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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Courts - "Kentucky judge's ban on prosecutorial objections rejected"

Jason Riley reports today in the Louisville Courier Journal:

A Jefferson Circuit Court judge yesterday ordered District Court Judge Sean R. Delahanty to at least temporarily stop enforcing his policy that forbids prosecutors from making objections in his courtroom.

Circuit Judge Susan Schultz Gibson said Delahanty's policy "imposes a significant limitation" on the Jefferson County attorney's office.

However, Gibson did not find the policy illegal, as the county attorney's office has requested, saying she needed more time to look into the arguments from both sides.

Last month, Delahanty threatened to hold a prosecutor in contempt of court if he objected during a probable-cause hearing, saying it violated a long-standing unwritten policy the judge had created.

At the time, Delahanty told County Attorney Irv Maze and several of his prosecutors that he was tired of certain prosecutors wasting court time by making "obnoxious, ridiculous, abundant and useless objections" during probable-cause hearings.

Under his policy, Delahanty said prosecutors have a "standing objection to each and every question" that defense attorneys ask of witnesses during probable-cause hearings. The hearings are held so a judge can decide if there is enough evidence for a case to continue.

Maze and his prosecutors say they have an obligation to object to what they believe are unfair or illegal questions defense attorneys ask during hearings, and to make sure the objections are noted for the record.

In a hearing in front of Gibson yesterday, Assistant County Attorney Dave Sexton said a judge is not allowed to create a court rule without approval from the state Supreme Court. And Sexton said that making prosecutors remain "mute" like a "potted plant" while defense attorneys question witnesses could allow the defense to get information it is not entitled to.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 12, 2008 10:00 AM
Posted to Courts in general