On July 6, North Las Vegas justice court officials added a third morning criminal session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, expecting Clark County DA David Roger to send a third prosecutor to handle the extra courtroom time. Roger, apparently, had different expectations. From the RJ:Roger, struggling with the loss of dozens of positions because of the ongoing county budget crunch, decided to staff the three extra courtroom sessions with the two prosecutors currently assigned to North Las Vegas.
Chief Justice of the Peace Natalie Tyrrell did not like Roger's response, so she has "instructed Roger to staff all three courtrooms with a prosecutor beginning Aug. 3." This is where things get juicy, as Roger has publicly stated that he has no intention of sending an additional prosecutor:
"We have two attorneys there. We'll cover the third calendar when we get there," Roger said. "We are incredibly short-staffed. We have lost 60 positions over the last two years, and our caseload has not gone down."
Roger said he doesn't believe Tyrrell has the authority to order him to send another prosecutor to the North Las Vegas courts. He also said the dispute could be resolved easily if the justices of the peace considered some alternatives, such as holding the third session in the afternoon instead of the morning. That would allow him to more easily staff the extra sessions, he said.
Silly David Roger, don't you know that Clark County judges need to be at home in time to watch Judge Joe Brown in the afternoons? How are they supposed to hold court?
One of our tipsters seems to think that the NLV Judges aren't actually busy enough to hold a third calendar, but are in fact just attempting to "look busy for the public." Terri March, the administrator of North Las Vegas Justice Court, begs to differ:
"Our judges are in the best position to know and understand the community in which they live and serve," March said in a statement. "This decision was made in an effort to do everything possible to benefit and protect the citizens of North Las Vegas."
Our favorite quotes in the article come from Assistant District Attorney Chris Owens. The RJ published various snippets of letters written by Owens in this ongoing fight. This bit of prose brought tears to our eyes:
"It is obvious to most of us who have worked within this specialized community that there is an ominous consequence to unilateral action," he wrote."Ominous consequences?" "Unilateral actions?" "Rouge undertakings?" "Maverick endeavors?" We are still talking about the NLV justice courts, right? Does Owens moonlight as a presidential speechwriter?
"Rogue undertakings place an unfair and unnecessary strain upon the resources of sister institutions. The beneficiaries of these maverick endeavors are often the purveyors of crime, rather than the law-abiding citizenry."
How about it, commenters, any opinion one way or the other? Is the DA being unreasonable? Is NLV just trying to "look busy?" Either way, it should be interesting to see what happens on August 3rd.
(LVRJ; Thanks, Tipsters!)
With a budget crisis of unprecedented proportions, public agencies simply have to learn to think outside the box. I fail to see why conducting court sessions in the afternoon or even (gasp) one or two nights a week, cannot be a solution. This would allow the District Attorney, as he proposed to begin with, to schedule the existing staff to accommodate a third judge. This is just basic management; I'm somewhat skeptical, that the court administrator couldn't have negotiated this somewhere other than the pages of the media. My assumption is that he wasn't permitted to do so. This is adolescent behavior, the court needs to adjust to the current economic reality. The NLV electorate isn't that far removed from their officials, something the judges should remember. Maybe they should speak to the city Mayor for some sound political advice; she's got her head screwed on straight and knows the score.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could Rob Cottle to cover. Apparently he is just chillin' with his millions.
ReplyDeleteAfternoon and night courts work in hundreds of counties across the country. The criminals aren't going anywhere.
ReplyDeleteChris Owens is full of shit. There are not more Public Defenders than District Attorneys. He does secretive, fancy accounting to reach his numbers and he refuses to share them with the public. The DA's office has not lost 60 attorneys, but has lost employees. It wouldn't have lost so many people if Roger and Owens had the slightest interest in effectively managing the office. Morale is at an all-time low and a lot of people have left because of these micro-managing assholes.
ReplyDelete@9:19,
ReplyDeleteActually, they have lost 60 attorneys. Not all at once, and not even in the past year, but over the last several years there have been many positions that have gone unfilled. Also, mane of the attorneys they have hire or promoted went into "grant" positions, meaning the money to pay them comes from a finite resource, and when the grant is used up, the deputy either has to hope that a new position is available, or start looking for a new job. The number of unfilled or terminated employees is much, much higher. Closer to 200.
If the DA's office stopped charging every two-bit shoplifter with Burglary instead of a petit larceny (etc), maybe they'd have more attorneys free to cover this third NLV courtroom.
ReplyDeleteCut the D.A.'s pay, across the board, so that they can hire more attorneys. (and the PD's pay while your at it).
ReplyDeleteWhat else are D.A.'s going to do? Go work somewhere else? No, they won't.
The D.A.'s office is pretty much THE place to work if you want to prosecute crimes (sure sure, you could also work for a city, or the fed, or the AG, but come on).
These D.A.s and P.D.'s aren't going to quit because of low pay and start doing transaction work even if it pays more. they work where they do because they want to practice criminal law.
I'm willing to bet most of them are willing to practice criminal law even if it means less pay.
10:42,
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU.
The non-starting level DA's have been receiving raises during the budget crunch while the experienced PD's have been at a stand-still (except for longevity pay which some receive, and others do not) for a few years. The DA's should be kicked back to the pay of the PD's.
ReplyDeleteHow would afternoon and night court solve the "we don't have enough bodies to cover the new courts" problem? Answer. It wouldn't.
ReplyDeleteIf the TV show is any indication, "Night Court" would be hilarious!!
ReplyDeleteDoes "specialized community" mean a lot of minorities?
ReplyDeleteThe DA's office has had 200 employees leave in the last few years? In this economy? What the hell is going on over there?
ReplyDelete"Morale is at an all-time low and a lot of people have left because of these micro-managing assholes."
ReplyDelete9:19 nailed it. The biggest asshole is the Admin chief, Terry Johnson, who thinks he is a law unto himself. His ego doesn't mirror his minor talent. Johnson almost by himself has caused morale at all levels to crash and burn. The sooner Roger gets rid of him the sooner morale will improve.
People have retired, left for better paying jobs, that sort of thing. Some have been fired. Then the DA's office just wouldn't fill the position. So, for example, instead of 3 or 4 paralegals covering a division, you have 2.
ReplyDelete200 people don't leave an office in this economy without some very serious problems that are driving them away. Some may have retired and a few may have found better paying jobs, but a lot have left because it's a miserable place to work.
ReplyDelete1:08,
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not just not enough bodies, but that the DA won't assign another individual to NLV, so if there are 3 sets of hearings going on at the same time, one is going to get left out.
If you changed the 3 simultaneous hearings to 1 at a time but spread out over a morning, afternoon and evening, then you could use the two current DAs to cover all three hearings, instead of needing another DA to cover the third hearing.
That's how having afternoon or evening hearings would help.
I would venture to say that morale is low at many jobs recently. Blaming it on micro management seems short sighted. As Mr. Ross so astutely observed, we are facing a budged crisis, and unemployment I might add, of unprecedented proportions (in recent history). Things are tough out there.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm still making a lot of money, but I can imagine that morale would be bad elsewhere. Keep your head up.
@4:09
ReplyDeleteWorking the deputy D.A.'s longer hours with less time to prep their cases because of extra court time hardly seems a viable option. The office morale is very low already. That might be enough to start another mass exodus or a revolt.
I don't know what is worse: Metro or the DA's office. They both seem to hire exclusively from the shallow end of the gene pool.
ReplyDelete@2:11 I think "specialized community" means a lot of criminals/minorities.
ReplyDelete1042 and 1120 can now return to the true-believers workshop on coddling criminals. It's being held in Linda Bells' chambers. Cory will be there. So will your friends on the NSC, Cherry and his vote monkey Saitta.
ReplyDelete1) STOP BREAKING THE LAW, ASSHOLE
2) If you charge a misdo, TBPDs would take them all to trial because there's no reason not to.
3) Read the statute. If you make up your mind to shoplift then go into wally world without any money in your pocket, you committed burglary. Defense attorneys don't seem to have much use for the law, though.
8:31 PM - psst, the "law" is nothing but institutionalized violence whereby the ruling elite impose its will on the little people.
ReplyDelete@12:51,
ReplyDeleteI consider myself to be anarcho-libertarian. Buy you're nucking frazy.
C*nt Kidner of Elko, Nevada, railroaded me on a battery charge for taking on Wells Rural Electric Company (her "husband" was a member of the board at the time), one of the most corrupt entities America has ever seen. Read the transcripts and you tell me where they had a case: http://hdeanberry.com
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Jordan Ross apparently knows nothing about the criminal justice system. Courts across the country are eliminating night court due to the cost. There are numerous other agencies involved in a criminal calendar besides the DA. In particular, the jails would have to add staff to transport prisoners -- not feasible in this economic climate. As for negotiating this in the media, that was David Roger's decision.
ReplyDelete