... of what you speak.

When there is no judge to hear a case, it has to be rescheduled. A weekly docket of Sessions Court handles hundreds of cases. For every defendant called to court there is an alleged victim or victims or police officer or officers. A DA handles the case and hopefully a lawyer shows up to defend the defendant. Do the math and calculate the problems created when 20% of the criminal cases in Knox County are needlessly delayed.

But forget the delay and aggravation to the average citizen, whether they appear as a victim or the accused. You say this is a political trick? Well, it's a very elaborate and long planned one if so.

Knox County has been before U.S. Federal Judge Jarvis on show cause contempt proceedings since October 2002 over jail overcrowding. One of the many causes of jail overcrowding is that pre-trial detainees can't get to court because there isn't a judge to hear their case.

If retired Judge Waggoner's felony, misdemeanor or DUI sessions rotation is not occurring (because there is no judge) then guess who sits in jail until the case can be rescheduled? Yesterday, Friday, 2/3/06, there were 21 people sitting in jail waiting on their hearing in Misdemeanor Court alone (forget Felony and DUI). If the Judge isn't there then that's 21 people that sit in jail and push the jail population upward and possibly over the cap.

If Knox County is over the cap, Judge Jarvis will fine the County. For over three years, the Sheriff, DA, PD and Judges have met in attempts to make the system faster and more efficient. Progess has been made but the empty judge's seat in Sessions is a setback.

In February, 2005, before Judge Waggoner retired, the KNS reported Public Defender Mark Stephens as saying: "The Sessions Court system is operating at absolutely capacity," Stephens said. "You cannot push the system any harder...." Private attorney Pat Phillips stated in the same article, "The only way to speed up the [Sessions] docket is to double the number of judges, and that's a money issue."

It's the County Commission's job to keep the County running and that requires 5 Sessions Court judges. With Judge Waggoner having now retired, 8 months is too long months with an empty bench and a too full jail.

Your claim is so full of crap, no wonder you won't sign your name.

 

S Carpenter

I second Scott's observations.  Politics aside, the general sessions courts need to be fully staffed.  I had a case down there last week and they were resetting everything, which really inconveniences the lawyers, police officers, and witnesses/victims.  To avoid any allegations of political shenanigans like the one in Old Hickory's post, I would favor appointing a "caretaker" judge who promises not to run for the position in the next election.

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While Andy Jackson is a very nice guy, he's likely to meet a nice guy's fate and finish last when County Commission gets around to appointing a new judge. Neither he nor Nichols has that kind of stroke with the GOBs, so it's beyond unlikely that he would be appointed. My sense of the Commission is that Scoobie (who supports JKD) took his best shot, but most of his colleagues are sick of being pressured by the Davis supporters -- hence the 11-8 vote not to put it on last month's agenda. I think the majority would prefer to appoint a caretaker, and will do so this month. There's talk of Andy Evans (a very bad idea, IMO) Getting this appointment would be a windfall for any candidate, and would amount to getting subsidized to campaign.

Who is for who in this judge's deal I'm not sure BUT I do know that Judge Waggner is for Jackson  & she created the backlog by holding the court hostage & not retiring sooner,like last summer. When the judge finally got around to announcing her retirment,in the fall,the judge held off when it looked like Quist had the 10 votes on county commission to be appointed.