. And an “overwhelming majority” of the state’s 101 judges and marital masters, who must volunteer for the furloughs, have already agreed to take the same amount of unpaid time off as other staffers, Broderick said.
“They (judges and masters) represent about $900,000 of the $3.1 million in cuts,” he said. “If they didn’t participate, it would be hard to describe what would happen.”
The remaining 346 employees who belong to the State Employees’ Association or collective bargaining units have yet to decide on the furloughs. Negotiations are ongoing.
If the bargaining units refuse to take furloughs, members will be laid off, Broderick said.
“The last thing we want is layoffs,” he said. “On the other hand, the economy is terrible. There are no bad guys. We’re just trying to do what we can.”
The furloughs and monthly court closures are expected to begin in late March or early April and continue through June 2011, at least. Closing the state’s 42 courts for an estimated 17 days over the next two fiscal years is expected to cause significant delays in every type of case, from criminal trials to divorce and child custody hearings.
“I expect a lot of complaints from frustrated people,” said Cheshire County Superior Court Clerk Barbara A. Hogan. “We’re very concerned about what this means for our people who have cases pending. We already have complaints every day, but now it’s going to get louder and more frequent.”
Cheshire County Attorney Peter W. Heed said the county’s criminal justice system will suffer as a result of the furlough-related court closures.
“The people in this county are stretched as thin as they can possibly be, and everybody in the criminal justice system continues to do more with less,” he said. “Anything that closes the court has an impact on the criminal justice system and the citizens in general. It’s a sad day when something like this happens.”
Superior Court handled about 800 cases in 2008, and Keene District Court handled more than 6,000 cases that year. Hearings at both courts are sometimes scheduled six to nine months in advance, and the hearings slated for days when the courts will be closed for furloughs will have to be rescheduled. That’s no easy task when the docket’s already full.
“Somebody is expecting a day in court and that somebody has probably been waiting a very long time for it,” Hogan said. “I would like to know, as soon as possible, what days the court will be closed.”
A closure schedule will be released by April at the latest, Broderick said.
“We’re trying to schedule the furlough days during long weekends,” he said. “We’re trying to lessen the impact, but, obviously, you can’t do that totally.”
Unlike the state’s superior courts, district courts handle arraignments that often occur on short notice. State law says anyone who is arrested has a right to stand before a judge and address the charges he or she faces within 24 hours of being taken into custody, except on weekends or holidays.
“If someone is arrested the day before the court closes, what happens the next morning?” asked Keene District Court Clerk Larry Kane. “Someone needs to explain to us how that will happen. … I’m sure these things are being talked about.”
Though no real plan exists, Broderick said judges and other essential staff, such as security officers and clerks, might be placed on call to handle arraignments and other emergencies when the courts are closed.
“Once we know the outcome of the union negotiations and the parameters of the furlough program, hopefully that will be Friday, we’ll begin internal planning to address these types of issues,” he said. “The people in this system are pretty extraordinary folks in their ability to adapt.”
Hogan, an example of this adaptive ability, began serving as the the clerk for Sullivan County Superior Court when its clerk retired Dec. 1. She is the only dual-court clerk in the state.
“Day by day, I have to change my schedule as things arise,” said Hogan, a Keene resident. “I feel like I’m juggling because both courts are busy and have all sorts of important things going on. It’s a real challenge, but we’re used to being flexible. We’re accustomed to that.”
Aside from creating constitutional issues for defendants and scheduling conflicts, closing the courts may also exacerbate the ongoing problem of backlogged cases.
“We’re very short-staffed as it is right now,” Kane said. “We’ve got five people doing the job of eight. If we’re told to stay home for a day, the work is going to build up. It’s not going away.”
Broderick knows. So does Chief Justice Robert J. Lynn, who oversees the state’s superior courts.
“I think that nobody in state government is happy this has to happen,” Lynn said. “But we all have to do our part.”
Broderick said, “The piles of paperwork get higher. The delays get longer. I apologize to the people of New Hampshire who have to deal with that. But I don’t know any other way to deal with it other than to say, ‘I’m sorry and we’re trying to help.’ ”
Phillip Bantz can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1409, or pbantz@keenesentinel.com
