The interim Public Defender for Scotts Bluff County says he believes there are ways to help improve the efficiency of court case progression and save money for the county.
The Board of Commissioners last month agreed to move $110,000 from a general fund contingency line item to the county court, in part to help pay for court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants.
Addressing the board last week, interim Public Defender Michael Meister said a key would be a change in the handling of court documents, especially police reports. “It’s kind of important to get us that police report early, because that tells us right out of the chute, is this is a case we need a preliminary hearing, that the evidence is not good. Or is it a case where we can waive the preliminary hearing, move right into arraignment, and possibly even start talking on some kind of plea discussion with County Attorney at that point.
He estimated that such a change could save each department involved in handling criminal cases up to six man-hours per case.
Meister believes with some incremental changes, completion of misdemeanor cases could drop from about 45 days to less than 30, and the time for felony cases could fall from more than 130 to 100 days or less.
