HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 Annual Court Report2021
ANNUAL DEPORT
VILLAGE OF
CAYUGA HEIGHTS COURT
Glenn G. Galbreath
Village of Cayuga Heights Justice
Patricia Kannus
Village of Cayuga Heights Court Clerk
ANNUAL REPORT OF
GLENN G. GALBREATH, VILLAGE JUSTICE
As in 2020, the Covid 19 pandernic continued to be the key issue for the court in 2021. In 2020
we had to fully close the court for a number of weeks, and then virtual proceedings were the
primary way of holding court. When defendants were allowed to appear in person it was one
defendant at a time until the end of 2021. Even now in early 2022 everyone must be masked,
have their temperature taken, answer Covid protocol questions, and sit several feet away from
each other often between plexiglass screens. Trials began again later in 2021 and I believe we
were the first town or village court to attempt to have a jury trial (which was postponed at the
last minute due to an upsurge in Omicron variation of Covid). Covid not only slowed the
processing of cases but seems to be linked to an increase in the failure of many defendants to
respond to their cases. Part of that may be due to concerns about Covid. A more cynical
explanation may be that a few of the unresponsive defendants recognize that recent statutory
changes have limited the court's ability to require bail, issue warrants and suspend the drivers'
licenses of unresponsive defendants. Regardless of the cause, our case numbers in 2020 and
2021 have been in the 600's as compared to over 1,000 in 2016. Notwithstanding the impact of
Covid and bail/collection reform limitations, the amounts collected from defendants increased to
$45,873 in 2021 from $26,050 in 2020, but both those years' totals were well below the $60,000-
75,000 annual amounts for several years previously. Another interesting point is that the all-
time cumulative amount of debt owed by defendants to the court actually dropped in 2021, i.e.
$26,050 was owed in 2020 and it dropped to $24,125 in 2021. One would normally expect this
amount to gradually increase over time. I have no idea why defendant debt to the court has
decreased_
Following the summary of data immediately below is a narrative about the data and other court
activities for the year. The charts at the end provide a little more detail and cover six years.
SUMMARY OF CASE ACTIVITY
Case Tvves 2020 2021
Vehicle + Traffic Law (V+TL) 655 624
(including parking)
Penal/Criminal Law 7 10
Civil/Small Claims/Evictions 2 0
Total Closed Cases 664 634
Total Funds Collected $ 26,050 $ 45,873
Number of V+TL Trials 1 9
Ater -hours arratznments for other
courts due to Covid restrictions 10 25
-2-
Case Numbers continue to be low.
Our data reflects only those cases that have closed and not the number on which we worked, but
the number of closed cases for each of the last two years was in the 600's rather than over 1,000
in 2016. This probably is due to the pandemic.
Court Access
One of the Covid restrictions that has been relaxed is that in-person appearances are now the
norm. Virtual appearances via Microsoft Teams is limited to less critical stages of case
processing, e.g. cases conferences.
Many defendants are now using the electronic plea bargaining process through the District
Attorney's website and sending a signed guilty plea to a lowered level charge than the one the
police initially Bled. Also, the police tend to follow the ADA's guidelines when the police
engage in plea bargaining as well_ The reductions offered by the District Attorney's tend to be
fairly forgiving, e.g. a 4 point speeding at 19 mph over the speed limit even in a school zone
could be settled by the defendant pleading guilty to a 0 point ticket for "opening a door
unsafely." Plea bargains must be agreed to by the People, the defendant and the Court, so the
Court is very careful to examine the appropriateness of plea bargains on an individualized basis.
Therefore, notwithstanding the common practice in most courts of simply accepting any plea
bargain that the prosecution and defendant agree to, the Village Court closely examines the
appropriateness of each plea bargain it accepts or rejects.
Vehicle and Traffic. Law lV+TLI Cases (See attached chart.)
Vehicle and traffic law matters are the majority of the court's cases, fines and surcharges
collected and the court clerk's time. The total number of V+TL cases in 2021 (624) was a bit
below the 665 we closed in 2020.
Alcohol related driving offenses [driving with ability impaired (DWAI), driving while
intoxicated (DWI), and aggravated driving while intoxicated (ADWI)] are important cases and
unfortunately their numbers increased in 2021 (from 1 in 2020 to 9 in 2021). In the past six years
the numbers of these charges per year has ranged between 1 and 17, so we could interpret the 9
in 2021 as an average number.
Speeding cases dropped from 65 in 2020 to 42 in 2021 _ My best guess is that this is most likely
the result of the new plea bargaining process which frequently resulted in defendants pleading
guilty to the charge of failure to obey a traffic control device (which increased by almost 30
cases during the same period: 87 in 2020 and 115 in 2021).
One figure is unique. The number of scofflaw cases was zero in 2021. In past years it was as
high 206 (2017). A scofflaw case is one where a defendant fails to appear or pay his/her
fines/surcharges- After repeated attempts to get a defendant's attention to his/her non-
appearance or non-payment, 1 would have the Court Cleric report this to the NY Department of
Motor Vehicles and then DMV would warn the defendant that his/her license will be suspended
or revoked unless the defendant appears and pays what defendant owes to the court. But during
the height of the pandernic the legislature limited this remedy to only situations where the
defendant failed to ever appear, but stopped the use of scofflawing for a defendant who failed to
pay. In an abundance of caution and pursuant to administrative directives from the Sixth
-3-
Judicial District, our Court stopped using the scofflaw process in 2021. Now, in 2022 we have
begun to re -institute the scofflaw process for defendants who never appear in court. For the
defendants who appeared but failed to pay, we will probably start issuing civil judgments against
them.
Parking (See attached chart_)
The number of parking tickets in 2021 (29) is down from 2020 (37). Although parking tickets
are part of the V+TL statistics, we identify them separately in the attached chart. The
administrative processing frequently is done by the Police Department and the Court Clerk
without the need of my intervention because most people plead guilty and pay the set fine. Only
occasionally do I need to arraign a defendant or hold a trial for a parking ticket. Nevertheless,
the Court Clerk must always process the paperwork and occasionally arrange for payment of the
fine.
Penal/Criminal Cases (See attached chart.)
The Penal/Criminal Law category includes local and state law infractions, misdemeanors and
felonies. Generally, these are more serious than most V+TL matters and take more time.
Infractions are the lowest level of criminal cases, and the penalty is rarely more than a small fine.
Misdemeanors and felonies are more serious and create a formal and permanent criminal record
for a defendant. Not counted in the Penal/Criminal Cases statistics, even though many are also
misdemeanors or felonies, are some of the more serious V+TL offenses, e.g. DWI, ADWI,
reckless driving, aggravated unlicensed operation (AUO), leaving the scene of an injury
accident, etc. Those misdemeanor V+TL cases appear only in the V+TL statistics chart. The
most serious charges, felonies, do not appear in any of our statistics at all. That is because the
computer program only identifies cases that are closed with a conviction or dismissal in our
court. Felony cases that arise in our court do not ultimately remain here, nor are they "closed or
dismissed" here. They eventually get transferred to the Tompkins County Court and, thus, never
show up in our computer statistics, unless the prosecution decides to prosecute the case as a
misdemeanor, and the case is returned to our court. In 2021 the number of our criminal law cases
(10) was about the same we had in 2020 (8) and a bit below our average number of 14 per year
over the past six years.
Vehicle and Traffic Trials (See attached chart.)
The number of traffic offense trials (9) is about average for 2021, but a jump from 2020 (1)
when the pandemic restricted trials. These numbers reflect only the trials for V+TL offenses.
The data does not include criminal trials or civil trials. Again this is due to a limitation in our
computer program's data collection. Often trials are scheduled but then the defendant changes
her/his mind at the last minute and pleads guilty, thus mooting the need for a trial. The number
of trials in recent years continues to be very low relative to what the court has done in the past,
e.g_ in 1995 1 had 124 V+TL trials.
Civil. Small Claims and Eviction Cases (See attached chart.)
Both the Civil and the Small Claims case categories concern non -criminal and non-V+TL
matters. They involve private disputes between people or organizations. They are not actions
brought by the government against a person for violation of the law. And the "Civil Docket" is
technically different from "Small Claims." Both have the same maximum monetary jurisdiction
of $3,000, but Small Claims cases use an expedited procedure that is simpler, less expensive and
more accessible, especially for people without attorneys. Civil and Small Claims cases make up
-4-
the smallest number of cases - none in 2021 (as compared to no more than 5 in a year since
2016). These cases tend to be time consuming and often result in longer trials and written
opinions. The court routinely refers the parties to the Community Dispute Resolution Center for
mediation as soon as the case is filed with the court, but does not delay the court proceedings
while mediation is being considered or used unless the parties agree to a delay.
Collection of fines and surcharges (See attached chart.)
Notwithstanding only 624 V+TL cases and 10 criminal cases, we collected $45,873 in 2021,
which was almost $20,000 more than in 2020. But both years were low compared to prior years
when our case numbers were higher. Again Covid had to play a significant role in the low case
numbers. Interestingly though, the cu rnulative amount owed by all defendants actually dropped
a bit, which is somewhat surprising because this figure would normally be expected to rise every
year. In 2020 all defendants still owed the court $26,050 and in 2021 that debt dropped to
$24,125.
Central Arraignment Part (C.A.P.) - The new variation on iudecs' coverine after-hours
arraignments for courts across the county
When it became clear that the pandemic was going to require courts to have as little face -to- face
contact as possible in order to reduce the risk of the virus's transmission, the New York Court
system arranged to do virtual arraignments for in -custody defendants during the times when
courts were not actually in session. This is basically all hours of the day or night other than 8:30
AM to 4:30 PM Monday through Friday. While all town, village courtjudges are used to being
pulled out occasionally in the middle of the night to arraign defendants or to issue orders of
protection in our home jurisdictions, we had always done it in-person at our own courts. When
the pandemic hit, the New York Court system sought volunteer judges to do that process
virtually on a scheduled basis. Along with about half of the townlvillage judges in Tompkins
County I agreed to cover the after-hours arraignments for all the town and village courts in
Tompkins County in one week shifts. I did shifts every 5-6 weeks in 2020 and did the same in
2021. I did twenty-five after-hours arraignments and/or orders of protection for the other
courts throughout the County in 2021.
As of 2022 the system is being changed as this report is being drafted. Instead of being called
out in the middle of the night, the Central Arraignment Part (CAP) will cover these after-hours
arraignments by having two court sessions a day (8:00 AM and 8:00 PM) at the Tompkins
County Jail in a courtroom for this purpose. Again the town and village justices serve as the
CAP judges. We are still working out what a fair share of the coverage is required of each
judge. At this point I am scheduled for about 10 sessions a month and this has cut deeply into
my schedule flexibility. The big advantage of this system is that judges, defense attorneys and
Assistant District Attorneys do not get called out in the middle of the night. Maybe more
important, arresting officers simply drop off the defendant at the jail and the jail holds the
defendant until the next 8:00 court session, and the police officers return to the street. The
disadvantage is that depending on when the defendant is arrested, s/he may sit for as much as 12
hours until the next 8:00 AM or PM court session. This is effectively the system they have used
downstate and the City of Ithaca for decades.
Other activities
Other activities that do not appear in our data reports include: review of search and arrest/bench
warrants, pretrial hearings, status conferences, motion hearings/arguments, orders of protection,
-5-
declarations of delinquency and re-sentencings, preliminary felony hearings, non-V+TL trials,
hearings on violations of probation, fugitive warrants, legal research, drafting opinions,
sentencings, and the above-mentioned county -wide after-hours arraignments and orders of
protection. All are time consuming and important activities, but collecting the data on them is
not automatic with our computer program. Also, not included in the data are the dozens of hours
Court Clerk, other Village staff and I expended on preparations for the jury trial that ended up
getting postponed. Some of that work will have to be repeated when we finally get the trial done
in June, 2021 _
Patricia Kannus, the Court Clerk, attended her mandated clerkship training for 2021. I also
finished my required two days of Advanced Continuing Judicial Education Program for town
and village justices in 2 02 1.
I continue to be a member of the New York State Advisory Committee for Judicial Ethics and
attend seven meetings in New York City each year where we produce the 100-200 ethics
opinions the Committee issues annually. These opinions are published in response to inquiries
from New York judges before they act on matters which raise ethical concerns. If the judge
follows the written opinion, s/he is presumptively protected from prosecution for a violation of
the Rules for Judicial Ethics.
We just finished the 2020-2021 financial audit and expect the auditors' report to be presented to
the Trustees any time now.
Shredding Paper records
After many years, we finally were given permission to shred old court records that we had
electronically scanned several years ago. I cannot explain why it took the State so long to give
us approval, but we expect that the shredding will create more storage space in the Village Hall's
basement and maybe we can make progress on scanning later case files from the Court office
and get rid of the unsightly boxes of files that litter the court office.
Conclusion
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact me or the court clerk. Further, I
remind .everyone that the court sessions are held every Tuesday evening starting at 5:00 PM (not
6:00 PM) and the first Thursday of every month starting at 5:00 PM. The public in general, and
you in particular, are invited to observe these sessions.
Dated: February 15, 2022 Respectfully submitted,
41'06.0 4� IOZ4�,O
Glenn G. Galbreath
Village Justice
VEHICLE + TRAFFIC CASES (V+TL - most are not criminal misdemeanors or felonies)
2021
42
4
2I
115
3
3
3
5
0
4
14
9
4
2
7
5
7
7
49
285
7
303
29
624
9
CONVICTIONS
OFFENSE (generally infractions)
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
speeding
69
60
42
108
65
speeding in school zone
1
5
4
20
4
stop sign
4
4
2
7
3
fait to obey traff. control device
257
191
164
169
87
DVVAI (driv. with ability impaired)
13
10
3
2
0
DWI (driv. while intox. - misd. or felony)
4
5
0
0
1
ADWI (aggravated DWI - misd. or felony)
0
1
0
0
0
fail to keep right
10
1
8
7
3'
no passing zone/follow to closely
2
1
0
4
1
AUO (aggray. unlicens. oper. - misd.)
5
2
2
2
3
unlicensed operation
13
13
6
22
10
unregistered vehicle
10
5
4
16
4
uninspected vehicle
8
11
5
5
3
equipment violation
10
4
9
5
1
seatbelt
7
10
3
8
5
commercial traffic law (new in 2019)
0
0
0
6
9
cell phone
14
13
3
11
11
opening door unsafely
0
0
0
0
0
other
23
22
14
25
25
TOTAL V+TL CONVICTIONS
450
358
269
417
235
ACD (see below)
11
10
4
6
9
TOTAL DISMISSED
555
429
381
466
384
PARKING TICKET CONV.
59
101
49
26
37
TOTAL V+TLIPRKG. CASES
1017
788
651
883
665
SCOFFLAWED CASES (see below)
164
206
133
162
22
LIFTED LIC. SUSPENSION (see below)
1
5
1
10
3
V+TL TRIALS
16
5
6
8
1
ACD" is an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal,
It is
used when the defendant and prosecutor agree
that the penalty imposed by a conviction is disproportionate to the actual offense, and they
agree to
conditions which if met by the defendant would warrant later dismissal of the charge. The defendant and
prosecutor then must secure the jusdge's agreement before it can be issued.
"Scofflawed cases" are those where a defendant
failed to appear, The Court Clerk
notifies the
Dept of Motor Vehicles which in turn suspends the defendant's driver's license
until the case is fully
resolved. In serious cases, the Court may also issue a bench
warrant for the defendant's arrest.
"Lifted License Suspension" is a fee ($70) the State requires
when a license is
restored after suspension.
2021
42
4
2I
115
3
3
3
5
0
4
14
9
4
2
7
5
7
7
49
285
7
303
29
624
9
PENAL LAW CONVICTIONS (misdemeanors and infractions, state + local)
OFFENSE
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
alcohol
1
j alcohol in the park
1
assault
1
aggravated harassment
bad check
burglary
crim. contempt
crim. impersonation
1
crim, mischief
1
crim. poss. forged instrument
1
crim. poss. stolen property
crim. possession of weapon
crim. tampering
1
dog ordinance
2
1
2
disorderly conduct
1
4
1
1
fireworks
fugitive
grand larceny
1
harassment
illegal dumping
menacing
open burning
noise ordinance
1
4
3
1
park - after hours
3
2
4
4
park - lawn
1
1
1
petite larceny
1
poss. of a controlled substance
7
5
4
5
2
2
public lewdness
rape - attempted
reckless endangerment
1
resisting arrest
1
scheme to defraud
selling controlled substance
trespass
unlawful imprisonment
unlawful contact with a minor
zoning violation
other criminal
2
2
2
4
TOTAL PENAL LAW CASES
16
17
21
11
8
10
CIVIL CASES
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
SMALL CLAIMS + REGULAR CIVIL +
EVICTIONS 0 4 5 1 2. 0
ALL FINES, FEES + SURCHARGES (CIVIL + CRIMINAL)
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
COLLECTED $75,223 $62,614 $46,408 $69,626 $36,812 $45,873
OWED BY DEFENDANTS $39,455 $33,150 $26,425 $25,136 $26,050 $24,125