10.07.2015 Views

Settlement Conferences in Criminal Court - Lawyers

Settlement Conferences in Criminal Court - Lawyers

Settlement Conferences in Criminal Court - Lawyers

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

A Busy <strong>Court</strong>The Superior <strong>Court</strong> of Arizona <strong>in</strong> MaricopaCounty is the fifth-largest trial court <strong>in</strong> the UnitedStates, consist<strong>in</strong>g of 94 judges and 52 commissioners,of which 28 judges and 29 commissioners are assigned acrim<strong>in</strong>al calendar. In fiscal year 2006, end<strong>in</strong>g June 30, therewere 40,928 crim<strong>in</strong>al cases filed, <strong>in</strong> addition to 36,691 civil casesand 50,878 family court cases. This added up to a docket of 157,956total case fil<strong>in</strong>gs. With respect to crim<strong>in</strong>al cases, the court typically disposesof almost 92 percent of such cases over a 12-month period.The court has a nationwide reputation as an <strong>in</strong>novative court. 1 Many of the juryreforms of the last 10 years were <strong>in</strong>stituted here, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g jurors ask<strong>in</strong>g questions ofwitnesses <strong>in</strong> both civil and crim<strong>in</strong>al trials, and lett<strong>in</strong>g civil jurors (but not crim<strong>in</strong>al jurors)discuss a case before f<strong>in</strong>al deliberations as long as all jurors are present <strong>in</strong> the jury room. 2Although this court is not the first to conduct crim<strong>in</strong>al settlement conferences, it is certa<strong>in</strong>lyamong the very first courts to do so on a large scale. 3As <strong>in</strong> most jurisdictions, crim<strong>in</strong>al cases take precedence for trial purposes over civilcases, and at times crim<strong>in</strong>al cases are ready for trial without a sufficient number of crim<strong>in</strong>aljudges to handle them. When that occurs, civil judges are assigned crim<strong>in</strong>al trials.History and Present ProcedureIn 1996, certa<strong>in</strong> judges 4 on the crim<strong>in</strong>al bench began to do settlement conferences<strong>in</strong> crim<strong>in</strong>al cases with the consent of both parties; those judges <strong>in</strong>cludedthe then presid<strong>in</strong>g and associate presid<strong>in</strong>g judges, They took thisdramatic step after not<strong>in</strong>g that many crim<strong>in</strong>al cases thatshould have resulted <strong>in</strong> pleas were <strong>in</strong>stead go<strong>in</strong>gto trial. In addition, there was a backlog ofcrim<strong>in</strong>al cases wait<strong>in</strong>g for trial that had to beassigned to civil judges.— cont<strong>in</strong>ued on p. 10Published with the permission ofJUDICATURE, the journal of theAmerican Judicature Society,which features this article <strong>in</strong> itsMarch/April 2007 edition.APRIL 2007 ARIZONA ATTORNEY9

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!