Judge defends judiciary after O'Malley criticism
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By Thomas W. Waldron
Sun Staff
The chief judge of Maryland's District Court defended her role in
efforts to reform Baltimore's court system, labeling recent criticisms
by Mayor Martin O'Malley as "offensive."
"The implication is that judges don't care about Baltimore City," a
clearly piqued Judge Martha F. Rasin told a Senate subcommittee
yesterday in Annapolis. "I take offense at that. We care about the city
as much, if not more, than other people."
Rasin was responding to biting comments O'Malley has made in
Annapolis and Baltimore in recent weeks questioning the judges'
commitment to major reform.
O'Malley also upset top judges this week with the release of his plan to
overhaul the city court system -- a plan that included stick figures
designed to show his idea in the simplest of terms.
The mayor is hoping to substantially change the way the beleaguered
court system operates, with the goal to dispose of half of all criminal
cases within 24 hours to allow the system to give more attention to the
most serious ones.
In particular, O'Malley has been at odds with Rasin and other top
judges over their reluctance to open a courtroom in the city's central
booking facility up to seven days a week.
But Rasin told the subcommittee that O'Malley's reform plan lacked
important details. She said the mayor does not define which cases are
"trivial" and worthy of quick resolution.
"If someone breaks into your car, that is not a trivial case to you,"
Rasin said.
Rasin told legislators that it's not the judiciary's place to embrace the
mayor's "zero-tolerance" crime-control efforts. Rather, she said, judges
are charged with giving every defendant a fair hearing in an impartial
setting.
"I'm worried about people's rights. I'm worried about our integrity,"
Rasin said. "I can't say that I will accept pleas in 50 percent of the
cases.
"We need to find a use for that courtroom so it's not public safety's
courtroom or the mayor's courtroom," Rasin added. "It's the District
Court's courtroom."
After yesterday's three-hour hearing, key legislators said they had little
sympathy for Rasin and other top judges in the state, noting that
O'Malley is trying to shake up a system with many problems.
"She has misread the political urgency of this," said Sen. Gloria G.
Lawlah, a Prince George's County Democrat who heads the budget
subcommittee. "We all do some grandstanding, but it's going to take
this to bring these two together."
Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, chairwoman of the Senate budget
committee and a strong O'Malley supporter during last year's mayoral
election, concurred.
"Too bad," said Hoffman, a Baltimore Democrat, when told about
Rasin's comments. "We can't have such thin skins. Everybody's at
fault in this one.
"The mayor may have been intemperate, but he was speaking for the
people, who are feeling intemperate," Hoffman said.
The General Assembly has withheld nearly $9 million from the budgets
of the judiciary and other public safety agencies as a way to force
their cooperation in reform efforts in Baltimore.
That money may be released in coming weeks, legislators said, but the
Assembly will likely put restrictions on the judiciary's budget for next
year to ensure further cooperation.
Legislators are considering giving all parties involved in court reform
until Sept. 1 to develop a firm plan for expanding the operation of the
courtroom at the central booking facility.
"I think [the deadline is] a marvelous idea," Rasin said. "I think it needs
to come off dead center."
But O'Malley said studying the issue until September was not
necessary.
"It's more of the same," O'Malley said. "I think there's a greater
urgency than that."
Rasin is not alone in raising questions about O'Malley's plan. LaMont
W. Flanagan, the commissioner of state pretrial detention and services
who oversees the city jail, said he, too, has questions.
In particular, Flanagan said he worries about a part of the plan that
appears to diminish the role of court commissioners, who often free
defendants on their own recognizance soon after their arrest.
Flanagan said he feared that under the mayor's plan, many defendants
could spend more time in jail waiting to see a judge instead of a
commissioner.
Sun staff writer Caitlin Francke contributed to this article.
Originally published on Mar 1 2000