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Bar News - October 5, 2001 No Jury Trials in December, Other Reductions in Superior Court By: Walter L. Murphy, NH Superior Court Superior Court notice IN THE PAST several weeks, articles have appeared in the press relative to drastic cuts made by the Legislature in the district court security expense line and the effect of those cuts on district court operations. Unfortunately, in addition to the security budget cuts, the Legislature effectively reduced the judicial branch operating budget request by more than $9.4 million for this biennium. This level of funding will have a significant impact on the operation of all state courts. In the Superior Court, we are forced to reduce expenditures in several areas in order to stay within our appropriation. Notably, we will keep clerical and administrative support positions vacant, forgo purchase of needed equipment, and reduce expenditures for supplies and services. These restrictions and similar measures implemented by other levels of court are calculated in order to stay within the appropriation to the judicial branch. They will also necessarily reduce our level of constituent services to the point that some statutory and constitutional mandates may be at risk. As a cost-saving measure unique to the Superior Court, no jury cases will be conducted during the months of December 2001 and April 2002. The same measure will be taken in the next fiscal year, when jury trials will be eliminated for the months of July, August and December 2002. The only exceptions will be homicide cases previously scheduled for which provisions have been made for a special venire, and ongoing trials that extend beyond the end of the preceding month. The court recognizes that this may produce significant delays in the resolution of many civil cases, reminiscent of backlogs that occurred in the 1980s. Criminal jury cases will continue to have priority. During the non-jury months, it is expected that the judges will be assigned a dramatic increase in issues to court and domestic relations cases. While this measure should represent meaningful cost savings, it may well be insufficient to address the probable deficit in available funds. For that reason, it is not at all unlikely that further curtailment in services in the future will be necessary.
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