I rode the bus to the courthouse today. I like riding the bus on occasion and it saves gas. But until recently, I wondered how people who have to ride the bus got to the courthouse on time.
Docket calls for criminal court hearings, used to start at 9 a.m. But the Wichita bus schedule didn’t have the Riverside line, which passes the courthouse, leaving the downtown station until 9:20 a.m. After 8 o’clock, the bus only runs every hour. To get to the bus station before the 8:20 bus left took some planning.
I often used to wonder how many people earned bench warrants for not appearing in court on time, because of the bus schedules. I’ve seen several people show up after their names were called, citing transportation problems, only to be handcuffed and put back in jail, because a judge had already signed a warrant. Many people who have to make a criminal docket call also are poor, evidence by the majority of the cases being handled by public defenders. These are the same people who may have to take the bus to get to the courthouse.
But when Judge Eric Yost took over as presiding judge of the criminal division he changed the docket call to 9:30. It had nothing to do with bus schedules.
“So many of the sentencing judges have hearings at 9 o’clock, we really couldn’t get started until 9:30 anyway most days,” Yost said of the change. “We didn’t want to have the stress of lawyers and court guards having to make it to our courtroom by 9. All sorts of people have said that it’s made their lives easier.”
Now, that includes those who take the bus. This morning, it hit the bus stop by 9:25. I was through security and to Yost’s seventh-floor courtroom by the time he took the bench.