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More than 500 criminal court cases have been dismissed in Riverside County over the past month amid a judge shortage, the District attorney’s Office said Monday.

The dismissed cases include 50 felonies such as attempted murder, assault, stalking, arson vandalism and a hate crime, officials detailed in a news release, which called the dismissals a “public safety crisis.”

Most of the dismissed cases involve domestic violence or driving under the influence, and many of the cases include a victim.

The cases that were dismissed were apparently ready for trial, but the Riverside County Superior Court did not have a judge available for them, officials said.

In one of the dismissed cases, the defendant had been charged with attempted murder, assault with a gun, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and resisting the duty of a peace officer. The defendant had been previously convicted of first-degree burglary, officials said. The DA’s office has already refiled that case.

In another example, the defendant had been charged with six counts of vandalism and a hate crime. The case was dismissed despite the victim speaking to the court, officials said. The DA’s office is planning on refiling the case.

“Rather than granting a short continuance until a trial courtroom becomes available, judges have chosen to dismiss criminal cases and release the accused perpetrators back into the community,” the news release states.

“The dismissal of cases and thus allowing criminals back into our community with no consequences for their actions is a danger to everyone,” District attorney Mike Hestrin indicated. “The consequences of the decisions being made from our judges is going to cause extreme harm to victims of crime and our community at-large. This is a public safety crisis, and it needs to stop.”

In a news release late last month, the Superior Court broke down how it is dealing with backlogs caused by a “chronic shortage of judges.”

They include deploying civil judges to hear criminal trials, re-designating some departments to hear criminal trials, assigning newly appointed judges to criminal trial departments, assigning criminal trials to a courtroom immediately after it becomes available and using retired judges, when available, through the Temporary Assigned Judges Program administered by the Chief Justice’s office.

The court added that the county is “woefully short of the statewide average of 11.4 judicial officers per 100,000 residents,” but touted the fact that it conducted 368 criminal jury trials and 94 civil trials since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Riverside County residents deserve equal justice on par with all other Californians, and in that vein, the court will continue to advocate for more judges to properly meet the needs of Riverside County,” the court indicated.

The District attorney’s Office, meanwhile, said it will immediately refile felony cases that are being dismissed and file appeals when appropriate.

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The post More than 500 criminal cases dropped in Southern California county amid judge shortage appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Criminal cases continue to be dismissed in Riverside County due to an ongoing judge shortage.

In less than a week, three separate child sexual assault cases have been dismissed, according to the Riverside County District attorney’s Office.

In one of the cases, the Riverside County Superior court announced there were no judges available to hear the trial, but later one judge dismissed the case altogether due to the court’s inability to start the trial within the timeframe required by law, officials allege.

The DA’s office says two other child abuses cases were never brought to trial for the same reason.

All three cases have since been re-filed.

Back in October, the Superior Court issued a statement breaking down how it is dealing with backlogs caused by a “chronic shortage of judges.”

Hundreds of criminal cases dropped in Riverside County amid judge shortage

As a result, 1,500 cases have been dismissed since then, according to the DA’s office.

In one example, Tabitha Davies said her family bought a custom-built manufactured home from a dealer who had allowed his license to expire. He delivered a home that was mold infested and destroyed, she told KTLA.

The dealer was criminally charged, but Davies never got her day in court. Officials told her there were not enough judges.

“I am angry,” she said, detailing the hardships the issue has caused. “Having to, at one point, live in a van on our property, run off a generator in one room with all of my kids … We can’t even collect victim relief funds because we don’t have any criminal justice.”

Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzales said that not only is the amount of dismissed cases hard to accept, they are causing all kinds of problems in his department.

“It’s just causing some major issues for us, for my officers on the street,” Gonzales said. “Just by the pure nature of the dismissals. A lot of them are domestic violence cases, a lot of them are firearms cases.”

Gonzales offered some solutions.

“You think of the way we lived through the pandemic, and doing Zoom hearings, getting other facilities you can have courtrooms in, or at least hear cases in, anything they could possibly do would assist us in this,” Gonzales told KTLA. “Think outside the box. Get a place where we could try these cases so we’re not letting violent people out on the street.”

Riverside County DA Mike Hestrin is asking the court to reschedule judge trainings, which he said recently caused some courtrooms to be closed.

“I understand the need for ongoing training, however, when our courts are experiencing a crisis and engaging in the mass dismissal of cases, victims of crimes deserve the right to be the priority,” Hestrin said.

He added that some of the dismissed cases are serious felonies.

In an updated statement regarding the judge shortage, Superior Court officials indicated that Senator Richard Roth has introduced a bill that would would authorize 26 new judicial positions, of which Riverside would receive five.

“Hopefully this legislation will be enacted and these positions will be authorized and funded providing the court with further judicial resources to address the legal needs of this community,” the statement read.

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The post Cases continue to be dismissed in Southern California county over judge shortage appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Criminal cases continue to be dismissed in Riverside County due to an ongoing judge shortage.

In less than a week, three separate child sexual assault cases have been dismissed, according to the Riverside County District attorney’s Office.

In one of the cases, the Riverside County Superior court announced there were no judges available to hear the trial, but later one judge dismissed the case altogether due to the court’s inability to start the trial within the timeframe required by law, officials allege.

The DA’s office says two other child abuses cases were never brought to trial for the same reason.

All three cases have since been re-filed.

Back in October, the Superior Court issued a statement breaking down how it is dealing with backlogs caused by a “chronic shortage of judges.”

Hundreds of criminal cases dropped in Riverside County amid judge shortage

As a result, 1,500 cases have been dismissed since then, according to the DA’s office.

In one example, Tabitha Davies said her family bought a custom-built manufactured home from a dealer who had allowed his license to expire. He delivered a home that was mold infested and destroyed, she told KTLA.

The dealer was criminally charged, but Davies never got her day in court. Officials told her there were not enough judges.

“I am angry,” she said, detailing the hardships the issue has caused. “Having to, at one point, live in a van on our property, run off a generator in one room with all of my kids … We can’t even collect victim relief funds because we don’t have any criminal justice.”

Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzales said that not only is the amount of dismissed cases hard to accept, they are causing all kinds of problems in his department.

“It’s just causing some major issues for us, for my officers on the street,” Gonzales said. “Just by the pure nature of the dismissals. A lot of them are domestic violence cases, a lot of them are firearms cases.”

Gonzales offered some solutions.

“You think of the way we lived through the pandemic, and doing Zoom hearings, getting other facilities you can have courtrooms in, or at least hear cases in, anything they could possibly do would assist us in this,” Gonzales told KTLA. “Think outside the box. Get a place where we could try these cases so we’re not letting violent people out on the street.”

Riverside County DA Mike Hestrin is asking the court to reschedule judge trainings, which he said recently caused some courtrooms to be closed.

“I understand the need for ongoing training, however, when our courts are experiencing a crisis and engaging in the mass dismissal of cases, victims of crimes deserve the right to be the priority,” Hestrin said.

He added that some of the dismissed cases are serious felonies.

In an updated statement regarding the judge shortage, Superior Court officials indicated that Senator Richard Roth has introduced a bill that would would authorize 26 new judicial positions, of which Riverside would receive five.

“Hopefully this legislation will be enacted and these positions will be authorized and funded providing the court with further judicial resources to address the legal needs of this community,” the statement read.

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If you need written content, blog posts, or articles professionally written for your website, we can help. Go HERE to find out more.
or email us here: myseowritingservices@gmail.com
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The post Cases continue to be dismissed in Southern California county over judge shortage appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.