Justice delayed is justice denied

So said 19th Century British Prime Minister William Gladstone (1809-1898).

While in court this afternoon, one judge mentioned the possibility that the courts would be closed for 4 days next week and 10 days in May because of budget issues. Apparently we won't know until Governor Rick Scott decides whether or not to approve the legislature's loan to temporarily fund this extremely important branch of government. Today's Sentinel reports:

Gov. Rick Scott says he remains optimistic that lawmakers will deliver his corporate tax cuts over the next month on top of the roughly $4 billion in cuts the Legislature is proposing for classrooms, health-care for the poor and benefit cuts to public workers. Click here for the rest of the article. I will try to refrain from getting on a soapbox about the possibility of giving corporations $458 million when we can't /won't fund our own courts.

So where does public safety fit in? After all, that's what our judiciary is tasked with enforcing. A year or two ago, the justice system comprised only 3% of the State budget. It wouldn't surprise me if it's less than that now.

A justice system that is incapable of doing its job will one day implode. In my 4 years as a courtwatcher, I have seen the number of prosecutors in the courtroom diminish. I have seen an increase in the number of "Expiration of Speedy" notices on the court dockets. I have seen defendants receive minimal consequences for their crimes with plea bargains because savvy defense attorneys know that the State can't possibly bring every case to trial. 

The irony is that by closing the courts, we will incur additional expenses in having to house inmates for lengthier periods of time as they await their day in court. Families in the throes of divorce or custody battles will have to wait longer to see a judge, thus ratcheting up these volatile situations into a higher potential for violence. Further creating more of a burden on the justice system, which then teaches the majority of criminals that the consequences for breaking the law won't be too severe until you have a few felony convictions under your belt.

US Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger once noted:

A sense of confidence in the courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free people and three things could destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to society: that people come to believe that inefficiency and delay will drain even a just judgment of its value; that people who have long been exploited in the smaller transactions of daily life come to believe that courts cannot vindicate their legal rights from fraud and over-reaching; that people come to believe the law - in the larger sense - cannot fulfill its primary function to protect them and their families in their homes, at their work, and on the public streets.
Burger, What's Wrong With the Courts: The Chief Justice Speaks Out, U.S. News & World Report (vol. 69, No. 8, Aug. 24, 1970) 68, 71 (address to ABA meeting, Aug. 10, 1970).

Justice delayed is indeed justice denied.

For the accused, their victims, and our community.

Click here for more on the story.  Send an email to the governor to tell him how foolish it would be to not approve this funding.

Budget Cuts Kill Valuable Program at Courthouse

As I walked through the lobby at the Orange County Courthouse this afternoon, I spotted a sign that told of another budget cut fatality. A Place for Children, providing a safe place for parents to leave their children while they attend court since June 1998, will shut down in two weeks for lack of funding. Per the Ninth Judicial Circut's website:

Children are routinely brought to the Courthouse because their caregivers have no safe place to leave them while they are required to make court appearances. Often children are left in the halls outside the courtrooms because they become too disruptive in the courtrooms. Further they can be exposed to disturbing and inappropriate proceedings. A Place for Children – a licensed drop-in child care center for children whose families have business with the court – lets children be children, instead of spending long sessions listening to adult interactions that could be painful or frightening for them.

A Place for Children’s goal is to provide on-site, safe, high quality child care for families with official court business while ensuring linkage to available social services. A key component of A Place for Children is that it will serve as a link between much needed social services and the high-risk families who could use these services. It is hoped that linking families with needed services may break the cycle of repeated visits to court and that A Place for Children will provide a vehicle for reaching out to individuals with information about the community services to which they and their families are entitled. A Place for Children can be a touchpoint for a family member in a moment of crisis, making a difference in the life of that individual and their family.

Through referrals to needed services and through information, assistance is provided to children and families well beyond their visit to the Courthouse. During their visit to A Place for Children, parents and guardians, can obtain up to date information on important child development and parenting topics or receive referrals that connect their families to the resources they need for future success. Referrals are given to Neighborhood Centers for Families and other helpful community services such as housing assistance, health care, credit and career counseling, long term child care, and educational programs for children.

There is no fee for this service and a morning and afternoon snack are served. Children up to the age of fourteen can spend four hour blocks of time at the Center. The Center is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The staff members and volunteers are trained in child development, health, safety, and nutrition, recognizing and preventing child abuse and neglect, and appropriate activities and best practices in working with children. All staff members are certified in CPR and First Aid. Caregivers are given a pager that is internal to the Courthouse when they enroll their children. This enables A Place for Children staff to reach them immediately when needed. Caregivers must complete an enrollment and information form before leaving their children and are given the opportunity to give staff members specific individual instructions for the care of their children. Every caregiver must give an emergency contact for their children. Even when a caregiver is remanded in custody the child is spared the experience of their caregiver’s arrest and detention, and has a safe, caring, comfortable place to play while waiting for their emergency contact to come and take care of them.

What a shame to lose this valuable service to the citizens of Orange County! If you think this service is worth providing, please contact Mayor Crotty and the Board of County Commissioners.

Media Coverage of Burke Didn't Tell the Whole Story

Since posting my thoughts about Burke's bond hearing on this forum, I've come to the conclusion that there are two things out there re-victimizing Shannon Burke's victim in this situation. The Court System and the Media.

My conjecturing about Mrs. Burke's apparent approval of the deal was based upon her presence in the courtroom. I see victims endure tremendous pressures in these situations, and they very often refuse to participate in the prosecution. Many victims attend these hearings to be a witness on behalf of their abuser. Sometimes they want the relationship to work out and are willing to give their partner another chance. Sometimes they're so intimidated that there will be future retribution that they do "cave in" to their partner's pressure. Sometimes they just want their partner to get help (psych, drug, alcohol, etc.) in the hopes that he'll get better & will be the charming, loving man they know he is capable of being. There are as many reasons why a victim doesn't vigorously work to put her batterer in jail as there are victims. It's not our place to criticize the victim's decisions. We should, instead, focus our attention upon the perpetrator's behavior.

Only WFTV aired a (too) brief comment that Mrs. Burke was not in favor of the stipulated agreement. I don't know if her attorney provided an on camera interview to any of the reporters there, but Catherine Burke's voice (either directly or through her attorney) was not heard on Wednesday - either inside or outside the courtroom. It should have been. And it should have been emphatically reported that she was opposed to her husband's release from jail.

Which brings me to the State's role in re-victimizing this woman who almost lost her life. If she was opposed to the "deal," they absolutely should not have struck it with Burke's attorney. In this era of huge budget cuts, our prosecutors are at a distinct disadvantage when dealing with private attorneys. In addition to concerns about the expense incurred in keeping someone incarcerated, they simply don't have the time/resources to always involve all the parties concerned. In this case, neither of the other women who filed injunctions against Burke immediately after this crime were notified, much less consulted, when the State was negotiating with Burke's attorney. Their lives, and those of their children, are also potentially at risk. Legally speaking, they were not victims in this case and therefore the State is not required to contact them. But an adequately funded prosecutor's office that has sufficient advocates to keep victims safe would (hopefully) be concerned about their well-being too. Because an Assistant State Attorney's pay is often not sufficient to pay student loans and keep a roof over one's head, many of our best young prosecutors and public defenders quickly move into private practice, leaving a new crop of young, usually inexperienced lawyers to keep our community safe. The defense attorneys know this and work it to their advantage.
Catherine Burke had a right to address the judge at the bond hearing. In reviewing the video footage, I did not hear the prosecutor mention that she wanted to address the Court. I did not hear Judge Alva ask if she wanted to address the Court. She was available in the courtroom. I do not know if she wanted to say something, but she should have been asked.

To reduce the charges to "Shooting Into Occupied Dwelling" from Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon (when it possibly could have been charged as Attempted 2nd Degree Murder) is an insult to Mrs. Burke and to domestic violence victims everywhere. It minimizes her husband's behavior and sends the message that what he did wasn't worthy of more vigorous prosecution. I will be surprised if Shannon Burke sees the inside of a jail cell again as a result of this incident. I fear that another, more violent one, is in his future.

Click here to see what rights the Florida Statutes afford to victims of crime.

Attempted Murderer Only Gets 15 Years in Plea Agreement

The State of Florida had 4 felony cases against Raymond Lewis, Jr. for numerous crimes last year. His run ins with the law began 3/11/08 when, after arguing with his girlfriend, he hunted her down and fired at her and 6 other people. Thankfully, no one was wounded. On 5/15, he was granted bond by Judge Bob LeBlanc in the amount of $11,500 for 7 counts of Aggravated Assault w/Deadly Weapon and 1 count of Shooting from Vehicle. He posted bond on 5/21/09 and was put on Home Confinement.

On 7/30/08 he was charged with Grand Theft of equipment relating to his home confinement and could not be located. On 8/2/08 he attempted to murder his girlfriend by shooting her in the chest (she survived). A capias for his arrest was issued and he was subsequently apprehended on 8/16/08 - but not before adding charges of Robbery w/Firearm, Carjacking, Aggravated Fleeing/Attempting to Elude & Resisting Officer w/o Violence relating to a chase where he totaled the vehicle he was driving.

The Attempted Murder charge should have won a sentence of 25 years in prison for possession & discharge of a firearm. The State knocked this charge down to 15 years (amending the charges to merely possessing the firearm) in their plea agreement with Defense Counsel. A 10-yr minimum mandatory term is included in the 15 years. All the other charges to which Lewis pled were also 15 years or less and run concurrently to this Attempted Murder charge. State Attorneys Benjamin Kashi & Marlene Wells represented to the Court that all the victims were agreeable to this resolution.

Raymond Lewis, Jr. is now 24 years old. His sentencing points (a measure of his criminal record & the severity of his crimes) totaled a staggering 412.6 points. From what I've observed in other cases, it seems as though each point is worth a month. So based on points, his sentence should be approximately 34 years.

Mr. Lewis, in my opinion, got off too easy. Are our resources so strained that we can't effectively prosecute someone like this to the fullest extent of the law? Not knowing whether or not the victims were cooperative, it's hard for me to know why the State would agree to this plea. But I shudder to think of the danger he'll pose to our community when he is released in 10-15 years.

Children's Campaign

Please consider contacting your legislator about the issues detailed in the following SOS from the Children's Campaign, particularly the funding for Guardians Ad Litem (GAL) program and the Juvenile Assessment Centers:

http://www.iamforkids.org/publications/legislative_updates/04_13_09.asp

Officials with whom I've spoken agree that our juvenile justice system is "a joke." Even though CourtWatch does not monitor the juvenile courts, we often see youthful offenders pleading guilty to armed robbery, assaults, and other crimes in felony court. Please tell your legislator that the courts need to be adequately funded to hold all perpetrators, juvenile and adult, accountable for their crimes.

Why blog?

There is so much happening in and to the court system, that I'm finding it tough to figure out how to communicate to our volunteers, supporters & the general public about what we see happening in our judicial system. A friend of mine suggested to me that this might be a good forum, so we'll see how it goes.

My most pressing priority at this time is to relate how deeply concerned I am about the funding cuts we're all facing. The school systems are well organized and have an abundance of PTAs that can make a significant amount of noise about the need to fund education. It's something I'm certain every citizen supports.

Unfortunately, the court systems around the State have not engaged the public to speak out on their behalf. Over the past year, I have seen the felony divisions in Orange County cut the number of prosecutors nearly in half. Where there used to be 5 or 6 assigned to a division (which typically has 600-700 cases), there are now 3 (not including the Sex Crimes Unit prosecutor which handles sex crimes & child victim cases in at least 2 divisions).

I'm not sure why Tallahassee continues to force us to close courtrooms (in fact, there are only 6 out of 12 felony divisions open for business this Friday, 3/27) and cut the staff needed in the State Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and other areas (interpreters, court reporters, victim advocates, case managers, etc). In future posts I will share some stories about how a lack of interpreters kept someone in jail for several weeks before he could even communicate with his public defender (who didn't have the money to pay for a specialized interpreter). Or the woman that was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a child abuse case who sat in jail because the mental health provider wouldn't accept her since her paperwork didn't show her as being adjudicated guilty! Or the victim of domestic violence who wanted to prosecute her abuser, but learned too late that he had accepted a plea offer without having been asked for her input. There are a lot of compelling cases in our courtrooms every day that do not make the 7am, noon, 5pm, and 11pm newscasts like Casey Anthony does.

The judiciary is the place where perpetrators of crime are supposed to be held accountable for their actions! If a criminal (adult or juvenile) does not face the discipline that our laws call for, they are likely to continue to re-offend and in fact raise the bar on the severity of their offenses. One judge said to me a few months ago that unless something is done soon, he fears the entire system will implode.

If we are to be a world class community (with a performing arts center, new arena, commuter rail, Lake Nona's medical complex, etc), we need to make sure our neighborhoods are safe. The courts are an integral part of providing public safety for our entire community. We all need to contact our legislators to let them know that the court system must be adequately funded.

And who out there really thinks our State needs to give US Sugar over a billion dollars for some swampland?????

Laura S. Williams
Board Chair / Program Director
CourtWatch Florida
http://www.courtwatchflorida.org/