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Uploaded: Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 11:44 AM
Judges: Budget cuts could close courtrooms
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San Mateo County Superior Court judges announced a plan Tuesday to close up to six courtrooms, and suspend court services in the north county and consolidate them in Redwood City, if the state does not restore funding by July 2013 after "unprecedented" budget cuts to the Superior Court budget.
Trial court budgets across the state have been cut more than $1 billion over five years, Superior Court Presiding Judge Beth Labson Freeman said in a written statement.
The San Mateo County Superior Court workforce is already smaller by 30 percent, the judge said. Management has consolidated traffic and small claims courts and cut the court clerk's availability to the public, she said.
"Trial Courts should not be dismantled, justice should not be rationed and communities should not be denied a rational, accessible and credible means to resolve disputes," she said.
The judges are going public with these warnings "well in advance so that the court can work with its justice partners and community leaders to restore funding and minimize these actions, if at all possible," the statement said.
— Dave Boyce Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Stan, a resident of the Portola Valley: Los Trancos Woods/Vista Verde neighborhood, on Sep 25, 2012 at 12:44 pm How about increasing productivity?????????
The last time I was called for jury duty I spent 2 1/2 days sitting in the courtroom waiting to never be actually interviewed for a jury for a simple DUI (non-felony) case. Endless recitations of the same stuff over and over and over. To prospective jurors who eventually had probably heard the same monolog 40 -50 times. I know, I know you can argue that legal minutia requires pedantic repetition to insure against later challenge but come on! Let's take a risk that if all the juror instruction information is only repeated say 10 times that an appeals court may just find that was enough.
All this along with 1 1/2 hour lunch breaks, not actually beginning proceeding until around 9:30 or 10:00, finish for the day at around 4:30, only in court 4 days a week.
Again I'm sure there are a zillion excuses for such a low level of "contact hours" but the courts should look at ways to increase productivity not decrease availability.
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Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 25, 2012 at 2:19 pm Stan says How about increasing productivity?????????
I was in SSF Court yesterday and the Judge managed to move on 115 cases in one day. I'd say that is pretty good productivity.
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