WAVELAND, Miss. -- Justice is a very personal experience in Hancock County these days, with criminal defendants sitting elbow to elbow with prosecutors and close enough to the jury to hear each gasp or whisper of disbelief.
“It’s certainly something they don’t prepare you for in law school,” Assistant District Attorney John Gargiulo says of the cramped conditions in what one court clerk described as the “horrible, makeshift” courtroom where civil and serious criminal cases are being heard.
Conditions are probably even worse at the Justice Court, which handles misdemeanor cases in the county.
Located in a former dance studio in the the rural community of Kiln, the tiny court’s clientele regularly overflows into the parking lot and the staff has a hard time concentrating because the courtroom is just on the other side of a hastily erected plywood wall from their desks.
“We have no ceilings in our offices, so we hear everything that’s going on in court,” says Justice Court Clerk Liz Martin. “… It poses problems because we’re still trying to conduct business.”
Welcome to the Hancock County justice system, post-Katrina style, just one more way in which the storm has reshaped life in this hardest hit area of Mississippi.
The storm forced judicial authorities to jury-rig a system from scratch by blowing the roof off the old County Courthouse in Bay St. Louis and flooding the stately 96-year-old building, which remains closed a year after the storm. It also destroyed the Justice Court offices on Highway 90.
Take a tour of the old courthouse building with Tim Kellar, the Hancock Country chancery clerk.
The disruption didn’t stop there.
The storm soaked most of the land and court records stored at the old courthouse, all of which had to quickly be digitally copied, and destroyed the jail at the rear of the courthouse, forcing sheriff’s deputies to drive suspects ordered to jail to the lockup in Pearl River, La., about an hour and 20 minutes way.
Read previous post: Preserving the paper trail
By disrupting the lives of so many of the county’s citizens, it also effectively ended the term of the grand jury that returns criminal indictments, halting the initiation of new criminal cases.
A brief, unofficial break
The Chancery Court, which handles civil cases, never officially ceased functioning, says Tim Kellar, the Hancock County chancery clerk, though as a practical matter “we went two weeks where people weren’t able to file court cases.”
And even when the court opened for business on Oct. 17 in temporary quarters at the old Hancock school, it couldn’t process cases for several months.
“We developed a big backlog,” says Kellar’s top aide, Larrinell Scarborough. “We had people coming in and we had no docket books or files or anything. … All we could do was file stamp (documents) and give them certified copies off a laptop.”
Attorneys in private practice also were dealt a horrible blow.
“Many of them lost every file that they had,” Kellar says.
The Chancery Court was only able to resume hearing cases in late September, after receiving permission from the State Supreme Court to do so at the Harrison County Courthouse in Gulfport.
The Circuit Court, which adjudicates criminal cases, issued an order shortly after the storm postponing “all motions, trials and hearings previously scheduled between Aug. 29 and Oct. 31” and telling interested parties they would be rescheduled “as soon as is practical.”
Because of the impossibility of seating juries in those first chaotic months after the storm, the Circuit Court didn't reopen until Dec. 5, when court offices and a courtroom were ready in the county government complex off Longfellow Road in Waveland.
The courts’ hiatus might have lasted a lot longer had it not been for Superior Court Judge William C. Pate of San Diego.
California judge to the rescue
After learning of the scope of the court calamity through a request for assistance posted on the Web site of the National Center for State Courts, the now retired jurist made three trips to the Mississippi coast to deliver truckloads of office equipment salvaged from the California surplus, including desks, chairs, computers and fax machines.
“He even brought books that went to the county library,” says Circuit Court administrator Becky Payne. “It’s one thing to write out a check, but he did a lot more. He’s come down here and touched us three times.”
The opening of a new courtroom was a big step toward normalcy, but its close quarters continue to require a high degree of flexibility from judges and attorneys – sometimes literally.
Assistant District Attorney John Gargiulo
“I’ve had to lean way over the table so the defense attorney can edge past behind me to hand something to the judge,” Gargiulo, the assistant D.A., says with a laugh.
Other challenges include a noisy air conditioner right by the witness stand and the fact that the jury box is so close to the defendants table that “when the defendant and attorney are discussing something, there’s an opportunity for the jury to hear that,” he says.
Beyond the claustrophobic facilities, the prosecutor says that trying cases in the wake of Katrina has been complicated by the loss of evidence in many cases.
“They maintain a lot of evidence at the police departments and much of it was either lost or tainted,” Gargiulo says. “Bay St. Louis’ locker was completely destroyed.”
In a few cases – “not even a dozen” – the loss has compelled Gargiulo to negotiate plea deals to lesser charges, he says.
He’s also had problems finding some witnesses.
Some witnesses 'just gone'
“A lot of them are just gone,” he says. “They’ve either met their demise or just left the area.”
Despite such impediments, the system is working well, Gargiulo says.
“I’m impressed because it is working,” he says. “These people are amazingly resilient.”
Senior Second Circuit Court District Judge Kosta N. Vlahos echoes that sentiment. He says he had two primary areas of concern in the immediate aftermath of the storm: Whether the loss of so many local attorneys would make it hard to find lawyers for indigent defendants and if it would be possible to find jurors to serve on the county’s criminal grand jury, which meets for six-month sessions.
Neither proved to be a problem, he says.
“The first time we did try, we were able to get a grand jury,” he says. “… People in the South have a different attitude when it comes to serving on a jury or in the armed forces.”
The jury seated in February has made up for lost time, having heard 201 cases to date compared to an average of 183 for a six-month term, Gargiulo says. The grand jury empaneled just before the storm heard just 23 cases before being forcibly disbanded by the storm.
Overall, the Circuit Court also is getting back up to speed, having handled 256 civil cases and 133 criminal cases so far this year, compared to 421 civil cases and 181 criminal cases last year, according to court officials.
Chancery Court filings are down for the year, from an average of about 7,000 filings by mid-August to “in the 4,000s or low 5,000s” this year, but the pace is slowly picking up, says Kellar.
Contrary to anecdotal evidence from other areas of the disaster zone, Hancock County hasn’t seen a substantial increase in divorce or domestic violence cases – despite a horrific high-profile cooking oil killing in the Diamondhead community.
Commitment cases increase
But Chancery Court workers have noticed an increase in mental health commitment cases, which normally average one or two a month but have been running at nearly six a month this year. These cases involve individuals deemed mentally incompetent by a close relative, law enforcement officer or a social worker and require hearings that can result in them being sent to a state hospital until they can be stabilized.
“Some are violent, some are just out of their heads,” said Chancery Court Deputy Clerk Darlene Lee. “They think they’re God or they think they’re angels.”
As they conduct the business of the court, staff in the Chancery and Circuit Courts can at least see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
Kellar, the chancery clerk, says that plans have recently been finalized to repair the old courthouse building and indicates he hopes to rededicate the historical building in November 2007.
At the Justice Court, which resumed operations at the dance studio in October, the future is more opaque.
“We don’t really have the time to stop and think about it,” says Martin, the Justice Court clerk. “There’s not a whole lot of buildings to choose from, so I guess we’ll be here for a while.”
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Oliva,
The question would be do you know anyone who this has not happened to? Contractor after the next if they are not totally stealing your money or posessions are doing shotty work at outrageous prices and showing to work at thier own sweet time. Where there is an oppurtunity people will take advantage. Your comment earlier about crime and minors is certainly heartfelt but many youngster come here with drug problems or are runaways pretending to be storm victims. They plan to do day labor at 12 dollars an hour and live in FEMA trailers, meanwhile bringing crime and drugs with them. There is plenty of free counseling everywhere. Coastal mental health in BSL will give anyone a list.
mama, BSL, Miss. (Sent Nov 4, 2006 11:19:51 AM)
Olivia, I know a couple of guys from my area of the state working on our coast. That's why they are there........people here know them!.........Never give money untill the work is done! Or at least give only portions of what has been completed.
andy,ms (Sent Nov 4, 2006 7:37:18 PM)
The legal system is all a bunch of crap. We all know what it is about...the almighty dollar. Innocent until proven guilty is a joke and you'd better be able to prove you are not guilty. If lets say in a criminal trial, your god given civil rights allow you to file motions on your behalf in order to go thru due process and subsequently have a case thrown out then why is it that as soon as that liberty is expressed and almost always denied, that motion which by law you have the rite to file is then held against you? There is no written code for this procedure expcept try to get your case thrown out and then getting punished for it. lYeah its our civil rite to do so but where is the fine print that you can try but if the motion is dismissed, lookout. I would bet my life on this fact without even researching it. Harsher punishments are handed down to defendants who use their rites to the fullest. Will the prosecuting attorney not use all evidence and supporting documentation to convict you to the best of their ability? Surely! However, why dont some of you stuffed shirts do some statistic research on how many Motions for Criminal Cases are denied by the Judges compared to same charges, trial and no motions? or lets say criminal cases that just took the plea or better yet used a public defender and got more time. Do I make myself clear? You are not allowed to try to help yourself or your case in court thru due processs without a harsher sentence being handed down on an identical case with no motions filed and same charges. This sickens me. I am ready to get out of the south for good. Louisiana is my home but I pray to God I never have to live in Mississippi where they have such "justice" for the common man! Imagine a state with such antiquated laws on the books that a citizen on probation can violated said probation for get this....Living with a mate they are not married too! What year is this? Can women vote? Your courts system is a mockery of what our forefathers set out to do! And New Orleans is no better! Prisioners rite now are in terrible living conditions in for instance the House of Detention on Perdido Street. They have no heat, air conditioning and no hot water. They get cold grits for breakfast, a small hot lunch and 4 pieces of bread and two slices of luncheon meat for dinner. Did I mention that the facility was flooded during Katrina and is not fit for rats to live in yet this facility is full of inmates! New Orleans is so crowed that they are shipping inmates back and forth spending our tax dollars from Angola to OPP for court dates that the inmates never attend and get rescheduled only to be rescheduled again. What a proficient way to adminstrate justice guys and waste our hard earned tax dollars! Whew that felt good. I hope someone understands what I am trying to say. The D.A.'s office has a 98% conviction rate in most big cities because they make a deal, get u to say guilty under pressure and real fear and then make money off you for probation fees, classes and court. There really is no justice for the average citizen. Due process is just going thru the motions. Once u screw up, youre cooked. ! Viva the revolution!
Jane
Jane E. Smith (Sent Nov 19, 2006 7:56:12 PM)
About construction problems- they are rampant. People need to put the expectations and prices in writing so that prices won't be changed on them or what they thought was covered is now charged extra. We had to chase one guy all the way to Florida to get him to finish, threatening a peace bond. And the poor contractors, electricians, plumbers, etc who are honest are trying to make do with not enough supply, not enough help, and no homes themselves, plus parents and siblings and grandparents with no place to live. It is getting somewhat better now and more people are in their homes but there is definitely a housing shortage.
Also, deputies and cops I talk to say that our greatly increased crime rate (with a diminished population) is largely from these construction workers from God knows where who come down here to make a quick buck, bringing drugs with them, and they are often the ones breaking into homes and stealing what little people have left.
The natives here, for the most part, are sticking together and helping each other the best they can. AND GOD BLESS THE VOLUNTEERS!
KMauffray Bay St Louis, MS (Sent Dec 27, 2006 10:30:09 PM)
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