Superior Court Weathers Bulge of 83 Felony Cases

The Orange County Superior Court survived a bulge of 83 felony cases that were scheduled for trial Monday, but the administrator of the sprawling justice system said the crunch would slow civil litigation.

Superior Court Administrator Alan Slater pushed aside fears that criminals would walk out of courthouses free because an overloaded system could not provide courtrooms for defendants, who have the constitutional right to go to trial within 60 days.

“There will not be any dismissals,” Slater said. “There are a lot of cases in the system, certainly more than before,” Slater said. But he was optimistic that the overcrowding could be handled. “There is no crisis particularly. We have a lot of judges.”

The surge in the number of criminal cases scheduled for trial can be traced to a policy recently announced by Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks.

Last October Hicks said he would no longer allow his prosecutors to discuss felony cases in the privacy of a judge’s chambers. Hicks wants all negotiations to be conducted in open court.

Some defense lawyers say, however, that they can’t ethically discuss their client’s cases frankly in open court. That means more cases are being set for trial.

Predicts Critical Situation

Defense attorney Paul J. Wallin said Monday that he has never seen so many cases set for trial in Orange County’s criminal courts. Wallin, chairman of the criminal law committee for the county bar association, warned that the situation could become more critical later in the week.

His law partner, Wallin said, is defending a man scheduled to start trial Friday on a rape charge. He said that if the case cannot be scheduled for trial in four days it will be dismissed. With overcrowding, he said, some cases could be resolved the day of the trial with defendants plea-bargaining to drastically reduced sentences.

Edgar A. Freeman, an assistant district attorney in charge of Superior Court operations, downplayed any crisis, saying that cases “were moving along. Those that should get to trial will get to trial.” Freeman predicted that the criminal justice system will be able to handle the increases in numbers of cases.

“It’s not a critical week. I hear cries of wolf,” he said.