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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Courts - Jefferson Co. Kentucky judge can't explain chronic delays

Andrew Wolfson reports today in the Louisville Courier Journal in a lengthy story - here are some quotes:

For three years Dale Schwieman begged Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett to rule on his motion for a hearing to present new evidence that Schwieman insisted would prove he didn't murder his wife.

"I don't understand what is taking this long," Schwieman wrote in 2005 from the Kentucky State Reformatory, after his motion had lingered for a year. "As a judge you are expected to make rulings on cases. This is the job you asked for."

The next year, his motion still unanswered, Schwieman pleaded with then-Chief Justice Joseph Lambert to "please correct this terrible injustice."

Schwieman finally got his hearing in 2007, but before Willett got around to ruling on his motion for a new trial, Schwieman had served out his sentence and left prison after 12 years — without a chance for the exoneration he sought, unless he wanted to risk a new trial.

He is not the only litigant to find the wheels of justice grind slowly in Willett's court, especially in civil cases.

Here is the part that caught the ILB's attention:
A computer analysis of internal state court documents provided to The Courier-Journal shows that as of May, Willett was responsible for more court delays than all of Jefferson County's other circuit judges combined.

Judges say the master list of cases with long-pending motions — compiled each month by the state Administrative Office of the Courts — is riddled with clerical errors, and the newspaper found that some of the motions listed as pending in Willett's court have been resolved.

But a half-dozen civil trial lawyers said in interviews that Willett is the slowest among Jefferson's Circuit judges. They include John Helmers Jr., who said he waited so long to get Willett to sign a default judgment in a contract dispute case that he finally just tried the case against the absent defendant. "He is the slowest circuit judge, by far," Helmers said.

And in an interview, Willett admitted he needs to be better organized and delegate more work to his staff. "I need to do a better job," he said. "Some of my old cases have fallen through the cracks," he said. "I have screwed up."

More:
Under state Supreme Court rules, lawyers are required to notify the Administrative Office of the Courts whenever they submit a motion to a judge that is ready for a final decision.

State law requires judges to explain in writing to the chief justice the reason for any motion that is pending more than 90 days.

The chief justice, in turn, is required to notify the Judicial Conduct Commission of any case in which a judge has failed to report the reason for the delay. Any judge who knowingly violates the law is subject to removal.

But Chief Justice John Minton Jr. said in an interview that Jefferson is the only county in which lawyers file notices of final motions, and even there, the process is too unreliable to be used "as a punishment tool."

He said efforts to streamline reporting suffered a major setback last year when a state computer system crashed and case information had to be retyped into new software.

"This is a work in progress," Minton said.

Judges in Jefferson County each month are given a list of their civil and criminal cases that have had final motions pending for over 45 days. The AOC considers the monthly list a preliminary document and won't release it publicly, but the newspaper was provided a copy of the May list and confirmed its authenticity.

It listed cumulative delays for Willett totaling more than the other 25 judges listed combined.

Willett receives generally high overall marks in judicial evaluations, but last year, he scored the second lowest among circuit judges in case management.

"I am criticized for not issuing evidentiary rulings quickly enough, and I plead guilty," he said in the July 16 interview with the newspaper.

He said he inherited a large backlog when he succeeded Judge Ernie Jasmin, and has never been able to overcome it.

He said he is also so tied up with trials and hearings — as many as 15 scheduled each day — that it is hard for him to carve out time to write opinions and orders.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 26, 2009 01:34 PM
Posted to Courts in general