Officials: Pinched budgets don't slow wheels of justice

Local court officials say they have adjusted to budget cuts so far by taking on heavier workloads to compensate for lost positions and making trims to areas such as training and support staff.

That's in stark contrast to some parts of the country, where certain violations aren't prosecuted in order to pursue more serious crimes, judges delay trials to cope with layoffs, and accused criminals are set free because caseloads are too heavy to ensure they receive speedy trials.

Exact figures on the extent of the cuts are hard to come by, but an American Bar Association report in August found most states trimmed court funding 10 to 15 percent within the past three years. At least 26 states delayed filling open judgeships, while courts in 14 states were forced to lay off staff, the report said.

The National District Attorneys Association estimates hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal justice funding and scores of positions have been cut amid the economic downturn, hampering the ability of authorities to investigate and prosecute cases.

In Virginia, the State Compensation Board decreased the budgets for commonwealth's attorneys statewide by 10 percent in 2010.

Suffolk Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Ferguson called the reductions minor.

"We're all stretched pretty hard sometimes," said Ferguson, whose office has maintained the same staffing level since 2006. "We're not letting people go because we can't get them to trial, I'll tell you that.... At least, we've stayed stable. We've survived."

In Virginia Beach, the city has pitched in where the state has come up short, said Macie Pridgen, spokeswoman for Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant.

Because of budget cuts in the past few years, the office has lost its Consumer Affairs Program - the last in the state - one legal investigator and its restitution officer, although no attorneys, she said.

Consumer Affairs was responsible for investigating possible scams and once had four employees, Pridgen said. The city treasurer is now responsible for collecting restitution, she said.

Virginia Beach Circuit Court was short a judge for more than a year, Clerk Tina Sinnen said. The General Assembly in July elected former state Del. Glenn Croshaw to fill the vacancy.

"There probably has been a little bit of a backup and slowdown," Sinnen said.

The state Supreme Court was shorthanded for more than five months earlier this year because of a retirement and a death on the bench. Those vacancies also were filled in July.

Norfolk has lost five prosecutors since last July, dropping the number of attorneys from 44 to 39, Commonwealth's Attorney Gregory Underwood said. Three other support positions also were eliminated, as was funding for training, travel and equipment over a two-year budget period.

Chesapeake Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Parr said in an email that she was unable to fund three support staff positions last year because of cuts. Parr also lost two attorney positions, which she said she was able to do through attrition rather than layoffs.

A handful of open positions in the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office have remained unfilled, prosecutor Earle C. Mobley said. His staff knows what is expected of them "whether they have one case or 10 cases or 100," Mobley said. "We just continued to plow through them."

In Chesapeake, prosecutors are working extra hours without compensation to meet the state's speedy trial laws, Parr said. Under that law, a defendant can spend no more than five months in jail or nine months on bail after the preliminary hearing. If the defendant isn't tried in that time, charges can be dismissed, Parr said. A trial can be postponed at the defendant's request or if the defendant agrees to a request for more time by the commonwealth.

"This is a matter of a defendant charged with a crime going free with no chance of a trial to determine his or her guilt and punishment," Parr wrote in an email.

So far, that has not happened, she said.

It has happened elsewhere.

In Georgia, trial and appellate courts have dismissed a handful of indictments against suspects accused of violent crimes because they could not be brought to trial fast enough.

In one case, a judge tossed out murder charges against two Atlanta men because it took Fulton County prosecutors four years to indict them after they were arrested and charged with a 2005 shooting. Local prosecutors say strained resources were partly to blame for the delay.

Mobley, the Portsmouth prosecutor, said they have supplemented gaps in training and equipment funds with "forfeiture money." State law allows for law enforcement to benefit from the seizure of assets connected to drug trafficking.

Mobley said he hears other prosecutors say they have done the same thing. He went to a conference recently and talked to prosecutors from the Midwest who had to deal with "huge budget cuts," he said. "They basically run their offices on asset forfeiture."

Iowa's court system is struggling to recover from cuts in 2009 that forced officials to lay off 120 workers and eliminate 100 vacant positions. Staffing levels there are now lower than in 1987, while district court filings since then have increased 66 percent.

Public defenders, whose offices also are absorbing cuts, still see their caseloads grow.

"If you don't have enough lawyers to handle the cases, it leaves them open to speedy-trial challenges and ineffective assistance of counsel," said Ed Burnette, a vice president of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.

Virginia Beach public defender Peter Legler said his office has gone several years without raises but has not lost any attorney positions.

"Yes, we are living through tough times financially," Legler said, "but so is the rest of the country."

Pilot writers Kathy Adams, Lou Hansen, Jeff Hampton, Linda McNatt and Janie Bryant and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5131, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com