Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Friday, September 14, 2001

 

Page 5

 

Los Angeles, Four Other Superior Courts Declare Judicial Emergencies

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

The superior courts of five counties, including Los Angeles, have requested judicial emergency orders in response to Chief Justice Ronald M. George’s Tuesday proclamation, a spokeswoman for the state courts said yesterday.

Besides Los Angeles, the superior courts of San Diego, Fresno, Alameda, and Butte had notified the Administrative Office of the Courts that they need to extend various deadlines pursuant to the authority granted by the chief justice under Government Code Sec. 68115, Lynn Holton told the MetNews.

Superior Court Presiding Judge James Bascue notified George on Wednesday that the county’s trial court system, the largest in the nation with more than 500 judicial officers, needs to:

Extend the deadline for bringing adult suspects before a judicial officer following arrest from two days to five days;

Extend the deadline for bringing juvenile suspects before a judicial officer, normally one to three days, depending on circumstances, to four days, applicable solely to juveniles taken into custody by today; and

Extend the speedy adjudicatory hearing deadline for accused juveniles, normally 15 days for minors in custody and 30 days for those not in custody, by three days, applicable only in cases where the 15- or 30-day period begins to run no later than today.

Sec. 68115 and the chief justice’s proclamation authorize other changes in court procedure, including allowing defendants in custody to be held for preliminary hearing up to 15 days after arrest, rather than the usual 10, and extension of the speedy-trial deadlines in both misdemeanor and felony cases by 30 days, but Los Angeles has not requested that authority.

All judicial emergency authority granted by the chief justice will expire Tuesday unless a new proclamation is issued.

 

Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company