County grapples with rise in criminal cases

Molly Ball

Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

An unexpected increase in the number of criminal cases being prosecuted has forced the Clark County District Court to reshuffle judges' caseloads, the court's administration said.

From Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2004, 9,068 criminal cases were filed, an increase of 16 percent over the same period in 2003, when 7,816 were filed.

The increase outpaces what would be expected given the Las Vegas Valley's population growth and is straining a system whose caseloads per judge are already the highest in the state by far, officials said.

The District Court plans to ask for five new judge positions in the coming legislative session, Assistant Court Administrator Michael Ware said.

The court administration counts on an increase in filings of 3 to 4 percent per year. As for the 16 percent rise, "We think it's somewhat of an aberration," Ware said. "We won't know if it's a real trend till next year."

So far, the court is at a loss to explain the rise, but an analysis is under way, Ware said.

District Attorney David Roger said he had not heard of the increase and in fact found it "hard to believe."

The increase certainly isn't due to any increase in aggression in pursuing cases on the part of prosecutors, he said.

"The same people who screen our cases" -- deciding whether individual cases should be prosecuted -- "have been in this position for several years now," and were there before Roger took over as district attorney in 2002, he said.

The increase also cannot be explained by a meteoric rise in crime, Metro Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Jones said. Crime has increased at a rate roughly to be expected given the area's rapid growth, he said.

Major crimes against people and property reported to Metro rose by 4.4 percent in January to October of 2004 compared with the same period of 2003, according to the latest data collected for the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports.

Given financial constraints, the court tries to find as many creative solutions as possible before asking for more resources, Ware said -- for example, giving more duties to hearing masters, who can hear cases without being full-fledged judges.

Adding a new judge costs about $1.3 million, including staff and support costs, court officials said.

"We're reassigning existing judicial resources to try and maintain the level of service we're giving to the public right now," Ware said.

The current reshuffle will take 800 criminal cases out of the hands of the judges who were hearing them.

Of those, 400 existing criminal cases currently assigned to District Judge Donald Mosley will go to District Judge Stewart Bell, and 400 cases assigned to District Judge John McGroarty will transfer to District Judge David Wall.

The amount being transferred represents about a third of each judge's caseload. Mosley and McGroarty hear only criminal cases.

Bell and Wall previously heard only civil cases -- and have hefty dockets themselves -- but they are taking on a criminal calendar to aid their colleagues, Ware said. Bell, who will become the court's presiding criminal judge, instigated the move.

Civil cases will also be redistributed in mid-January to take the load off Bell and Wall, Ware said.

Civil filings have also seen a substantial increase. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2004, there were 17,425 civil cases filed, an 11 percent increase over the same period in 2003, which saw 15,742 filings.

The meting out of future cases is also being restructured, spreading out among several judges the cases that originate outside of Las Vegas Justice Court -- from North Las Vegas, Henderson or elsewhere in Clark County. Previously, Mosley heard all those cases.

Case reassignments were once uncommon. But now, Ware said, "they're happening more and more often in response to unexpected increases in filings."

Now, he said, some sort of redistribution, though not necessarily on this scale, occurs about every six months.

A report assessing judicial workloads, commissioned by the court and conducted by the National Center for State Courts, is due to be completed next month.