Television shows have made many think a trial happens just days after a crime happens.
The 60 minute shows and even two hour movies are wrong. In fact it will likely take multiple years for a jury to hear most felony cases. Nineteenth Judicial Circuit District Attorney C.J. Robinson has 11 attorneys working with him in Autauga, Chilton and Elmore counties. They will process 2,000 felony cases in the three counties every year. But that is just a fraction of what goes through the court system in the 19th circuit.
“There are a total of about 27,000 cases including everything — traffic tickets, misdemeanor, child support,” Robinson said. “Very rarely does the public hear about the traffic case. Sometimes they will hear about a misdemeanor if it is high profile. Ninety-nine percent of the time it is the felonies they hear about.”
Some felony offenses include murder, rape and larger drug possession cases and can take years if a defendant choses to go to trail. The felony case must first make its way through the county district court. There are first appearance hearings where a judge makes sure a defendant understands the charges and appoints an attorney if needed. Preliminary hearings happen at the request of the defendant to allow a judge to determine if there is enough evidence for a case to proceed. If allowed to proceed, Robinson might have to wait to present the case to a grand jury.
“It is roughly a year from the time a crime happens until we can get to the grand jury,” Robinson said. “A couple of things can hang it up, if there is toxicology or if drugs need to be tested. DNA takes a while — a minimum of a year.”
In the 19th circuit, Elmore County has four grand jury terms per year, Autauga and Chilton just two. Just because a grand jury might be meeting next week and an autopsy report comes in this week doesn't mean the case will be heard immediately.
“The entire grand jury docket for the next grand jury is set,” Robinson said. “When I get the case ready to present, it will have to sit out one term.”
If a defendant is indicted, the case moves to circuit court. The 19th Circuit Court Judges are Bill Lewis, Joy Booth and Amanda Baxley.
“Once it gets indicted you're looking at least another year to two years,” Robinson said. “You are looking at least 36 months easy if a defendant demands a trial from the time a door is kicked and stuff is stolen.”
Some felony cases can take longer.
“When you start talking murders and getting autopsy reports and preliminary hearings and crime scene inspections, that three years can stretch out to five years,” Robinson said
But the vast majority of the cases in the 19th circuit move much faster. A traffic ticket could be in front of a judge in 30 days. Many misdemeanor cases take less than three months to be heard by a judge.
Robinson said drug cases have started to catch back up after the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences had delayed test results, in some cases a year or more.
Waiting for evidence to be processed by the appropriate personnel isn’t the only thing to slow the pace of court. The COVID-19 pandemic stopped the system, but the 19th circuit was quickly back at work after about 4 ½ months with precautions in place lessening the delays.
“We were one of the first circuits to resume jury trials after COVID,” Robinson said. “We were only shut down until the Monday after Labor Day. There are other places in the state, I think they didn’t go back to the courthouse for almost a year. I can not imagine in other places across the state what the timeframe looks like.”
