The San Benito County District Attorney has instructed his staff
to routinely deny requests for court trials before a judge and will
only schedule jury trials from now on
– a decision that local defense attorneys believe could fill
local mailboxes with jury summons and cost taxpayers thousands of
dollars.
Hollister – The San Benito County District Attorney has instructed his staff to routinely deny requests for court trials before a judge and will only schedule jury trials from now on – a decision that local defense attorneys believe could fill local mailboxes with jury summons and cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.
District Attorney John Sarsfield said he initiated the policy last week as part of a larger effort to crackdown on crime that will give his attorneys “maximum leverage” in jury trials. But local attorneys believe the policy is simply a political ploy used to gain public approval in an election year.
“This type of move is not new,” said San Benito County Bar Association President Paul Breen. “It’s a politically-motivated move to make the District Attorney’s Office appear tough on crime in an election year.”
While Sarsfield understands his new policy may initially cause some congestion in the courthouse, he also plans to implement a new program designed specifically to speed up the criminal justice system. Sarsfield plans to get a pre-plea diversion program in place in the next couple of months that would remove all non-serious misdemeanor cases from the criminal court system.
The program would be designed specifically for first-time offenders involved in low-level criminal cases such as petty theft, Sarsfield said. First-time offenders would be charged and placed in the program with authorization from the San Benito County Board of Supervisors. Then, without a jury trial or guilty plea, the defendant would have to make restitution to the victims of their crime, perform community service, stay out of trouble for one year and pay a fine in order to have the diverted charges dropped, Sarsfield said.
“The program would be revenue neutral,” he said. “The (defendants) would pay a fine to keep the program running.”
Sarsfield anticipates that the pre-plea diversion program will mitigate the effects of an increased number of jury trials.
More jury trials will, however, mean more jurors will be summoned, Sarsfield said.
“I hope (residents) understand the importance of jury duty,” he said. “This is what people can do to fight crime and take back their community.”
Court trials, which are heard only by a judge and usually decided in a matter of hours, are often far less expensive in terms of time and personnel costs than jury trials, according to San Benito County Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders. Jury trials often last between two and three days and require the county to call a pool of jurors – usually about 120 for a single case, he said. Sanders worries that this new policy could clog an already congested courthouse.
“We’ll attempt to accommodate whatever policies are put in place,” he said. “The key thing is to see justice served. And a back-up won’t be good for that, but we will try to accommodate any increase in jury trials.”
Jury trials force the state to pay jurors, court employees, stenographers, public defenders and law enforcement witnesses more money, Sanders said.
“Everything gets magnified the longer a trial lasts,” he said.
Sarsfield said he isn’t worried about the increased costs because it won’t hurt local taxpayers, and keeping criminals off the streets would save the county, and the entire state, money in the long run.
But Public Defender Greg LaForge called the policy “an absolute joke,” anticipating that forced jury trials could end up doing more harm than good, especially in cases of child molestation.
“As a prosecutor, you don’t want to put a child through hell,” he said, referring to the trauma many children suffer testifying in open court about being abused.
LaForge also said it would end up costing the county thousands of dollars in attorney fees.
“The conflict attorneys and other attorneys will get rich,” he said.
But Sarsfield claims his no court trial policy will not increase court or attorney costs, claiming that local defense attorneys are simply concerned about their wallets.
“They don’t care about the community or public safety,” he said. “They care about money in their pockets and turning criminals loose.”
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
