Issues

• Respect • Fairness • Justice

Municipal Court is “everyone’s court” because most people first experience the law there through traffic tickets, business or neighborhood problems and misdemeanors. Whether they win or lose their cases, everyone should receive courtesy, respect and fair treatment from Municipal Court so they develop a favorable impression about the justice system. Respect for the law is a two-way street; citizens should respect the law to maintain order in our community and citizens should receive respectful treatment when they come to Municipal Court. Victims have a right to respect, dignity and justice.

 

Fairness is a component of justice. Fairness is having a system to present your position.  Fairness is being listened to and being given a chance to speak.  Fairness is balance, with the Court entering your case with no pre-dispositions or pre-conceived ideas.  Fairness means a citizen can go into court confident that he or she has an equal chance to prevail on the facts or law.

 

Justice is the end result. Justice is not the winning or the losing. Justice is based on rational thinking, ethics and equity, and the evidence presented. Justice is the sentence fitting the crime, being proportional to the level of wrong done.  Justice is not over-reaction to send a message; it is not leniency to engender public favor. Justice is achieved when the right thing is done for the right reasons.

• Effective and Efficient Court Operations

Backlogged warrants:

Reno Municipal Court has thousands of unserved arrest warrants going back many years.  In fact, the problem is so bad that it was one of the published goals of the Court to reduce that backlog. This results in "justice delayed" and costs the city revenue. The court should offer an amnesty for 120 days, eliminating FTAs, additional fines, fees and costs for anyone who pays the face-value of the ticket or posts bail in the amount listed on the Court's Bail Schedule.  The North Las Vegas Municipal Court has instituted a similar "half-off" program and already collected $450,000 in paid fines.  It is a practical solution to a problem that has arisen through years of neglect and, at times, insufficient staffing.  When I entered the Washoe DA's Office in 1991, there were 30,000 old warrants on the books, some going back to the 1950s.  It was brought to our attention by the arrest, handcuffing and jailing of a mother in front of her two toddlers for the "heinous" crime of failing to return a rented movie video, value $75. The expenditure of time of the police, courts, social services (her children were turned over to CPS), prosecutor's office, and defense attorney were ridiculously excessive in terms of the crime committed.  That is not efficient or effective court operations.  This is a problem that needs to be solved now.

• Specialty Courts

Dorothy started Nevada’s first specialty court soon after taking office as DA in 1991, working with Judge Charles McGee and Choices Unlimited to present treatment, instead of prosecution, to pregnant addicts in the Family Court. The poster used all around town is shown. It was grim and, yes, perhaps frightening, but it brought women in for treatment. (The model was a very pregnant Parole Officer who delivered a healthy, beautiful baby a few days later.) The DA ACT program provided detoxification, treatment and counseling to women and resulted in clean Moms giving birth to clean babies.  The program ran for a year on a BADA grant. Judge Jack Lehman from Las Vegas called Dorothy up to find out how it worked, then “borrowed” our idea and treatment provider, to set up the first criminal Drug Courts in the state thereafter.  Once those proved successful, Washoe County followed suit in setting up Drug Courts. Reno Municipal Court got on board a decade later.  Washoe County has pioneered Mental Health Court and Veteran’s Court since then.  Dorothy works to find the resources in the community to solve the problem of crime, not just punish it. She was ahead of her time in this idea, and will bring that creativity and problem-solving to Reno Municipal Court.

• What's happening with "DUI?"

DUI sentences are “back-loaded” thus failing in their deterrent effect, and over-crowding our jail when the judge finally gets serious.  Initial punishment is minimal, only threatened, then suspended, imposing few true consequences. Offenders should feel the serious impact (jail) up-front so they know they never want to return there. Not every DUI offender requires a SCRAM unit; it is expensive and uses supervision resources that should be reserved for repeat or most serious violators. Bail is inconsistent; four times as many offenders await trial in jail than those appearing in any other court.  Sentencing is disproportional; more than four times as many offenders languish in jail, and for longer periods, than those sentenced from any other court. Judges must know the law, even new ones, and follow it.

• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE KILLS!

Domestic violence is one of the most serious issues faced by Municipal Court Judges.  It also is a huge law enforcement problem here.  Domestic violence and family disputes kill, not just the victims (99% women) but also police officers.  It is well-known that the worst day for family violence is Super Bowl Sunday, due to the mixture of alcohol and testosterone.  I personally experienced domestic battery in my first marriage.  At first, I didn’t think I was a battered wife because he only beat me up when he got drunk and I tried to get the car keys, credit cards or check book away from him—and it only happened a couple times a year, but it went on for seven years.  During law school, I learned about the syndrome, including the isolation, emotional blackmail, guilt-trips, use of kids against the parent, and much more. I recognized myself and revealed my secret—and divorced my batterer. Sympathy, even empathy, and compassion for victims is important, but no one can truly understand the plight of a victim unless you have suffered it yourself.  Often, our judges are not sentencing first offense domestic battery as strongly as they are first-time DUI offenders. Fines are usually less; jail is usually threatened or short-term. The protection of the victim and family comes first.  Only a stronger authority can stop a bully and a batterer. That authority must be the Court.

• Sentencing

What is an appropriate sentence?  One that “fits the crime” meaning it imparts justice and teaches the appropriate social lesson, is neither excessive nor too lenient, and one that is reasonable, given the circumstances of the offense and the current economic times. This last part might surprise people, but we cannot go backwards and create a “debtor’s prison” because a defendant is unemployed and cannot make bail, pay a fine, afford a $10 per day SCRAM unit (“ankle bracelet”) or interlock devise for the car, or pay the cost of counseling.  Yes, it is important that the courts ensure that “crime does NOT pay” but at the same time, we cannot jam-pack our Consolidated Jail just because it is an absolute impossibility for a defendant to pay.

 

Is that already happening in Reno Municipal Court (RMC)?  I wonder, because in April 2010, RMC had 356 people in jail awaiting trial for misdemeanors crimes, while Reno Justice Court (RJC) had 125 (with 1 more judge than RMC); Sparks Municipal Court (SMC) had 100; and Sparks Justice Court (SJC) had 54. The same was true for inmates in jail after sentencing on misdemeanors: RMC had 311; RJC had 55; SMC had 34; and SJC had 16.

It is NOT because RMC judges work harder or have more cases.  The 2009 Nevada Supreme Court Annual Report on the Judiciary showed that RMC judges handled a 7% smaller per-judge caseload than the state average for courts of lower jurisdiction. Sheriff Haley says DUIs are down.  Former-Chief Poehlmann of RPD said vehicle cases were down double-digits from 2-3 years ago, so what’s up?  Elect me and I’ll find out for you.

• What the public thinks

A common failing of government is the misconception that the average citizen doesn’t know enough about it to offer valid criticism or viable suggestions.  That is like saying that a passenger in a car knows nothing about safety. Everyone has a right to know about government and see how it operates. While it should be public information, the salary of judges and court staff is not openly available.  If you look in the City of Reno website under “Municipal Court Steering Committee,” for both past and future events, you will see the words “No events in this view.”  
•    Why have a Municipal Court Steering Committee if it does not meet?
•    What is the function of this committee?
•    Who is on it?
•    What does it do?
•    Can it be better utilized to get citizen input on court operations?