All Rise: meet Circuit

Court’s newest

judge Page 3

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B e n c h P r e s s September, 2011

The Newsletter of St. Louis Circuit Court

can cameras in

the courtroom

save time and

money ? Page 5

wedding bells

are ringing (and ringing, and

ringing…) Page 11

Mel Carnahan Courthouse photo by Matt Murphy

OMMUNICATION IS KEY in any organization. The more informed people are and the more knowledge that is getting passed between departments the better we all function. If you have ever felt like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing then you know what I’m talking about. It is important for each department in the courthouse to communicate with its employ-ees but it is also important that we all know about certain things that may affect us as a group. And then there are the little things that a lot of us just find interesting and would like to know about. This is the debut issue of Circuit Court’s first newsletter and it’s for all of us who work here and care about making the courthouse run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Whether you are a clerk, a JOA, a youth leader specialist or even a judge, this newsletter is intended to keep you informed about the day-in and day-out happenings in these buildings where we spend so much of our time. Our intent is to publish four times a year (March, June, September and December ) and comments/suggestions can be sent to: mmurphy@courts.mo.gov The most cost-effective way to distribute Bench Press is via email in PDF format but feel free to print it and hand it out to anyone in your office who may not have regular access to a court computer. Thank you for all your hard work and I hope you enjoy Bench Press. -Steve Ohmer, Presiding Judge

e-Filing Starts in MO Courts In this electronic age of emails and text messages many wonder why the courthouse is still so heavily dependent on paper. That is changing. This month the 11th Circuit in St. Charles County and the Supreme Court in Jefferson City will be the first to test a pilot pro-ject allowing attorneys to electronically file law-suits and other court documents. Thanks to e-Filing, paperwork can be filed any time of day or night and attorneys receive an electronic confirmation that the documents were received. (continued on page 8)

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Claudette Williams with the Jury Supervisor’s Office helps check in jurors during a busy Monday morning at the Civil Courts Building.

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Courts Respond to Joplin Disaster

UNDAY, MAY 22 ended as a tragically unforgettable day in Missouri’s history. At 5:34 p.m. an EF5 tornado, only the second to hit the state in recent memory, touched down just outside the city of Joplin. At first, damage was relatively minor but the storm quickly intensified as it moved eastward into the more populated Joplin neighborhoods. By the time it lifted in Newton County 38 minutes later the Joplin tornado had killed more than 150 people, had become the seventh-deadliest tornado in U.S. history and had caused an estimated $3 billion in damage. Courts around Missouri immediately be-gan collecting donations to send to fellow employees from the Jasper County circuit. Ten judges and 77 employees work in the two Jasper County courthouses and sadly at least five workers are known to have lost their homes. “The court employees in Joplin wish to express, emphatically, their gratitude to those who have given in this time of need, especially in these tough economic times,” says State Courts Administrator Greg Linhares. Immediately following the devastation staff from the state office began organizing a trip to Joplin with two cargo vans full of clothes, diapers, food, blankets, toiletry items and other necessities. Also included was the first cash donation of $1,953 to the affected court employees and their families. Greg says that because so many judicial employees continue asking how to donate money, a PayPal account for direct donations has been created and is still accepting orders. On June 8 the first wire transfer in the amount of $6,316 was made to Joplin, where Judge Gayle Crane

of the 29th Circuit is continuing to coordinate distribution to employees in need. The total amount of money collected so far is more than $14,000 and growing thanks to the efforts of the entire Missouri judiciary family. At our courthouse Circuit Clerk Jane Schweitzer and her employees organized a dress down day to raise money for the workers in Joplin. “We had a great response,” says Jane. “The dona-tion amount was five dollars and with that donation everyone got a button to wear, which signified that they had donated to the relief effort. We raised $1,600 in one day. People really stepped up to the plate and I was so impressed at the level of generosity.” To donate to the Court Em-ployees Relief Fund through PayPal click here: www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=D3FPA6FQAHNR4

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Photo courtesy of J.B. Forbes

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IRCUIT COURT’S NEWEST JUDGE brings a wealth of experience from the legislative, judicial and executive

branches of state government. Rex M. Burlison was appointed by Governor Jay Nixon to fill the seat vacated when Judge McCullin reached mandatory retirement age last April. Judge Burlison was a trial attorney for 20 years, practicing in a wide range of areas including civil rights violations, medical malpractice, domestic relations and criminal law. “I don’t have a preference as far as civil cases over criminal,” he says. “My preference is to observe good lawyers trying good cases and that’s what I’m looking for from the bench.” While his life’s ambition was to become a lawyer, Judge Burlison studied political science and law enforcement in college and, like many of us, worked some odd jobs in those younger years. One that stands out is a stint as a hotel security guard. “There were a lot of TVs leaving the hotel rooms, so we set up a security post on the roof of the building and monitored the rooms from there. After that we were able to get a grip on the TVs that were mysteriously leaving the hotel rooms.”

C And televisions were not the only source of entertainment at the hotel according to Judge Burlison. “There was a notorious restaurant/bar at the hotel and we would need to move the traffic around in there because there were a lot of “meet and greet” kind of things going on. We would have to go in there and turn our police radios up real loud so everyone in the bar could hear the police traffic. That kept them moving.” For the past 10 years Judge Burlison has worked for Jay Nixon, first in the attorney general’s office and then the governor’s St. Louis office, where he has been director of the eastern region. He has also spent time in Jefferson City working for lawmakers and was once an associate circuit judge in the 11th Circuit. “There are definitely different and distinct responsibilities in each of those branches, which has given me an appreciation for the separation of the three branches of government that were created by the Founding Fathers.”

A l l R i s e New Judge Joins the Court

The Plan covers the Supreme Court, the three appeals courts and six circuit courts. Attorneys wishing to apply for a vacancy on the bench submit an application to a commission made up of lawyers, citizens and a judge. After reviewing the applications and conducting interviews, the commission selects three qualified candidates ( called the ‘panel’ ) and

Nonpartisan Court Plan

7th Circuit (Clay County) 6th Circuit (Platte County) 16th Circuit (Jackson County) 21st Circuit (St. Louis County) 22nd Circuit (St. Louis City) 31st Circuit (Greene County)

TRIVIA: Which 3 judges have the most seniority at our court ? Answer on page 10

submits those names to the governor. The governor has 60 days to pick one of the three from the panel, otherwise the duty of selecting a judge falls to the commission. Circuit judges face a retention election every six years and association circuit judges every four years. Mandatory retirement age for all Missouri judges is 70.

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Law & Order

New Era for Clerk’s Office T. LOUIS ATTORNEY JANE SCHWEITZER became the city’s new circuit clerk on January 1 of this year. After 32 years of practicing law Jane says she knew her way around the courtroom

pretty well but knew little of what goes on behind the scenes. “It’s been wonderful and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how welcom-ing and helpful the staff has been to me,” she says. “I didn’t quite know what to expect coming in because they had a clerk, Mr. Favazza, who had been in the job for so long and I was going to be a real change for them. But the transition has worked well.”

A new clerk hasn’t been the only change. One of Jane’s top priorities was to ensure a better working relationship between the Clerk’s Office and the judges. And this summer a complete file inventory was conducted, something that had not been done in a long time at the courthouse. Other changes include an improved file locator system, the start of document scanning and updating printers, scanners and copiers, which are being leased instead of purchased so the Court can upgrade as newer and better models hit the market. For now the scanning of electronic documents is being done on associate civil cases only but Jane hopes to include criminal filings before the end of the year. In addition to saving time and money, EDS (electronic document scanning) will help get the Court ready for the advent of e-Filing. Another area that needed addressing was what to do with millions of dollars sitting in the Court’s unclaimed money account. Jane and the judges have already discussed how to deal with the accounts, commonly known as the Court Registry Fund. The circuit clerk’s office still holds about $7.6 million in old bank accounts and investments, and while that’s down from $11.6 million in 1999, the state auditor’s office has said having that much money in old accounts is “a problem.” A Request For Proposal has gone out seeking a professional accountant who can help the Court locate rightful owners before turning the money over to the state treasurer. A major challenge in the months ahead will be reorganizing the work force to accommodate the Clerical Weighted Workload Study, which finds that St. Louis Circuit Court is overstaffed by 14 clerks. “I have every reason to believe that the Clerk’s office and the judges will meet this challenge head on and deal with a reduced work force by studying the problem, discussing our options and coming up with workable solutions as a team,” Jane says. “And I want to stress that during the past nine months I’ve come to appreciate how difficult the clerks’ jobs are and how much is expected of them. I can’t tell them enough just how important their work is. Without them our court system would fall apart.”

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Supreme Court Judge Richard B. Teitelman began his two-year term as

Missouri’s chief justice in July.

Chief Justice Teitelman has served on the Supreme Court since 2002.

He previously served four years on the Missouri

Court of Appeals, Eastern District. He was elected to his two-year term as the state’s chief justice

earlier this spring by his colleagues at the Supreme Court. Judge Teitelman is from St. Louis and is the first Jewish and first legally-blind judge to serve on

Missouri’s high court.

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HREE YEARS AFTER IT STARTED, video-conferencing has more than proven its worth for the Court. The technology allows confined defendants to appear in the courtroom via closed-circuit television, cutting down on the time and expense of transporting them to and from jail. Although it’s mostly known for use in criminal courts where defendants make their initial appearances/arraignments via TV hookup, it was our probate division that got the ball rolling on video technology. Probate wanted a better way of handling its mental health docket (hearings to determine if someone is mentally ill and needs to be confined to a psychiatric hospital.) “They would frequently try to escape during transportation and we were getting feedback from the doctors that it was very disruptive to their treatments because of the stress of the

Commissioner Patrick Connaghan helps Judge Theresa Burke set up video-conferencing equipment before a hearing. Family Court recently began conducting hearings on child support non-payment via television, saving the Court the time and expense of transporting defendants from the city jail.

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and from the Justice Center to the courthouse, hold them in the basement and then bring them to the 9th Floor in groups. “Because of security issues they could only bring up so many prisoners at a time and that docket would last from one o’clock to five o’clock,” says Commissioner Connaghan. “Now, nobody leaves MSI and the two times Family Court has done it, the docket has lasted less than two hours.”

The Court is planning to start video appearances in Divisions 25 and 26 as soon as money can be found to purchase the cameras. Both the Justice Center and MSI already have the equipment, it’s been tested and is ready to go. “There’s never a delay. The cases always start on time,” says Commissioner Connaghan. “Hospitals love it and attorneys love it. It’s a much more efficient use of everybody’s time and the benefits are so obvious we’d be foolish not to do it.”

courtroom environment,” says Probate Commissioner Patrick Connaghan. Being strapped to a gurney and brought through the courthouse also gave patients the feeling of being criminals and was not a very dignified way of handling the docket. BJC, St. Louis’ largest provider of in-patient psychiatric treatment, had long been interested in video technology because of the money it could save the hospital. An ambulance plus staff people had to accompany each patient being transported to the courthouse but video-conferencing only requires a couple of cameras and TV monitors. The idea is now spreading to other areas of the courthouse with Family Court being the latest to try it. Video is being used for the child support non-payment docket. In the past, deputies would have to transport those defendants from MSI to the Justice Center

“It’s a much more efficient use of everybody’s time and the benefits are so obvious we’d be foolish not to do it.”

Lights, Camera, Action video-conferencing pays off

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WO YEARS AFTER IT OPENED, the first school in the United States for troubled juveniles run by a state court system has graduated its first class.

Juvenile Court Judge Jimmie Edwards opened the Innovative Concept Academy in 2009 as a last hope for kids who have been expelled or otherwise failed to make it in the St. Louis public schools. The Academy is housed in the old Blewett Middle School on Cass Avenue, which was slated to be closed by the school district. With persistent prodding from Judge Edwards the district agreed to let him use the building for this unique class of students and curriculum. This summer 13 students, who have worked for eight to 10 months earning their GED, received diplomas. “If you can’t read and you haven’t been exposed, you can’t dream,” Judge Edwards says. “These kids don’t dream.

They have nightmares. Everything they have known is negative.” The Innovative Concept Academy has been called a one-stop-shop for delinquent teens who not only need a quality education but also medical services, psychological counseling, nutritious meals and even a place to wash their clothes. Judge Edwards says it is not uncommon for the kids to begin seeing the world differently once they have enrolled at ICA. “We have these great expectations for our children. We’ve introduced them to things that are new and different and they like a challenge. It becomes like a competition for them and as a result they end up doing well. We have smaller classrooms and more services available to them than they had in public schools.” Judge Edwards was recently honored by the Mark Twain Community Resource Center with its Juvenile Justice Award for the work he is doing at the Academy.

Head of the Class Judge Edwards Graduates First Class from ICA

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ne of the Court’s most successful and sought-after programs is seeing an influx in interest.

Neighborhood Accountability Boards have been a part of the Juvenile Division since 2003 and have been credited with keeping juvenile delinquents out of trou-ble while, at the same time, freeing up precious time and resources at Family Court. The Carondelet neighborhood is the latest to join the growing list of NABs sprouting up around the city. “When we take the Court out into the com-munity and the kids are held account-able to their neighbors, to the people they see every-day, they recidivate at a much lower rate,” says Deputy Juvenile Officer Sara Butler, who supervises the program. “The boards meet once a month to hear cases but we encourage them to meet with the juveniles outside of the meetings, to check in on them at home or at school. That’s what makes a successful board. The community gets out of it what they put into it.” Instead of appearing in a courtroom, juvenile offenders facing less serious charges, such as shoplifting and trespassing, are offered the chance to have their

cases heard in front a group of four to seven adults from the neighborhood. The kids have already admitted to the offense so the board's job is to decide how to best hold them accountable in a way that repairs the harm done to the victim and teaches the kids what is

expected of them. If they don’t take it seriously they face the threat of having their case sent to the courtroom. After a push by the Court to focus more attention on neighborhoods with a juvenile crime problem, the Carondelet, Baden and Lafayette Square neighborhoods started

signing up volunteers and getting their NABs up and running. Statistics show that among juvenile offenders who go through the NAB process, far fewer get into trouble again compared to those who go through the traditional court system. Sara chalks it up to the impact of them coming face-to-face with their neighbors and answering for their crimes. “They are really, truly held accountable to the person they violated against and to the neighborhood they live in.”

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Neighborhood Accountability Boards Baden Jeff Vanderlou Benton Park Hamilton Heights Carondelet Kingsway / Ville Columbus/Carr Square Lafayette Square Dutchtown Shaw Forest Park Southeast Walnut Park Gravois Park West End

Good Neighbors

Charles Robinson (left) and Lawrence Johnson discuss a juvenile case with DJO Melissa Josephson. Both men live in the Shaw neighborhood and volunteer on their local NAB. (Robinson is also a Clinical Services Advocate with our juvenile division.)

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House Cleaning Clerk’s Office Clears Old Files

ITH HELP FROM some St. Louis University summer interns the circuit clerk’s office has gotten rid of 40,000

old case files taking up space in storage. The files, dating as far back as the early 1900’s, sit in endless rows of dusty shelves and cabinets at the Globe Building, which is costing the Court thousands of dollars a month in warehouse rental. The Court pays $228,000 a year to rent all the necessary space to house the files. The current lease agreement is in place until July of 2014. “In the meantime we’re trying to condense as much as possible so we won’t need so much square footage in the future,” says Jane Schweitzer. “These are files that are passed their retention date so we don’t have to keep them. We offer them to the secretary of state’s office and the genealogical society to see if they want them, but if they don’t then we get an order from the Court to destroy them.” Even files that are not ready to be completely destroyed can be whittled down considerably by getting rid of unnecessary papers like discovery, interrogatories, depositions and exhibits. Death penalty and life cases can never be destroyed, nor can docket sheets and certain types of Family Court files.

Aside from warehousing, microfilm is one solution for document retention but it’s expensive and very time-consuming considering all the staff people it would take to transfer tens of thousands of files onto film. Jane says document scanning, which the Court has begun doing, is the best alternative. “This method of storage allows

us to destroy the original document because the electronic copy is deemed to be the original. The process is going to revolutionize document storage but staffing the department is proving to be challenging in light of our reduced staff.”

e-Filing (continued from page 1)

According to the Missouri courts website, “attorneys will be able to file documents electroni-cally in the pilot courts for free during pilot testing. During the pilot, there are no additional fees associated with electronic filing.” While the Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit are piloting the new e-Filing system, state officials expect implementation in the three appellate district courts to follow sometime in the near future. A planning team will determine the future rollout sequence once the system has been in operation for a period of time. There is no word yet on when the 22nd Circuit will start e-Filing. “Electronic filing of court documents represents a dramatic change in the legal culture, and the stakes are high. But new technology will continue to be necessary if we continue to see a growth in litigation. The success of the project will depend on the willingness of those who use it but ultimately will be judged by how well it serves the process of justice itself.”

Missouri Secretary of State Archivist Pat Barge carefully inspects court documents at the Globe Building, identifying historically significant records.

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Click below to watch video of the NADCP 2011 conference

Drug Court Gets National Award

http://www.nadcp.org/2011_Training_Conference

The St. Louis Drug Courts also operate a Family Drug Court, Juvenile Drug Court and Misdemeanor Marijuana Drug Court. In 2010, the Veteran’s Treatment Court was launched to address the needs of those who served our country, now faced with serving time. Under the current leadership of Commissioner James E. Sullivan and Commissioner Michael Noble the St. Louis Drug Courts have approximately 1,600 program graduates. Commissioner Noble accepted the award on behalf of the St. Louis Drug Courts when the honor was bestowed on the group. “This award is a reflection of the collective efforts of dedicated team members that include the Judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, Circuit Attorney’s office, defense counsel, treatment providers, diversion managers, administration plus the hard working program participants striving to break the chains of addiction.”

“Cynics may believe this is hopeless. But they are wrong. What’s hopeless and expensive is the revolving door of drug dependency, crime, incarceration, release and immediate return to drug abuse. Drug courts have been a part of St. Louis’ legal landscape for more than a decade and there is compelling evidence that they are paying off.”

UR DRUG COURT PROGRAM received national

attention on July 20, 2011 during the closing session of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals National Conference in Washington, D.C. when we were given the Cultural Proficiency Courage Award. According to the NADCP the St. Louis Drug Courts are the first recipient of this national award in recognition of outstanding commitment to increasing cultural proficiency in Drug Courts, exceptional contribution to the Drug Court field and leadership in implementing culturally proficient Drug Court practices. The St. Louis Drug Court was created in 1997 as a diversion program for felony pre-plea cases. Since that time the Adult Drug Court program has expanded to include post- plea felony cases with an emphasis on Moral Reconation Therapy to address issues of criminal thinking.

Commissioner Mike Noble speaking at the National Association of Drug Court Professionals annual conference in Washington, D.C.

-St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2008

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You've probably seen her around the courthouse watching trials and interviewing attorneys. Valerie Schremp Hahn is the Post-Dispatch reporter assigned to covering courthouse news.

Q: How long have you been with the Post-Dispatch? A: I've been there 14 years. I studied to become a high school English teacher, but then I got an internship at the Post-Dispatch my senior year in college and that led to a job. I've also covered education, so in a way I have been able to get inside the classroom. Q: What is your beat? A: Now it's St. Louis and St. Louis County Circuit Courts, a job that two reporters used to do. I go between offices in both courthouses, but spend most of my week in our office on the 9th Floor of the Carnahan Courthouse. I share that office with Robert Patrick, who covers federal courts. Q: Do you like your assignment? A: Most days, I do! It's always busy, and I have to set a lot of traps to make sure I catch as much as I can. I know things fall through the cracks. I've always said real life is more interesting than anything you can make up, and you

run across some unbelievable stories in the courtroom. I have a hard time reading fiction because real life is just too interesting. Q: Do you have a favorite story that you've covered? A: The quirky ones stand out, like the woman charged with beating another woman with a dead Chihuahua puppy. There were also a few crimes in St. Charles County involving samurai swords. I think somebody once used a concrete lawn squirrel as a weapon. While many stories I write are about people who have endured unimaginable tragedies, I also like writing about people's hobbies, businesses, and passions. I wrote about a man with a house full of George Washington memorabilia for a President's Day feature, and another about a guy who restores old log cabins for a living. People love to talk about their passions. Q: What are the best and worst parts of the job? A: I love getting to know my city. I grew up here and live in the Shaw neighborhood, and even though when I drive around now I have this bad habit of thinking, "oh, there was a murder on this block," or "wasn't there an awful accident at that intersection?" there are so many stories these streets and the people who live here can tell. I think the worst part of my job is defending what I do. Many people think the media is out to get them or only interested in hearing one side of the story. I just want to tell stories, get it right, and I try to do the best I can.

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On Monday mornings Valerie checks a roster in the Jury Assembly Room listing the scheduled trials for that week.

Judges with most seniority...

1. Judge Dierker 2. Judge Wilson 3. Judge Mason

(1986) (1989) (1991)

EXTRA ! EXTRA !EXTRA ! EXTRA !EXTRA ! EXTRA !EXTRA ! EXTRA !

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I Do...I Do...I Do...I Do...

Judge Robin Ransom Vannoy presides over one of the Court’s Friday weddings. HEC-TV filmed a recent ceremony for a special feature on courthouse nuptials.

here seems to be an endless source of story ideas for the St. Louis media when it comes to Circuit Court. Of course, high profile

criminal and civil trials will have journalists hovering around the courtrooms but lesser-known corners of the courthouse see their share of attention too. “A big part of this job is making the public aware of all that we do, like the drug court program or the neighborhood accountability boards,” says Public Information Officer Matt Murphy. “But every once in a while someone comes to us with an idea for a story we hadn’t thought of.” Such was the case when Aaron Mermelstein, a producer with HEC-TV, asked if he could spend a Friday afternoon videotaping wedding ceremonies. “A friend who got married there at the courthouse told me it was so cool and so interesting and so much fun that she thought I ought to do the story. In the 30-plus years I've been doing television here, I've never done this particular story and have never seen it done by anybody else.” Two Fridays a month couples line up on the 4th Floor to have a judge send them off into marital bliss and 34 couples tied the knot the day Mermelstein videotaped. The result was a five-minute piece on “It’s A St. Louis Thing,” an informative feature regularly shown on the Higher Education Channel (HEC-TV) that spotlights unusual or little-known places and customs around the St. Louis area.

What is clear from watching Mermelstein’s story is that the courthouse nuptials may not be as fancy or as traditional as many weddings, but they are not cookie-cutter ceremonies either and are deeply personal to the people involved. That’s what grabbed Mermelstein’s attention. “The judge was very impressive. She knew she wasn't just reading the words. She was performing each ceremony specifically for the one couple standing in front of her, not to the five who just went or the twenty-five that were still waiting. She never lost sight of the fact that she was communicating with two people only. And the people getting married were definitely interesting and touching, and occasionally amusing to watch.”

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Click below to watch the feature

http://www.hectv.org/search/?q=weddings

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spotspotspotllliiightghtght

The architect who designed the decorative lighting for numerous landmarks around St. Louis calls the Civil Courts Building project his favorite. The Gateway Foundation, which funds artistic endeavors throughout the metropolitan area, first began commissioning lighting experts in the 1990s. The Old Courthouse, Compton Hill Water Tower, History Museum, Christ Church Cathedral and Civil Courts Building were all done by Tom Kaczkowski of the HOK Lighting Group. “There’s a simplicity to the building, to the way the architecture is organized and set up. I really, really like it.” Whereas many buildings seem to vanish under the night sky, distinctive and colorful lighting has turned the Civil Courts Building into a focal point in downtown St. Louis - something people remember and talk about. “Whether the building is blue or green or red, that was designed knowing that it is a civic building. When the Cardinals have opening day, for instance, the building gets turned red. When the Rams or the Blues play it goes blue and that was all planned,” Kaczkowski says. It took two years to design and install all the light fixtures and Kaczkowski’s team spent countless hours in and around the building analyzing every part of the structure. “It’s a composition. You have to imagine it dark and then paint some light over here and paint some light over there. You’re affecting how people view and experience the architecture when you add light.”

Lighting design and photography courtesy of HOK Lighting Group, St Louis.

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A Publication of St. Louis Circuit Court

Next Issue - December, 2011

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B e n c h P r e s s

22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri