Long-delayed, state-appointed court opens in Mississippi’s capital city
More than a year after a state -appointed court in Jackson became law and lawsuits were dismissed challenging its appointments and other powers, the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court is now in business.
Newly appointed Judge Stanley Alexander held court Monday morning. His fellow judicial appointee, James Holland, was also present in the court and offered some remarks and answered questions.
“As you can tell, we’re working on the bugs,” Holland said about the court’s start.
The first day of business was initial hearings for two people whom Capitol Police arrested over the weekend.
The first was a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. Alexander ordered the man from Madison released on personal recognizance.
The second appearance was a simple domestic violence charge for a woman from Jackson. The public defender representing the woman said she was involved in a dispute with her former partner. She has no previous criminal record and is not a flight risk, her attorney said.
Alexander set a $500 bond and set a condition for the woman not to have contact with the alleged male victim. The judge also approved an escort by Capitol Police to help her retrieve her belongings from the address she shared with the man.
People charged with felonies are brought to the court from the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond, and those facing misdemeanors come from the Rankin County jail.
Both defendants were brought from the Raymond jail, according to the jail docket.
After court finished for the day, Holland answered questions from members of the public and courtwatchers. Danyelle Holmes, executive director of the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign, asked whether there will be days or even a week’s wait for people before an initial appearance – something that has happened in Hinds County.
“That’s not going to happen,” Alexander said.
Holland added that the CCID court is expected to take some of the case load off the county court system and prevent people from having to wait more than 48 hours for that hearing. The CCID court will conduct initial appearances for felonies each weekday morning.
Once the CCID court sees someone for a first appearance for a felony or for revocation of bond, that is typically the end of its handling of the case. Later a case will be handled in county court, and conviction and sentencing would come from the circuit court.
Like a municipal court, the CCID court can adjudicate misdemeanors, and it plans to hold trials for them on Thursdays.
Although the law says someone convicted in the CCID court may be sent to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility – a state prison, Holland said that is just an option available to the judges, and they want to do what’s appropriate for each defendant.
The court will use Tuesdays for traffic offenses, but the judges aren’t expected to handle those cases until they are transitioned from being handled by the county court and once Capitol Police runs out of tickets with the previous court’s address printed on them, Holland said.
Court fines will be forwarded to the city of Jackson.
All of the court’s cases are from Capitol Police, which patrols the district that encompasses downtown, areas around Jackson State University, Belhaven, Fondren and up to Northside Drive. Capitol Police also have concurrent jurisdiction throughout Jackson.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch appointed Special Assisant Attorneys General Donovan Mitchell and Mike Ward as prosecutors for the CCID court. Ward handled a 2015 officer shooting case in Columbus that the AG’s office later declined to pursue.
Monday was also the first day for volunteer court watchers trained by the MacArthur Justice Center. Director Cliff Johnson was there with Holmes.
Johnson has spoken out publicly against the CCID and would have preferred support be given to the city of Jackson and its elected court system. But he was hopeful to see how willing officials who created the court were to consult a range of stakeholders and answer questions at the end of Monday’s court session.
“There’s nothing to be gained by having a CCID court that’s anything other than excellent,” Johnson said.
The court watchers, which include community organizations and law students, were trained across multiple sessions on criminal procedure, lingo, processes and how cases generally advance from arrest to indictment.
The MacArthur Justice Center has monitored other courts across the state and seen misuse of cash bail, incarceration for unpaid court fines and fees and limited access to public defender services. Watchers want to ensure none of those practices take place in the CCID court, Johnson said.
Volunteers are expected to be in court for the early days of the CCID court. They will keep count of information including numbers and share it online.
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This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.