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It's Sunday night and slow.
http://www.lufkindailynews.com/serv.../09/27/jury_trials_down.html?cxtype=ynews_rss
Jury trials declining in Angelina County
By JESSICA SAVAGE
The Lufkin Daily News
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Angelina County residents are deciding less and less these days about what happens to peers charged with felony crimes, and local attorneys say that is a good thing.
Figures released by the district attorney's office show jury trials in Angelina County's two state district courts have dropped by 29 percent in the past five years. More defendants are taking plea offers, which is saving both taxpayer money and court time, officials said.
Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News
http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/06/65/51/image_8651656.jpg
Figures released by the district attorney's office show jury trials in Angelina County's two state district courts have dropped by 32 percent over the past five years.
What could be causing this? The number of felony cases has certainly not dropped off, say local attorneys. In fact, it increases each year with currently 1,500 pending cases. Attorneys point to one major court change implemented in January 2007, which has likely had the most influence on the drop in jury trials.
Nearly three years ago Angelina County state district Judge Barry Bryan instituted scheduling orders to much moaning and groaning from local attorneys. The order meant once a grand jury issued an indictment, a case would receive a timeline of court hearings and also a tentative jury selection date.
While the concept is not new to the court system, it has had a big impact in Angelina County by adding more order and predictability into the process, said Lufkin defense attorney Ryan Deaton, who handles an average of four jury trials a year.
"Before, cases that didn't necessarily need jury trials would have them because the lawyers had not discussed or worked on cases until the very end," he said.
"When you have a scheduling order, there are more times when you have to go to court and discuss the case. As a result I think some of these cases get worked out early that used to not get worked out. The system is more efficient and therefore more cases get resolved."
While the number of trials has dropped by 2.25 cases each year since 2004, so have the percentages of guilty verdicts. Between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005, Angelina County had 31 criminal jury trials in its district courts. The DA's office had an 84 percent conviction rate that year with 26 guilty verdicts. The number of cases each year after has dropped, reaching a five-year low of 22 cases tried between June 2008 and May 2009. The conviction rate also dropped to 64 percent with 14 guilty verdicts issued during that time.
Angelina County District Attorney Clyde Herrington attributed the drop in jury convictions to his office's ability to present juries with cases that have compelling evidence on both sides.
"We don't try our best cases. We try cases that the defense believes they can get a 'not guilty,'" he said.
In other words, the cases with strong state evidence are being disposed of through plea bargains, Herrington added.
Making a deal
"There's an old saying that you can spend three times the amount of effort on a bad case as you can on a good one," said the district attorney.
There is a lot of truth to that Herrington said, which is why his office has to quickly weed out the cases that do not have sufficient evidence to prosecute and dismiss them. Only then can the DA focus on how he will proceed with the others, which take more time to prosecute than they did years ago, Herrington said.
There are five assistant prosecutors and the district attorney. Each have approximately 300 cases to sift through and dispose. That process can take weeks, months or years depending upon the case.
Preparing for trial involves reviewing an enormous amount of information, including statements taken by police, video tape footage and in some cases further investigation is needed by the DA's office. All of that can be cut short by a plea deal, which can happen at any point after a defendant is charged, but usually happens after an indictment is issued up until the trial date.
"We have a lot of cases that get right up to trial and a defendant takes a plea," Herrington said.
Any information the DA has on file, he said he makes available to defense attorneys. It's that type of open-door policy, which local defense attorneys praise. They say it makes for a better environment to strike a plea bargain.
"I think we have a very good judiciary here," said local defense attorney Al Charanza, who takes cases in nine counties across East Texas. "Overall the DA's office has been reasonable in plea bargains and agreements to dismiss cases for insufficient evidence in certain cases."
Deaton agreed.
"Our county is by far the best prosecutors' office in this area of Texas. We have a really good prosecutors' office. They are efficient, they are reasonable. I deal with the prosecutor in several other counties and you can't always pick up the phone and expect a prosecutor to call you back, but you can in Angelina County."
Bargains save money and time
Trial expenses to the county are usually the cost of seating a jury and, if a defendant is found indigent, the cost of providing him counsel, according to Angelina County Auditor Eddie Gray.
A county alert arriving in the mail is the first step in the process of forming a jury for trial. Jury summons are based on a random computer selection of county residents who have state driver's licenses. For criminal jury selection, the court usually chooses an average of two juries a month — 12 jurors plus an alternate for each trial.
Residents who appear in court for jury duty receive $10 each day they are needed for the process, which usually takes a full day for criminal cases. Once jurors are selected, the court pays each one $40 a day until the trial ends. Trials can take anywhere from a day to two weeks, depending on the nature of the case.
If a defendant cannot afford to hire his own attorney, the court is required by law to appoint competent counsel. Angelina County state district court judges appoint attorneys from a rotating list of 11 defense attorneys. Their pay depends on how the case turns out.
Trial cases, which take more time to prepare, can cost an average of $600 a day.
The two-day jury sentencing of Jimmy Foxworth last week, which ended Monday with a 35-year prison sentence, cost $1,200 to provide appointed counsel, according to Fair Indigent Act clerk Josephina Macias. It was not the first sentence for Foxworth. A jury sentenced him in May 2004 to 35 years in prison. The sentence was later overturned by a higher court because of a ruling Foxworth had ineffective counsel for that phase of the trial. He was subsequently appointed a new attorney and received another jury hearing to decide his punishment.
Another variable of a jury trial is expert witness testimony needed by the state and/or defense attorneys. In some cases, the county pays for the travel expenses of certain expert witnesses if the defendant has a court-appointed attorney or if the state requests it. However, that scenario is very rare, Gray said.
Once a jury verdict is given, a defendant has 30 days to file an appeal, which can be another burden to taxpayers. Once again, if the defendant is indigent, the judge will usually appoint a different attorney to represent the appeals process. That happens because a large part of the appeals attorney's job is to scrutinize the work of the trial lawyer.
Plea bargains cannot be appealed since a defendant waives that right upon reaching an agreement with the state. Overall, it's less expensive for the district attorney's office and a defendant to reach a plea agreement. Court-appointed attorneys who reach a plea bargain for a client receive $200 flat pay, according to Macias.
Not only does it save money, it saves time.
"When we don't have as many jury trials, it opens up the district court to handle more pleas and people who are on probation for violations can get a hearing, for example," Charanza said. "The court's time to do other things both civil and criminal can be done, which greatly increases the speed of which we do things."
It's Sunday night and slow.
http://www.lufkindailynews.com/serv.../09/27/jury_trials_down.html?cxtype=ynews_rss
Jury trials declining in Angelina County
By JESSICA SAVAGE
The Lufkin Daily News
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Angelina County residents are deciding less and less these days about what happens to peers charged with felony crimes, and local attorneys say that is a good thing.
Figures released by the district attorney's office show jury trials in Angelina County's two state district courts have dropped by 29 percent in the past five years. More defendants are taking plea offers, which is saving both taxpayer money and court time, officials said.
Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News
http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/06/65/51/image_8651656.jpg
Figures released by the district attorney's office show jury trials in Angelina County's two state district courts have dropped by 32 percent over the past five years.
What could be causing this? The number of felony cases has certainly not dropped off, say local attorneys. In fact, it increases each year with currently 1,500 pending cases. Attorneys point to one major court change implemented in January 2007, which has likely had the most influence on the drop in jury trials.
Nearly three years ago Angelina County state district Judge Barry Bryan instituted scheduling orders to much moaning and groaning from local attorneys. The order meant once a grand jury issued an indictment, a case would receive a timeline of court hearings and also a tentative jury selection date.
While the concept is not new to the court system, it has had a big impact in Angelina County by adding more order and predictability into the process, said Lufkin defense attorney Ryan Deaton, who handles an average of four jury trials a year.
"Before, cases that didn't necessarily need jury trials would have them because the lawyers had not discussed or worked on cases until the very end," he said.
"When you have a scheduling order, there are more times when you have to go to court and discuss the case. As a result I think some of these cases get worked out early that used to not get worked out. The system is more efficient and therefore more cases get resolved."
While the number of trials has dropped by 2.25 cases each year since 2004, so have the percentages of guilty verdicts. Between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005, Angelina County had 31 criminal jury trials in its district courts. The DA's office had an 84 percent conviction rate that year with 26 guilty verdicts. The number of cases each year after has dropped, reaching a five-year low of 22 cases tried between June 2008 and May 2009. The conviction rate also dropped to 64 percent with 14 guilty verdicts issued during that time.
Angelina County District Attorney Clyde Herrington attributed the drop in jury convictions to his office's ability to present juries with cases that have compelling evidence on both sides.
"We don't try our best cases. We try cases that the defense believes they can get a 'not guilty,'" he said.
In other words, the cases with strong state evidence are being disposed of through plea bargains, Herrington added.
Making a deal
"There's an old saying that you can spend three times the amount of effort on a bad case as you can on a good one," said the district attorney.
There is a lot of truth to that Herrington said, which is why his office has to quickly weed out the cases that do not have sufficient evidence to prosecute and dismiss them. Only then can the DA focus on how he will proceed with the others, which take more time to prosecute than they did years ago, Herrington said.
There are five assistant prosecutors and the district attorney. Each have approximately 300 cases to sift through and dispose. That process can take weeks, months or years depending upon the case.
Preparing for trial involves reviewing an enormous amount of information, including statements taken by police, video tape footage and in some cases further investigation is needed by the DA's office. All of that can be cut short by a plea deal, which can happen at any point after a defendant is charged, but usually happens after an indictment is issued up until the trial date.
"We have a lot of cases that get right up to trial and a defendant takes a plea," Herrington said.
Any information the DA has on file, he said he makes available to defense attorneys. It's that type of open-door policy, which local defense attorneys praise. They say it makes for a better environment to strike a plea bargain.
"I think we have a very good judiciary here," said local defense attorney Al Charanza, who takes cases in nine counties across East Texas. "Overall the DA's office has been reasonable in plea bargains and agreements to dismiss cases for insufficient evidence in certain cases."
Deaton agreed.
"Our county is by far the best prosecutors' office in this area of Texas. We have a really good prosecutors' office. They are efficient, they are reasonable. I deal with the prosecutor in several other counties and you can't always pick up the phone and expect a prosecutor to call you back, but you can in Angelina County."
Bargains save money and time
Trial expenses to the county are usually the cost of seating a jury and, if a defendant is found indigent, the cost of providing him counsel, according to Angelina County Auditor Eddie Gray.
A county alert arriving in the mail is the first step in the process of forming a jury for trial. Jury summons are based on a random computer selection of county residents who have state driver's licenses. For criminal jury selection, the court usually chooses an average of two juries a month — 12 jurors plus an alternate for each trial.
Residents who appear in court for jury duty receive $10 each day they are needed for the process, which usually takes a full day for criminal cases. Once jurors are selected, the court pays each one $40 a day until the trial ends. Trials can take anywhere from a day to two weeks, depending on the nature of the case.
If a defendant cannot afford to hire his own attorney, the court is required by law to appoint competent counsel. Angelina County state district court judges appoint attorneys from a rotating list of 11 defense attorneys. Their pay depends on how the case turns out.
Trial cases, which take more time to prepare, can cost an average of $600 a day.
The two-day jury sentencing of Jimmy Foxworth last week, which ended Monday with a 35-year prison sentence, cost $1,200 to provide appointed counsel, according to Fair Indigent Act clerk Josephina Macias. It was not the first sentence for Foxworth. A jury sentenced him in May 2004 to 35 years in prison. The sentence was later overturned by a higher court because of a ruling Foxworth had ineffective counsel for that phase of the trial. He was subsequently appointed a new attorney and received another jury hearing to decide his punishment.
Another variable of a jury trial is expert witness testimony needed by the state and/or defense attorneys. In some cases, the county pays for the travel expenses of certain expert witnesses if the defendant has a court-appointed attorney or if the state requests it. However, that scenario is very rare, Gray said.
Once a jury verdict is given, a defendant has 30 days to file an appeal, which can be another burden to taxpayers. Once again, if the defendant is indigent, the judge will usually appoint a different attorney to represent the appeals process. That happens because a large part of the appeals attorney's job is to scrutinize the work of the trial lawyer.
Plea bargains cannot be appealed since a defendant waives that right upon reaching an agreement with the state. Overall, it's less expensive for the district attorney's office and a defendant to reach a plea agreement. Court-appointed attorneys who reach a plea bargain for a client receive $200 flat pay, according to Macias.
Not only does it save money, it saves time.
"When we don't have as many jury trials, it opens up the district court to handle more pleas and people who are on probation for violations can get a hearing, for example," Charanza said. "The court's time to do other things both civil and criminal can be done, which greatly increases the speed of which we do things."
