Gilroy
– Silicon Valley may be home to the high-tech, but Santa Clara
County courts continue to take a more low-tech approach to some
courtroom appearances, compared to some other agencies.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Silicon Valley may be home to the high-tech, but Santa Clara County courts continue to take a more low-tech approach to some courtroom appearances, compared to some other agencies.
The county may soon consider whether to use video arraignments for prisoners who are in custody. Courts are more frequently turning to the use of live closed-circuit television broadcasts to conduct arraignments, in which a judge formally files charges, to save money and improve safety.
Video arraignments have been considered here in the past, said Hon. Alden Danner, presiding judge for Santa Clara County Superior Court. With the advent of better, cheaper technology, the issue is again of interest and county leaders may soon look at it formally.
“I’ve indicated that the court would be willing to look at it again and open a dialogue on the subject,” Danner said. “I would anticipate we’ll see some kind of indication in the next month or so about whether that will be discussed.”
Video arraignments allow an inmate to make his or her first appearance before a judge from jail rather than in-person. During an arraignment, generally held within 72 hours of an arrest, the inmate is formally charged and meets with a public defender or private counsel for the first time, and bail is set.
Currently in South County, the Sheriff’s Office buses down inmates from jail in San Jose and holds them at the San Martin courthouse before and following their appearance. Arraignments of groups of prisoners are held in the morning or afternoon, or both.
“I think the cost is one of the most significant effects: the cost of transportation of in-custody defendants … is a very high cost for the county, and such arraignments would reduce that cost,” Danner said.
County Supervisor Don Gage said he would favor using video arraignments to cut out that step.
“I think it’s a good idea because it saves a lot of time and a lot of travel time, to get you more frequent conversations,” Gage said.
Danner said he was not too familiar with the actual use of video arraignments in other courts, but that they are considered successful from the court’s point of view.
“The one thing that is lost is the dynamics of being in court with an attorney and with the judge,” he said. “That has a great effect on the state of mind of all those involved.”
The inmate would technically be “present” but would miss the conduct of the courtroom one would normally witness while waiting to be arraigned or led from the courtroom, he said.
The chief deputy district attorney for Washoe County, Nevada, where Reno is located, said inmates are still very much in the presence of a judge whether they appear on a TV screen or in a courtroom.
“I don’t see the difference between a video arraignment and a live, in-person arraignment,” Dave Clifton said. He noted that, legally, an inmate is present, and can still be held in contempt of court if he or she violates court rules.
Arraignments are conducted differently in Washoe, where video has been used since 1998, than in this county. All defendants make a first appearance via a video arraignment, but district attorneys do not attend as they do here. For felony and certain misdemeanor cases, the defendant has an in-person arraignment later. The courts have been against using video for those arraignments, because defendants enter a plea at that time, Clifton said.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office estimates that it saves about $640,000 annually by using fewer deputies to transport defendants, although the equipment cost several hundred thousand initially and costs tens of thousands annually.
“It certainly helps out in the area of security and helps out in the area of budget costs,” he said.
Other agencies point to security as a plus with video arraignments, as well. Court personnel and the general public may be better protected by keeping inmates in jail, they say. Courthouse safety came into question across the country last month after an Atlanta prisoner overpowered a deputy who was escorting him to a court appearance, killing three people.
Local Deputy District Attorney Frank Carrubba said video arraignments would be efficient, but the courts would have to accommodate certain last-minute motions that can take place during those appearances.
He said video arraignments should allow prosecutors to file motions to increase bail without having to wait for an in-person hearing. Otherwise, a defendant could post bail and get out of custody. Other motions that currently can be made at arraignments include an examination of the source of bail money, to show it is legitimate, or defense motions to decrease bail.
