Alt causes to court clog – lack of prosecutors, lack of resources, more complicated law

May 21--If the justice system were compared to a hose, courts would be the clog that backs everything up. Some who work in the system would argue there's been a major breach with leaked water spewing everywhere.

Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher said that arrests are going up, but the justice system can't increase its capacity to handle a greater case load, so it can be easy for things to get backed up.

"There are days where we have as many as 400 cases on a court docket in district court," he said. "There is no way you can get through even probably 10 percent of those in a day's time."

"Resources within the criminal justice system need to be expanded to take care of the expanding number of cases," Waynesville Police Chief Bill Hollingsed said. "The clerk told me they have the same number of superior court days that we had 25 years ago. Have the cases expanded? Are we seeing an increasing number of cases? Obviously so. But we've got to deal with that increasing number of cases in the same number of court days with the same number of ADAs we've had all along."

A slow process

ADAs are assistant district attorneys, the lawyers that prosecute cases on behalf of the state, and they all work under District Attorney Ashley Welch.

Welch's jurisdiction is relatively large, spanning Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Graham, Clay, Cherokee and Swain counties. Just recently, two more ADAs were added in Haywood County, meaning that at five, the office now has more prosecutors than ever before. While this alleviated the office's burden somewhat, Welch said it still isn't enough.

"That was a great start, but I need four more," she said, adding that she intends to lobby the General Assembly further for the resources she needs.

Welch conceded that many she sees in the Haywood County Justice Center are familiar faces and that the same people are often in court every week.

"Is it a revolving door? Yes, I'll be honest about that," she said. "It's the same people in the courtroom, but it's that way across the state."

The court system has become so backed up that offenders commit and are arrested for other crimes while waiting for their earlier case to work through the court system.

Some cases are prioritized and sped up as much as possible, as long as the integrity of the investigation or the judicial process isn't sacrificed.

"When we feel someone is a danger, we can get those cases fast-tracked," Welch said.

In addition to the lengthy process leading up to a trial or a guilty plea, both procedures are becoming more time-consuming.

Retired Canton Police Chief Bryan Whitner noted that he used to be able to go to a DWI hearing and be done within an hour. Now, it can take the better part of a day. Welch agreed.

"He is exactly right," she said. "When I started in '03 as an ADA, I could probably get five DWI trials done in an afternoon. It was very simple and straightforward. The law has gotten more complicated, and it's heavily litigated because it's so expensive for a defendant."

More help

The solution to breaking up the clog in the court system is more prosecutors, and that's something Welch intends to pursue relentlessly.