The Riverside County Superior Court dismissed 96 cases in the past week, four of which were felonies, due to a lack of available judges, according to the county District Attorney’s office.
Three of the recent dismissals were felony child sexual assault cases, including one—dismissed Jan. 26—where a conviction would have resulted in a possible life sentence, the DA’s office reported.
The courtroom shortage is a result of judges who were ill, or had other commitments, such as court proceedings or judicial training for those who have been recently appointed, according to the DA’s office.
“I understand the need for ongoing training, however, when our courts are experiencing a crisis and engaging in the mass dismissal of cases, victims of crime deserve the right to be the priority,” Riverside County DA Mike Hestrin said in a statement Jan. 31. “The courts being aware of this shortage of courtrooms should be able to anticipate the needs of public safety and reschedule their trainings until the courts are fully operational.”
Riverside County Court spokeswoman Marita Ford told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that four new judges have been recently appointed, but she said they are currently understaffed with 89 judges–but need about 112—a 26 percent shortfall to handle the current caseload.
The courts have been dismissing cases for this reason since last October upon experiencing a “dramatic increase” in the number of criminal cases, according to the court.
That’s when a county Superior Court policy ended—one which allowed cases to be postponed if they weren’t heard by their last date of trial—in response to a backlog from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, county judges have dismissed over 1,600 cases because the window for their trials had closed with no courtrooms available, Ford said. Of those nearly 100 were felony cases.
Riverside County DA’s office spokeswoman Amy McKenzie told The Epoch Times even one case dismissed, previously, was uncommon.
“We haven’t had that in many years,” she said.
Rather than dismissing a case, judges can try alternatives, McKenzie said, such as evening or weekend court, or continuing it until a judge becomes available.
“It’s not the only option—to dismiss it. That’s the choice that the judges are making in their courtrooms right now,” she said.
McKenzie said the DA’s office immediately refiled recent felony cases that were dismissed.
But “our options are limited,” she said, as misdemeanor cases cannot be refiled once dismissed.
According to McKenzie, felony cases can only be re-filed twice. So if it is dismissed again—for reasons such as a courtroom or witness not being available—short of filing an appeal, then “it’s done,” she said.
Such issues did not occur prior to COVID, McKenzie said. She also said other courts in the state are not having this problem.
