California Supreme Court Upholds Dismissals Due To Judge Shortage

In Riverside County, California, 18 criminal cases were dismissed because there were not enough judges available to hear the cases.  Nearly 25% of county jail inmates had to wait for over a year to go to trial.  Up to 32 jail inmates were waiting more than four years for a trial.  18 of the defendants kept being told that courts and judges were not available for their trial dates and their cases kept getting continued.  The inmates filed a motion to dismiss their cases because the California Penal Code required that they be brought to trial within 60 days of their arraignment.  California is currently facing an estimated $20.7 billion budget deficit.  Last year the California courts implemented regular monthly closures of the courts to ease the budget burden.  The Court in Riverside County granted the dismissal of the 18 cases and on Monday the California Supreme Court upheld the trial court's dismissal of the cases.  The California Supreme Court attributed the delay in bringing the inmates to trial to the state for its fault and neglect in addressing the budget problems.  The court went on to find that no "good cause" existed to continue the trials.

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