No civil justice system in Riverside County

Here is a must read on the fall out from the DA Pacheco's position on criminal prosecutions. As long time readers IELB know, there is a serious problem going on in the Riverside County courts, i.e., namely, no civil lawsuits are going to trial. DA Pacheco is filing so many cases, and refusing to plea bargain in good faith, that all civil courts are being diverted to hear criminal cases. Because of the speedy trial guarantees for criminal defendants, criminal trials take priority over civil actions. So, if the DA Pacheco files a misdemeanor DUI, it has priority over a wrongful death action against a negligent defendant. So, if a sole provider parent is negligently killed by some defendant, the kids and surviving parent don't get their day in court, while the DA clogs the court with the case against the drunk driver.

Get a load of this:

There were 709 felony and misdemeanor trials last fiscal year in Riverside County, 171 more than the previous year. San Bernardino County had 272 felony and misdemeanor trials last fiscal year, just 32 more than the previous year.

Less than 3 percent of cases go to trial in Riverside County, but each one can take days, weeks or even months. Riverside County and San Bernardino County face heavy court congestion. An estimated 1,300 criminal cases await trial in the western part of Riverside County alone, and a state task force of judges has been sent to help.

I have previously written about the task force of 14 judges chief justice Ronald George assigned to Riverside County. At the time the task force was sent out there were 1200 cases awaiting trials. Now, there are one hundred more cases!! Shouldn't the DA acknowledge that he's swamping the system?

The other amazing part of the article involves Judge Gary Tranbarger's compilation of statistics which show that there have been more "all not guilty" verdicts. This would seemingly support that the DA is bringing more marginal cases to trial as opposed to plea bargaining in good faith. What's DA Pacheco's response?

"What's a judge doing, tracking stuff like that?" Pacheco said. "That exhibits his bias ... he's crafting these numbers to make us look less effective."

What? Resorting to an attack on a sitting judge rather than addressing the issue? Typical.