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NOTICE TO COUNSEL
Regarding the Criminal Docket
(revised 6/7/11)
1. The calling of the criminal docket will begin at 9:00 a.m. All counsel should be present at that time, prepared to advise the presiding judge of the status of their matters. If you are needed in another courtroom, please begin your day in the courtroom where the criminal docket is being called. If that is not possible for any reason, please notify the courtroom clerk or the Judge’s Chambers in advance, preferably the day before, as to which courtroom you will be in, what you will be doing, and how long it will take. If you are not planning to be in the courthouse at all by 9:00, you must obtain advance permission from the Judge handling the criminal docket (if known) or Judge Hackner. When seeking permission to arrive late, be prepared to advise the court of the status of your case. If you anticipate a trial, particularly a jury trial, it is not likely that you will be allowed to arrive late.
2. At the initial call of the docket, be prepared to advise the Court whether or not your case will be a trial and specifically whether or not you require a jury. We cannot wait until late morning to find out whether or not your case is going to trial. We must have this information so that we can better utilize our backup Judges and our available jury pool. Keep in mind that the criminal docket is not the only scheduled event for which the judges and jurors are needed. By following this procedure, we can insure that a one-day trial can truly be handled in one day rather than carry over.
3. If you are seeking a postponement of any event, including a status conference, prior to the court date, the postponement request must be coordinated with Amanda Smith, postponement coordinator, and you must clear proposed new dates with opposing counsel. If you are seeking to reschedule a status conference only, you may submit the request electronically, by consent, by using the form provided on this web site. Postponements of all other events must be done by regular motion.
4. If a postponement will, in any way, implicate the Hicks Rule, a Hicks waiver or finding of good cause must be made in open court, by the designated postponement judge, with the Defendant present. Written waivers will not be accepted. If necessary, you may coordinate a postponement/Hicks hearing with my office. If I am unavailable, Judge Mulford is designated as my backup for criminal postponements and good cause findings.
5. Hearings for pre-trial motions must be scheduled through the State’s Attorney’s Office and cleared on their motions calendar.
6. Status conferences are intended to be meaningful events. The attorneys primarily handling the case must be present. Stand-in counsel should not be used, except for extraordinary reasons. If principal counsel is not available to attend the status conference, you may file a consent request to reschedule the status conference, as described in paragraph 3. The parties may not waive attendance at a status conference. The Court will expect counsel to be prepared at the status conference to enter a plea if appropriate. If a plea is not appropriate, counsel should be prepared to describe in detail the status of the matter and discuss any problems that might affect the handling of the case. Full discovery must be exchanged and meaningful plea discussions must be held sufficiently in advance of the status conference so that the case may be disposed of on that date, if appropriate. Defense counsel should meet with their client to discuss the case and any plea offers prior to the date of the status conference or be prepared to explain why that was not done.
7. If the parties are not adequately prepared for the status conference, the Court may reschedule the status conference. It is the court’s policy to reserve the trial docket for cases that are ready and require a trial. Cases will not be routinely passed for trial simply because the matter is unprepared at the status conference.
8. If your case is passed for trial, and may require more than a day of Court time, you must remain in contact with the Assignment Office and the Jury Office to update them from time to time on the need for jurors and back up judges.
9. If you will need an interpreter, contact Mandy Smith immediately. Please use the Request for Interpreter form which is available on this web site. Keep in mind that the number of available interpreters is limited and a delay in notifying the court may result in the inability to handle a case on the scheduled date. Also, please be specific when requesting an interpreter and identify the particular dialect that may be involved when necessary. For instance, telling the court that you need a “Chinese” or “Indian” interpreter is inadequate, as there are several languages spoken in many countries that are not interchangeable. You must specify whom the interpreter is needed for. If it is for a witness, the court may not need to hire an interpreter for status conference or preliminary hearings.
10. If you have requested an interpreter, please stay in touch with Mandy Smith to let her know if the status of the case will change before a hearing or trial. Unless Ms. Smith is advised that a case will be a definite trial and its duration, interpreters will only be hired for one morning. If you will need one or more interpreters for an extended time, you need to remain in communication with Ms. Smith. Please keep in mind that interpreters are paid by the hour with minimum fees. If the status of the case changes so that an interpreter will not be needed, the court must cancel the interpreter at least 48 hours in advance in order to avoid a late cancellation fee.
11. Judges Hackner and Mulford will make themselves available to take guilty pleas in any case where the parties have an agreed plea (whether it’s an ABA plea or not). Guilty pleas can be set for any date that is convenient to counsel and the court. You can contact either judge’s office directly to set up a plea hearing. Pleas can not be specially set before any other judges, unless the case has been assigned to that judge.
PAUL A. HACKNER
Criminal Case Coordinating Judge
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