Gov. Kay Ivey recently signed the new Speedy Trial Act.
It’s designed to give district attorneys a way to get more time to present violent offense cases to juries. Most of the circuit courts in the states have backlogs. But the new act doesn’t necessarily help with all cases.
“There is some backlog in drug cases primarily related to getting toxicology reports back from the Department of Forensic Sciences,” 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney C.J. Robinson said. “We do not have a back log of violent cases. I have informed the judges of the 19th Circuit we won’t be doing anything under the new Speedy Trial Act.”
Robinson prosecutes cases in Elmore, Autauga and Chilton counties. There are some violent cases to be tried in front of juries but he doesn’t have many docket busters, which are cases expected to take a week or more to be presented to juries. In Elmore County Robinson has four different trial terms each year to prosecute cases.
The situation is different in the Fifth Judicial Circuit covering Tallapoosa, Macon, Chambers and Randolph counties. Each county has a court house, and Tallapoosa with two. Each courthouse has two two week jury terms each year.
In just Dadeville, Fifth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Mike Segrest has the April 2023 shootings to prosecute.
“We have six different defendants,” Segrest said. “It would take three years just to try them because I anticipate those taking two weeks a piece.”
But there is more and still in Dadeville. There is the case against Jose Paulino Pascual-Reyes who is charged with multiple counts of murder and kidnapping. Two of the bodies were dismembered and enclosed in a wall. Another juvenile victim escaped by chewing through ropes where she was tied to a bed and drugged daily. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office is trying the case, but it requires a scheduled jury term.
“That is going to be a docket buster,” Segrest said. “That is going to take weeks to try.”
Segrest said he will seek to prosecute some of the cases of the Fifth Judicial Circuit under the new Speedy Trial Act. He said judges are on board with it.
“It creates more work for us, but we are good with that,” Segrest said. “We will step up and try them. We need more jury time to be able to handle it. It is another tool in our toolbox we can use to be able to try to effectively administer and address the docket.”
The Speedy Trial Act allows district attorneys to file with the Alabama Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court requesting additional jury terms. If granted, the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) would cover the costs. A retired judge would be assigned to the terms and sit on the bench for the trials. Elmore County already uses retired judge Sydney Reynolds on some cases.
Retired 19th Circuit Judge John Bush still practices law and is a mediator.
In the Fifth Circuit there are retired Judges Ray Martin and Tom Young.
“They would be able to sit and handle these cases,” Segrest said. “They could also bring judges from outside.”
