What Pisses off a Real Trial Lawyer pt. 3

The legal system is not perfect, and one of its biggest flaws is the backlog of cases. Civil cases can take years to get a trial, and criminal defendants often have to wait for an intolerable length of time for their trial. The Supreme Court of Minnesota made a rule in 2018 that judges may not participate in plea negotiations. While this rule is designed to make the process look more fair, it is not a rule of constitutional magnitude. The U.S. Supreme Court has made that clear.

The State Court system is backed up terribly, and Covid should not shoulder all the blame. Hennepin County has a backlog of over 12,000 cases. Judges in Hennepin County made participation in plea negotiations the norm many years ago, and it was just the way of doing business. The calendar was backed up way before covid because the bench is terrified to participate in the negotiation process.

One judge, Jack Nordby, sent a memo to his compatriots on the bench that they should make a public announcement if they were not going to follow a rule. However, the brethren reacted violently, and they continued to violate the rule without telling anybody.

It is understandable why judges may be afraid to participate in plea negotiations. They may worry that they will be seen as taking sides, or that they will be accused of coercing a defendant into pleading guilty. However, there is a way to fix the backlog problem without violating due process.

One solution is to have judges participate in the negotiation process in a fair and impartial way. Judge John Spellacy, who held forth in the Ninth Judicial District for many years, would invite the defendant, both lawyers, and the Sheriff into chambers prior to trial and ask if there was a claim of innocence in the case. If not, he would try to facilitate a negotiation.

Another solution is to eliminate PSIRs in most settled cases. Just having a PO around for the negotiations would be enough to ensure that due process is not violated. All parties would know if a judge went too far and had to be recused. It won’t happen too often.

In conclusion, judges should be encouraged to participate in plea negotiations in a fair and impartial way. This would help to eliminate the backlog of cases in the legal system and ensure that justice is served. While rules are important, they should not be a barrier to achieving a just result.