WHY IS OUR COURT SYSTEM SO CLOGGED?

Time seemed stagnant for Millie Maggard Dorman as she waited for the chance
to plead with a judge to keep her husband's teenage killers off the streets.

On the outside, the mother of two held strong, making sure her children
were shielded as much as possible from news coverage and courtroom chatter
while attorneys argued about whether to try the boys as adults.

But Dorman was scared. And she was angry and frustrated by the system.

She longed for closure, waited for justice to be served to the teens who
took the life of 42-year-old Timothy Maggard, prayed for the day she and
her family could move on with their lives.

She would have to wait two and a half years.

Finally, on March 14, 2005 -- 30 months after the two 14-year-old boys
stabbed her husband to death in what police called an uncommonly brutal
crime -- she stood before 3rd Circuit Judge Thomas W. Cooper to beg for
justice. Her hands shook as she tried to maintain her composure.

"Hobart Drake and Jeremy Avery decided to take a man who still had his
whole life ahead of him," she said. "His death has affected every part of
our life."

Avery and Drake were sentenced to 35 and 40 years, respectively.

Dorman was angry that her husband's killers didn't get life in prison, but
equally offensive to her were the constant demands of a clogged court
system that kept the communication lines with the 3rd Circuit Solicitor's
Office closed.

The waiting period was tortuous for her.

"It's so ridiculous to have had to wait that long," she said. "Not being
able to heal was an ongoing thing because we always knew we had this ahead
of us it was not what I was led to believe for two years."

The confusion about what was happening and the necessity of repeated trips
to court made the situation nearly unbearable.

"The right to a speedy trial should be for victims also," she noted wearily.

Stories like Dorman's are not unusual within the 3rd Circuit General
Sessions court system -- or in any of the 16 judicial circuits in South
Carolina. In fact, all across the country, crime rates are climbing and
court movement is slowing.

Prosecutors and law enforcement say it's all about the money.

With little funding for more police officers, a skeleton crew of
prosecutors for the "less populated" counties who must nonetheless process
thousands of cases a year, and almost all law enforcement agencies in the
state depending on a backlogged forensic evidence processing facility,
there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight for South Carolina.

Each year, South Carolina Court Administration sets a goal that tries to
ensure that 80 percent of the state's criminal cases are no more than 180
days old. At 47 percent, the 3rd Circuit (comprising Sumter, Lee, Clarendon
and Williamsburg counties), is ahead of five other circuits -- but not one
circuit in the entire state met the benchmark.

"For the workload versus the resources we have, we're doing a fantastic
job," contends 3rd Circuit Solicitor Kelly Jackson. "But there's always
room for improvement."

The most recent data said the local circuit had 4,151 cases, including
cases left over from the previous term, pending before its courts as of
June 30, 2004. In 1985, there were 4,188 pending cases for the entire
state. By 1990, the pending case load had increased to 38,283, and by 2000,
it had climbed to 83,811.

Chief Public Defender Jack Howle said that at one time, there were eight
weeks of local General Sessions court a year, but as the caseload
increased, so did the time spent before a judge.

Sumter County's criminal courts are now in session 26 weeks a year,
including one double term where both courtrooms are filled to capacity.
Clarendon and Williamsburg counties are in session 13 weeks a year, and Lee
holds eight weeks of court a year.

Sumter County could use even more time in court, but the manpower isn't there.

"We were given the option to run a month of court, but with only part-time
public defenders and four prosecutors, we just can't do it," the solicitor
said.

When Jackson took office in 1999, he began reserving the first week of each
individual term for guilty pleas and bond hearings. It's made a big
difference, but the problem is just too huge.

"Our goal is to move as many cases as we added to the docket" each term, he
said. "But as we are adding them, they are constantly coming in the back door."

On average, the Sumter County General Sessions Court can dispose of 80 to
85 cases during "guilty plea week."

Depending on which judge is sitting on the bench, some attorneys are able
to squeeze a handful of guilty pleas in during the brief breaks in trials
and while the juries are deliberating. But some judges don't allow any
guilty pleas to be heard during a trial, which leaves an entire courtroom
tied up for four or more days on only one of the hundreds of cases that
need to be heard.

Those who want a trial by jury must sometimes wait as much as three years
for their day in court.

Thirty or more people are awaiting trial in Sumter on a charge of murder.
Of those on the April 8, 2005 docket, two had been in prison since 2003,
and one had been in prison since 2002.

"I think sometimes we forget how slowly time goes by for them," Howle said.
"But we don't forget about them by any means."

On the other hand, some people charged with violent crimes are out of jail
on bond, and some of them commit more crimes while they're waiting on a trial.

"If you're in jail and you can't post bond, a 'right to a speedy trial
motion' must be answered within two terms of court," Howle said. "Then the
judge has the discretion of letting them out on bond."

DRUGS PLAY A MAJOR ROLE, AS DO YOUNG OFFENDERS

The highly addictive drug crack cocaine is called a major force behind the
incessant rise in crime.

"Crack cocaine hit the streets in the mid '80s and we've been in court ever
since," solicitor Jackson said. "I have no scientific method for the
explanation other than what I do for a living."

"Drugs, and in particular crack cocaine, can pretty much be attributed to
most of the arrests we make," agreed Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis.
"It's either they are stealing to get money for the drug or they commit
assaults because of the influence of the drug."

Over half of the cases on the 66-page docket for the court term that began
Tuesday are drug-related.

The high usage of crack in the mid '80s can also be linked to the increase
today in crimes committed by younger defendants, they say.

"Between 1996 and 2000, the 'crack babies' began coming of age," Jackson
said, referring to children who were born already addicted to crack because
of their parents' usage of the drug. "Now they seem to be hardened
criminals at an early age. By 18, they have probably three or four
(arrests) already."

Avery and Drake's crime wasn't related to crack, but Jackson says they're
perfect examples of today's new young, violent criminals. They were only 14
when they were charged with committing a savage murder, killing a man who
had once befriended one of them.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent a lot of time playing tug-of-war
about whether to try them as adults.

"Those types of cases take up a tremendous amount of time for attorneys,"
Jackson said. "With the research and psychiatric evaluations (required),
it's a constant battle."

Dorman said it was chaotic and that the constant confusion about what was
happening at any given time kept her family on edge. They wanted to make
sure the teens didn't just get a slap on the wrist.

"My biggest problem was that I never knew what was going on," she said. "We
could never get clear answers. I was always the one who would call to try
and find out what was happening pushing for answers."

She had to go to court every three or four months to ask a Family Court
judge to keep the teens in jail.

"There was always someone who would come forward and say (the teens) could
live with them and they would make sure to keep them out of trouble until
the trial," she said. "We kept thinking, 'They are going to get out and
something like this is going to happen again.'"

The decision to prosecute young offenders means mountains of research to
determine if prosecutors can and should take the defendants to adult court,
including psychiatric evaluations to determine if they understood the
severity of their actions. If the case is waived up from Family Court, that
typically triggers more evaluations and many times a change in defense
attorneys.

Though the types of crimes may be more severe, the number of local juvenile
defenders before 3rd Circuit Family Courts has decreased since the
2001-2002 term, where it reached a high of 240. Last term, 174 juveniles
went before judges, 87 of them in Sumter County.

MONEY CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS, BUT IT COULD UNCLOG COURT More money would mean
more judges to hear cases, more prosecutors to try them, maybe even more
space in the courthouse in which to hold court.

But despite a climbing caseload, funding for the South Carolina Judicial
Circuit system has failed to increase even once in the past five years.

"South Carolina gives about 60 percent less funding than it (once) did,"
Jackson said. "What we do must not be a priority for South Carolina."

The solicitor said he's asked for money to hire a prosecutor or two to add
to the staff of four who work out of the Sumter County Courthouse. But so
far it hasn't come, and frankly, he doesn't expect it to.

Lisa Stansky, author of the May 23, 2003, article "The Big Squeeze"
published in the The National Law Journal, said clogged courts are a
problem all over the country. She said South Carolina cut the judiciary
appropriation by more than 21 percent since May 2001 while it increased
court filing fees and eliminated funding for "alternate dispute
resolution," a process that helps people put an end to their disputes
without going to court.

"Belt-tightening feels more like strangulation in some places, where the
justice system tackles mountains of paperwork with fewer clerks, sputtering
copy machines and little hope for fast relief," she wrote.

In 2001, South Carolina had more than 78,000 cases pending before its Grand
Jury and 16 General Sessions circuits. The pending caseload increased by
almost 10,000 by June 30, 2004.

Sumter County court officials agree that it's hard to dispose of many cases
when both courtrooms are constantly tied up with murder trials that take,
on average, three to four days. That problem won't go away any time soon;
Sheriff Dennis confirmed that the number of murders committed in Sumter
County has spiked recently.

And adding more courtrooms won't help if there aren't enough prosecutors or
defense attorneys, Jackson notes.

Howle doesn't think opening up the second courtroom all the time for trials
would be all good, because most attorneys and jurors feel uncomfortable in
the smaller room, especially when the defendant is accused of a violent crime.

"Most don't want to squeeze in there," he said. "Especially the jurors.
They are sitting pretty close to the defendants' table and at one time even
had to walk past it to get to the jury box. You need a big, open courtroom
for those type of trials."

Sumter County employs six "part-time" public defenders in General Sessions
Court and one in Family Court.

But Howle doesn't see himself or his co-workers as "part-timers."
Generally, each one has a public defender caseload of 120 to 130 cases, he
said.

"We are what you would call independent contractors," he said. "We all have
our own private practices, but 75 to 80 percent of our practice comes from
being public defenders."

THE DOMINO EFFECT: EVERYONE'S MAXED OUT Law enforcement feels a shortage
of manpower as well. Dennis doesn't have as many deputies as he'd like, and
he loses manpower every time there's a term of court because he has to
provide security for the courthouse. That means there are fewer deputies
out in the field, protecting the rest of the community.

This is a bigger problem when there's a high-profile murder trial. The
spring case against Reginald Clea, for example, was so emotional and highly
charged that at least 12 deputies were called in to man the courtroom when
the sentence was handed down. And that didn't include the two deputies who
were called in to operate the metal detectors.

"We are grateful that those guys love what they do," Dennis said, "because
they don't get overtime."

The new Sumter County budget initially included $90,946 to cover four new
deputies starting in January, but after all the trimming was done, the
sheriff's office got money for only two.

A clogged court also means a packed jail -- at the Sumter-Lee Regional
Detention Center and in jails and prisons across the United States.

According to Stansky's article, the Department of Corrections budget for
South Carolina was cut by nearly one-fourth in two years, and the prison
system in 2003 was operating with 600 fewer security staff than four years
earlier.

Howle said that as of May 17, there were 436 inmates housed at the
Sumter-Lee jail -- 394 men and 42 women. Some of them are awaiting trial.
The rated capacity is 384. In 2003, it had a reported average daily
population of 323, and an estimated 201 inmates were housed with 91- to
365-day sentences.

The publication said the center did not have the staff or funding to
provide comprehensive medical care, and there were limited staff and
funding available to provide program activities.

The community at large faces another problem when jails are overcrowded:
suspected criminals that law enforcement specifically request not be
allowed out on bond are often let out because there's not enough room to
hold everyone. This includes murder suspects. Over half of the people
charged with murder in Sumter County are out of prison on bond or on house
arrest.

SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER? NEW CRIME LAB, DRUG COURT A huge factor in the speed
at which a case comes to trial is the evaluation of the evidence. Having
only one major crime lab in the whole state is a recipe for trouble.

Everyone relies on the State Law Enforcement Division's forensic lab. Add
the measurable increase in crime, a greater ability to examine different
types of evidence, and requirements that everything be sent to SLED for
processing, and you've got an automatic backlog.

So there are cases pending, people waiting in jail or set free to commit
another crime while they wait for a trial -- all because the evidence is
sitting in a line somewhere in a lab.

Dennis and Sumter County Maj. Gary Metts agree that a regional forensic lab
would be a blessing, allowing them to process evidence much more quickly
and push criminal cases through at a much faster rate.

But like everything else, that takes money.

Richland County has the only DNA lab in the state. It opened late last year
with about $500,000 in federal grant money, taxes and drug forfeiture proceeds.

Howle said even defendants facing drug charges who want to plead guilty
have to wait until SLED comes back with a positive result for the narcotics
sent in after the arrest. He suggested more rehabilitation for drug offenders.

"Drug court would, I think, definitely help the problem," Howle said. "But
Sumter County has had trouble getting it."

Clarendon County's drug court, begun in 1999 as a pilot program, has had
great success in rehabilitating substance abusers and reuniting families.

Patterned after the Family Drug Court in Kansas City, Mo., and supported by
the U. S. Department of Justice, the program seeks to rehabilitate addicted
parents who are involved in Family Court cases of child abuse and neglect.
The eventual goal is to see the parents and children together in a safe and
healthy environment, free from substance abuse.

Drug court can significantly reduce the number of people in jail, take
defendants out of the regular -- and crowded -- court system and save the
circuit a lot of money. Most experts agree that incarceration is much more
expensive than rehabilitation, both immediately and in the long-run,
because reformed addicts aren't nearly as likely to continue to commit
crimes. And with so many cases before the court related to drugs, the
impact in Sumter could be huge, many court officials believe.

The nationwide success rate is about 70 percent. Although the local program
is too young for hard statistics, officials believe it will be as or more
successful.