Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Justice delayed: Two Municipal Court judges lobby for help

There's no gum-chewing allowed, no whispering, no sunglasses and no hats. The marshal will tell you that.

But in library-quiet Henderson Municipal Court, where at least one traffic offender can be heard snoring in the seats on most mornings, Judge John R. Provost still has time to interrupt his auctioneer's song of fines and payment plans to listen to impromptu stories and to dispense one-liner wisdom.

But Provost, one of two Municipal Court judges, says his time available to listen is less these days. The courts are overcrowded and the tight schedule is preventing a timely dispensation of justice, he says.

In 2000, court trials to hear charges ranging from traffic violations to criminal domestic battery and DUI were up 277 percent from five years earlier. The two departments heard 6,860 cases, up from 1,822 in 1995, according to court records.

Provost and Judge Ken Proctor, who was recently re-elected to a third term, are angling for city funds for a third judge and office space for two additional departments. If growth continues as it has over the last five years, both departments will be needed by 2006, Provost said.

The last time the city added a judge was in 1996, when the population hit 115,000. With more than 205,000 people today, and an average of 1,800 new people arriving every month, the need for a third department appears to be on the horizon.

Provost points out that Reno, a city of about 180,000, pays four Municipal Court judge departments to handle a similar caseload.

City Manager Phil Speight said he is aware of the court caseload in Henderson. He said his office is prioritizing needs for the entire city.

The city council approved $40,000 in January for HCA Architects to study the needs of Municipal Court. The firm expects to report findings in June.

But funding will depend in large part on whether the public safety tax initiative passes in June. Voters turned down a similar initiative in November.

The proposed tax hike would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $84 annually and would pay the salaries of 277 new police and firefighters over the next 30 years. The hike would free up general funds that could then go to other city departments, such as the Municipal Court.

Even adding one department would require salaries and office space for another 15 to 18 support staffers for the judge and city attorney's office, senior marshal Dale Youmans said.

Much of that fiscal burden, however, would be covered by court revenues. In 2000, the city budgeted $2.1 million for the Municipal Court. The court generated $2.5 million for the city and another $558,000 for Clark County, according to court records.

"We're not at a point yet where we're totally swamped, but we're getting there," Youmans said.

If things are getting tight, for the most part they aren't yet grim.

During a recent day of proceedings regarding traffic violations, a man calling himself Marvelous Marv, in court for driving at an unreasonable speed, was allowed to go on at length about his stint as an ace pitcher for the Chicago Cubs in 1955.

Another man in for failing to stop for a red light let Provost know he was on his way to the Polo Towers on the Strip to make a million selling timeshares.

"You'd be surprised what people tell you in traffic court," Provost said after court. "You don't see bad people. You see good people who had a bad day."

Provost, for his part, adds his own unprovoked remarks while in session.

"Don't ride your bike while intoxicated. You'll hurt yourself," Provost tells a 21-year-old man, fined $50 for no bike light and $170 for being intoxicated as a pedestrian.

He wishes a happy birthday to another man fined $170 for driving with a suspended driver's license and failuring to appear at a prior court date.

It's business as usual in a bedroom community where defense attorneys know they'll have a harder time reducing sentences than they would in Las Vegas, Assistant City Attorney David Mincavage said.

Mincavage wants to keep it that way. But city attorneys no longer have time to prepare adequately for cases, and because of that, they have every incentive to negotiate softer settlements, Mincavage said.

"Everything we do now is reactive," Mincavage said. "Unfortunately, we are prioritizing what we prosecute, rather than prosecuting everything and giving everyone the sentence that they need."

Caroline Greene, a court-appointed victim advocate, has seen protective orders violated seven times before a recent domestic battery case went to trial.

Misdemeanor and criminal arraignments have actually declined about 7 percent since 1998, when they peaked at 19,392 cases. Last year, the court processed 18,112 such cases.

But in that same two-year time period, cases that went to trial increased from 5,264 to 6,860. So despite the slight decrease in arraignments, trials increased 30 percent.

The increase in trials is because of the heavier fines and stricter sentencings passed by state lawmakers for driving under the influence and domestic violence cases, Provost said.

"It seems like every time the Legislature meets we get another block of cases," Provost said.

The 2001 session may be no different. If legislators reduce marijuana possession from a felony to a misdemeanor, the Municipal Court, rather than the higher courts, will hear those cases.

Court officials have no doubt that traffic cases will increase in 2002.

In this instance, they'll be paying for the success of new resources allocated by the city for police.

Since June 2000, seven motorcycle cops have been patrolling accident-prone intersections and school zones.

Largely through that group's efforts, arraignments for traffic citations jumped 49 percent between 1999 and 2000.

In 2000 the Municipal Court handled 17,444 traffic cases, up from 11,684 cases in 1999. Those citations will likely flood the Municipal Court in larger numbers in 2001.

The additional caseload will lengthen the time before contested tickets get to trial. That line is already backed up six months.

The delay persists despite a state law that requires the court to hear such cases within 60 days of the date of arraignment.

The law, however, allows the court to use its discretion, Provost said. And that techinical loophole is what, for the time being, he and Proctor must hang their robes on.

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