NPC judges keep cases moving through system

The wheels of justice keep moving in Nez Perce County, and even with a variety of cases, the judges help keep the system going.

While the court schedule for magistrate judges in the 2nd District can look overwhelming, they have lots of options to move cases through the court system.

The number of pretrial conferences set on certain days might reach more than 100 misdemeanor and infraction cases.

“A hundred sounds like a lot but it actually is pretty consistent with our historical norms for a good 10 years or more,” said Magistrate Judge Karin Seubert.

Even though there might be numerous cases on the calendar, many of those cases are negotiated with the attorneys to resolve the matter or the hearing is continued to a later date. Sometimes if a case is scheduled, it will end up being moved to a different day, like if a defendant waives a right to have a preliminary hearing.

Although the 2nd District Court is seeing an increase in felony cases, particularly with fentanyl drug cases, and some serious crimes, like two attempted murder cases and one involuntary manslaughter case in the past month, the numbers are returning to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t consider us to have a backlog at this point and not for some time,” Seubert said.

During the pandemic, all those involved in the judiciary had to figure out how to balance the restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirements of the law.

Cases were moving forward but “it was just very different,” said Magistrate Judge Sunil Ramalingam.

People weren’t going to the courthouse and prosecution and defense attorneys were talking through cases on the phone and by email. Zoom was also being used to handle whatever could be done through video conferencing. Attorneys were also helping those without representation get legal advice and work through their cases.

“It’s a lot easier when you’re face-to-face with the attorney or unrepresented defendant than it is over the phone trying to work things out,” Ramalingam said. “I was impressed with how, given all the difficulty, things went pretty smoothly.”

Jury trials weren’t allowed to start until people were allowed back in the courtroom. However, senior judges were mediating cases to move them through the system without having to go to a jury trial.

“(Senior judges) resolved an incredible amount of cases that way,” Seubert said.

Now post-COVID-19, those cases are moving through the usual procedures, which include the rotation that the magistrate judges in Nez Perce County use on a monthly basis. Each judge — Seubert, Ramalingam and Magistrate Judge Victoria Olds — takes a different court schedule for a week.

One week is criminal week, which covers bond hearings, probation violations, preliminary hearings, jury trials, criminal motions and paperwork for criminal cases. The next week is a transition week, which covers sentencings, civil protection orders, evictions, involuntary commitments for hospitals as well as scheduling civil cases with shorter hearings. Then it’s civil week, which deals with civil trials, family law, probate court, guardianships and full-day civil court trials.

Judges in the 2nd District also handle the specialty courts, which include veterans court presided over by Ramalingam, DUI court headed by Seubert, mental health court led by 2nd District Judge Michelle Evans and drug court headed by 2nd District Judge Mark Monson.

Olds covered the child protection cases in Lewis County when she was a judge there and is continuing to do so. One of the reasons is because Magistrate Judge Paige Nolta, who took Olds’ position in Lewis County, was previously a public defender and had some former clients involved in those cases, creating a conflict of interest. The other reason is that child protection cases are a specialized area.

“It’s a really important docket and it’s a very complicated area of law, so it’s something that we all take seriously, so having somebody with those skills is really helpful,” said Seubert.

When the judges aren’t working through their daily schedules, they are helping cover cases in other counties in the 2nd District, which includes Latah, Idaho, Clearwater and Lewis counties, and those judges assist in Nez Perce County as well. Judges in smaller counties help in bigger counties when the workload increases, so there is mutual aid throughout the 2nd District.

“I am confident that any of my colleagues could step in and cover my calendar just like I could step in to any of theirs if they had an emergency or if a major case comes up” Seubert said.

The other tool the 2nd District has are senior judges, who have reached a certain level of service on the bench. Senior judges will take cases if there’s an increase and help with mediating cases.

“That gives us the resources that we need to be able to throw at these to be able to clear cases off of the calendar or to just be able to help with the sheer volume,” said Roland Gammill, trial court administrator for the 2nd District.

Judges are in charge of their own schedule for cases and can notify administrators if they need assistance with their workload.

“Judges also need to look after themselves and their own personal welfare,” Gammill said. “They’re in the grind every single day.”

Unlike some professions, judges and the court can’t turn people away if the workload becomes too much.

“We absorb whatever comes in,” Ramalingam said and added that there are plenty of judges to handle the job.

The variety of cases in the 2nd District and the amount of crossover with other counties means that judges handle all kinds of cases and need to be knowledgeable in multiple areas of law. In bigger districts, like Ada County, some judges are specialized in a particular area, such as domestic violence cases.

“They’re not handling (cases) across the board like our judges do and it makes (2nd District judges) very sought after,” Gammill said. “We can plug (our judges) into a calendar in our district or any other. That’s an asset to the judges we have here in our district.”

To juggle all the different areas of law, it takes the right personality, Seubert said. Someone who wants to do all the different areas of law and thinks of it as a fun challenge.

“I really enjoy having a diversity of things to do. I find it really interesting,” she said. “It can be a challenge but there’s never a boring day at the courthouse.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.