Scales of justice weighed by lack ;br; of judges in District Court
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 22, 2000
Just like the announcer on television’s "Law and Order" announcer says, "The people are represented by two separate but equally important parts of the criminal justice system: the police who investigate the crimes and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
Saturday, April 22, 2000
Just like the announcer on television’s "Law and Order" announcer says, "The people are represented by two separate but equally important parts of the criminal justice system: the police who investigate the crimes and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders."
What are their stories in Mower County Third Judicial District Court?
Listen to them long enough and the common theme is frustration.
Peace officers are frustrated.
They say felony crimes are being plea bargained down to gross misdemeanors or less and the punishment doesn’t match the crime.
Prosecutors are frustrated, too.
They say they are overwhelmed with criminal and civil cases and jails are overcrowded and the push is to rehabilitate, not incarcerate, criminals. Add to that court administration, which struggles to sort through the massive paper chase that is part of the criminal justice system.
Meanwhile, judges share their disappointment with the criminal justice system’s imperfections.
The scales of justice are tilting. The system is overweight with criminal and civil cases and not enough judges to hear them.
It could get worse.
The news a month ago that judges in southeastern Minnesota will have to prioritize cases to help ease the impact of a $3.1 million budget shortfall in the state court system only exacerbates the problem.
The budget constraints are expected to impact about 77,000 cases statewide by the end of the 1999-2000 biennium, according to Judge Gerard W. Ring, chief judge of the Third Judicial District, which includes Mower County as well as Houston, Fillmore, Freeborn, Winona, Olmsted, Dodge, Steele, Wabasha, Goodhue and Rice counties.
"We’re really beginning to feel the pinch," Ring said. "The cases continue to pile up, but the resources we need to keep pace with the growing caseload just aren’t there."
Retirements and sick leaves took five judges out of the mix in the Third Judicial District this spring.
"For six of our district’s 11 counties that have only one judge to begin with, extended vacancies could have entire communities without judicial service," Ring said.
Witness Mower County, where District Judge Donald E. Rysavy, assistant chief judge in the Third District, is the only sitting judge. District Judge Michael H. Seibel continues to recover at home from a serious illness, which took him off the bench for sick leave.
In one recent week, April 3-7, Rysavy, the only active sitting judge in Mower County Third Judicial District Court, shared bench duties with four different judges – one each from Houston and Winona counties and two from Olmsted County.
Rysavy considers the situation "fairly dramatic" and has sent a letter to members of the state Senate Conference Committee to detail his concerns.
According to Rysavy, the Third Judicial District, "It’s fairly dramatic. During 1999, there were a number of times, when we had a judge need, measured by a time study, of 23 judges in the district.
"We have only 22 judges appointed in the district. And at various times in 1999 we had three judicial vacancies caused by retirement, which were delayed in being filled, because of the budget crisis. That went on for three to six months."
"We had one judge on intermittent family leave," he continued, "and we had Judge Seibel on intermittent medical leave, which has been more extended medical leave of late."
"So, there were times we were virtually doing 23 judges’ jobs with only 17 judges," he said.