15th District caseload reviewed ahead of new plan
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LAFAYETTE — An official from the state Supreme Court is being asked to review caseloads in the 15th Judicial District as part of ongoing court proceedings over a plan voted in place by the district’s judges.
The request came from 9th Judicial District Judge Rae Swent, appointed by the state Supreme Court to preside over the issue.
Dr. Hugh M. Collins, Judicial Administrator for the Louisiana Supreme Court, will conduct the review and testify about his findings during a hearing set for Dec. 17.
Collins is being asked to examine judicial data and total file counts to determine how many judges it would reasonably take to handle felony cases in Lafayette and all criminal matters in Vermilion and Acadia parishes.
The review stems from two issues being contested by a group of defense attorneys.
In the first, defense attorneys are contesting the 15th JDC’s lack of a true random allotment system whereby all criminal cases would be assigned to judges by local clerks of court, a procedure currently only in place for death penalty cases and civil issues.
The second issue is over the judges’ 2010 Plan, set to begin in January.
Under the plan, judges, for the first two years, would spend the majority of their time in their home parishes, occasionally traveling throughout the district’s three parishes to handle death penalty cases, civil trials and misdemeanors.
Beginning the third year, judges could receive new assignments through an annual lottery.
The judges did not consider data on caseloads when they voted the plan into place.
During earlier proceedings, two judges who oppose the plan have testified that it would unfairly burden Lafayette judges by placing the majority of work on them.
The plan was voted into place in April and May.
Swent threw out the vote in August. The judges reconvened shortly afterward and voted the plan back in place.
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