Try getting a court date now

There are many consequences to losing an entire city . Here’s one that I hadn’t thought much about: The court system in New Orleans and many of its records are gone. The New York Times reported: “More than a third of the state’s lawyers have lost their offices, some for good. Most computer records will be saved. Many other records will be lost forever. Some local courthouses have been flooded, imperiling a vast universe of files, records and documents. Court proceedings from divorces to murder trials, to corporate litigation, to custody cases will be indefinitely halted and when proceedings resume lawyers will face prodigious — if not insurmountable — obstacles in finding witnesses and principals and in recovering evidence.”
The article also noted that some prisoners had been moved to other detention facilities, but that: “They have no paperwork indicating whether they are charged with having too much to drink or attempted murder. There is no judge to hear their cases, no courthouse designated to hear them in and no lawyer to represent them.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

2 Comments

  1. Anon
    Posted September 9, 2005 at 1:32 pm | Permalink

    Looks like come people charged with crimes will be released due to speedy trial requirements. Also, with the problems of finding witnesses and some evidence most likly destroyed, some will be released because they simply can’t be tried. I’m sure we will hear complaining about that in the months to come. So let me go ahead and say now, we can’t pick and choose when we enforce the Constitution.

  2. JUSTA GUY
    Posted September 10, 2005 at 8:41 am | Permalink

    Well, we hear the courts are overloaded. This should lighten the load. Now, reckon there is any way to flood city hall here in Wichita.