A PLAN FOR NO MORE SOUNDINGS IN COUNTY COURT

County Court is a mysterious place. It moves to its own pace and rhythm.  It has its own colloquialisms, argot and vernacular. There are multiple calendars taking place in multiple courtrooms everyday. Lawyers hustle to catch the 10:45 in Newman before sprinting to make the 11:00 am in Krieger-Martin.

We admittedly know little about the mechanisms of what makes the courtrooms on two, five and six tick. But not knowing much has never stopped us from having an opinion. Or making a suggestion. Or fixing a problem.

Wednesday seems to be the worst day. Soundings. When lawyers scurry from courtroom to courtroom and make announcements about cases scheduled for trial ten days hence.

Listen to Rumple. We can end soundings.

How?
Simple.
E-mail.

Instead of appearing in court on Wednesdays, lawyers will have to email the judge.

The email from the ASA would be: "On State v. Smith,  the offer  on the DUI is first minimum penalties, unless the defendant elects a trial, at which point we will ask for 364, not that we're punishing the defendant for going to trial."

The email from the defense would be: "This should be a state continuance. On 12/12 the court granted a motion to compel for the prosecution to provide us with the sanzafranz breath contraption log of standard deviations. That was four months ago. The prosecution has failed to comply."

The email from the court would be: "The case is specially set for 2/22. The prosecution must provide the log by 1/31 or the breath sample will be excluded."

Case handled. Period. No driving to court. No running from courtroom to courtroom. All done by email from the comfort of your office or chambers. Some cases might require a few more emails, like the defense saying they cannot try the case on 2/22 because their mother-in-law is scheduled for goiter surgery, but those issues can also be handled by email. The emails get filed in the court's computer system. A record is kept. Motions are made. Rulings are issued. Cases move along. No expenditure of fossil fuels by driving to and from court. Less people in the REGJB. It all makes sense.
First start with represented defendants. Then un-represented defendants can be added and within one year 98% of all misdemeanor cases can be sounded by email.

It will work.

No fee.

See you in court.

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