Pondering out of court case dismissals without a trial.
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By Darryl Wilkinson
This week’s news about the dismissal of charges against Sherry Bridgeman makes me ponder about case dismissals without trials in general. We don’t usually report on such transactions and probably wouldn’t have in this instance except for Sherry’s standing as an elected official.
When deals are struck, records are often closed. This means you and I aren’t to know the terms unless we happen to actually overhear the agreement by witnessing the proceeding, assuming you could hear what sometimes is nearly whispered in the courtroom. That’s often part of the deal: complete the terms agreed upon and the records remain sealed.
There’s good in this. Sometimes threatened consequences are all that’s needed to get the attention of the accused, particularly a first-time offender.
We still don’t know if the 911 Board erred in hiring its board president as a dispatcher. It does seem odd. Can we expect an objective evaluation of dispatching when the president of the board responsible for such evaluations is also a dispatcher? On the other hand, what does this unusual circumstance say about the local applicant pool for 911 dispatchers?
This out-of-court agreement keeps the focus on cases where charges are filed but dismissed without a trial. But whether you’re satisfied or disgusted with settlements and plea bargaining depends …well, depends on so many variables.
By coincidence, a summary of reporting forms filed during 1999 was posted this week. It offers a glimpse at the number of cases dismissed without trial in the Associate Division in Daviess County:
State Traffic Other
Traffic Ordinance Ordinance
Total Disposed Cases 3,363 301 96
State Traffic Other
Traffic Ordinance Ordinance
January 5 11 8
February 10 1 6
March 9 2 5
April 6 2 1
May 6 — 1
June 8 2 —
July 20 — 1
August 8 — —
September 21 5 4
October 5 — —
November 12 16 3
December 9 7 7
1999 Total 119 46 36
What this means all depends on what you’re thinking. Some may assume that too many deals are struck; too many cases never go to court. Specifically, the numbers during the past year here show what you might expect: only 3.5% of state traffic cases are dismissed out of court while dismissals grow in the prosecution of ordinances (15.2% for traffic ordinances, 37.5% for other ordinances).
Is this how it should be? I dunno. I can’t help but think of one of my favorite TV shows, Law & Order. Although the scripts are fictional, the give and take between all parties involved in a case offer some insight about our competitive legal system beyond entertainment.
Let’s say you’re upset that some particular case is dismissed without trial. Does this mean the prosecutor dropped the ball? Was the defense attorney just too formidable? Was it the right arrest for the wrong reason or vice versa? Were law officers overly zealous or was the evidence so weak as to make a court proceeding a waste of time and taxpayers’ money?
These are tough decisions often made in the gray areas of real life circumstances every day. I’m glad I don’t have to make them. Generally, I respect those professionals who do and hope that you do, too.