KSPR Greene County Rotates Judges to Speed Justice

Rotating Judges to Speed Up Greene County Justice

Originally printed at http://www.kspr.com/news/whereyoulive/greene/42359732.html

Rotating judges will soon speed up justice in Greene County. Starting Monday, Greene County will open a new associate court division. It's called a judicial partnership program. Judges from three circuits with smaller case loads will come to Greene County to ease caseload woes.

For now judges will hold court in a temporary courtroom in room 212 of the Greene County Historic Courthouse. Greene County Presiding Judge Dan Conklin says the project has been a long time in the making.

"Division 25 will be staffed entirely by visiting judges," Judge Conklin says. "They'll be rotating through every week a few judges will come more than once," Greene County Circuit Clerk Steve Helms says. Monday through Thursday, judges from counties who have smaller caseloads will come here. They'll handle civil cases under $25,000.

"The state will incur the cost of traveling and housing while their here," Helms says. Judge Conklin wanted the rotating judges to handle criminal cases to free up space in the overcrowded jail. "Here we have the jail chute and a secure transfer. We don't have that over in the old courthouse," Conklin says.

Soon that problem will be fixed. Two new courtrooms are under construction on the first floor of the Greene County Judicial Courts Facility. Once construction is complete, the new division will move there. Conklin says the visiting judges will handle 1/5 of the associate circuit caseload. He says sitting judges will be freed up for other cases. "I intend to take on a criminal docket and move my civil cases to the associate divisions," Conklin says. "It should ultimately reduce the jail population which is a huge concern."

Even though a 2007 study found Greene County is short almost seven judges, Conklin says right now there are not enough prosecutors, public defenders, court clerks to add more than the one new division.

The new courtrooms are expected to be built by the end of the summer. Judge Conklin says once the new division is up and running he will eventually take 1/3 of the county's criminal cases.

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