The Mississippi Supreme Court issued the following statement.
Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph on Aug. 4
appointed four temporary special judges to assist the Hinds Circuit
Court.
Temporary special judge appointments include retired Circuit Judge
Isadore W. Patrick Jr. of Vicksburg, retired Circuit Judge Betty
W. Sanders of Greenwood, retired Supreme Court Justice David A.
Chandler of Louisville and retired Supreme Court Justice Jess H.
Dickinson of Madison. Justice Dickinson also was appointed last week to
assist the Hinds County Court.
Chief Justice Randolph said in the special judge appointment orders,
“Before the Chief Justice and the four ( 4) circuit court judges
of the Seventh Circuit Court District of Mississippi is the judges’
need for the appointment of four ( 4) special judges to assist in timely
handling the unforeseen consequences and workload proximately caused
and/or contributed to by COVID 19. The Seventh
Circuit District is the most populous single Circuit Court District. It
has the largest number of positive coronavirus test results and the
largest number of deaths in the State of Mississippi at this time.”
The special judge appointments are temporary; special judges will serve
through Dec. 30. Case assignments will be made by Hinds Senior
Circuit Judge Tommie Green after consultation with the district’s other
three circuit judges.
With the temporary special judge appointments made on Aug. 4, a total
of eight retired judges have been appointed in recent days
to assist the courts of Hinds County. Justice Dickinson was previously
appointed to assist Hinds County Court at the request of Judge Johnnie
McDaniels. Resident Jurist and former Adams County Court Judge John N.
Hudson of Natchez was appointed to assist recently
appointed Hinds County Court Judge Carlyn M. Hicks in Youth Court, at
her request. Former Hinds County Court Judge James D. Bell of Jackson
was appointed to assist Hinds County Court Judge LaRita Cooper-Stokes,
at her request. Retired Hinds County Chancery
Judges Patricia D. Wise of Jackson and William H. Singletary of Clinton
were appointed to assist the four chancellors of the Hinds Chancery
Court at the request of Senior Chancellor Denise Owens.
Special judges also have been appointed temporarily to assist the 8th Circuit Court in Leake, Neshoba, Newton and Scott
counties; the 16th Chancery Court in Jackson, George and Green counties; the 21st
Circuit Court in Holmes, Humphreys and Yazoo counties; and in the
Warren County Court. More special judge appointments are expected, as
other judges around
the state have requested special judge appointments to assist with the
backlog of cases which resulted from COVID-19.
Chief Justice Randolph said that COVID-19 has presented a multitude of
challenges to the prompt and efficient administration of justice.
The disruption caused by COVID-19 required an untold number of
continuances since it was declared a national emergency on March 13. It
is estimated that as many as 30,000 cases may have been affected.
The Mississippi Legislature appropriated $2.5 million of CARES Act
money to assist the courts. Special judges to be appointed around
the state will be paid with CARES Act funds which will be available
through Dec. 30, 2020.
The special judge appointees are senior status judges, retired judges
who have agreed to accept appointments by the Supreme Court.
A total of 70 retired judges make up the state’s senior status judges.
They include retirees from all levels of the state court system: Supreme
Court, Court of Appeals, Chancery Courts, Circuit Court and County
Courts.
Judge Patrick retired in December 2018 after serving 29 ½ years as a
Circuit Judge of the Ninth Judicial District of Warren, Sharkey
and Issaquena counties. He served on the Mississippi Public Defender
Task Force and the Bar Complaint Tribunal. Before he was elected to the
bench in June 1989, he served for more than eight years as an assistant
district attorney in the Ninth Judicial District.
With a degree in mathematics, he worked for IBM before he earned a law
degree.
Judge Sanders retired in December 2014 after 25 years of judicial
service. She served for 20 years as a Circuit Judge of the 4th
Circuit District of Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties. She
previously served for five years by appointment as a special magistrate
hearing cases filed by prisoners at the Mississippi State Penitentiary
at Parchman. She helped establish a Drug Court
for the 4th Circuit in June 2002, a time when only two other drug
courts were operating in the state. She served on the State Drug Court
Advisory Committee and as president of the Mississippi Association of
Drug Court Professionals. She was chair, vice-chair
and secretary-treasurer of the Conference of Circuit Judges. She served
on the Commission on Judicial Performance, the Mississippi Model Jury
Instructions Commission, the Complaint Tribunal and Ethics Committee of
the Mississippi Bar, as a member of the
Board of Directors of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project and as
secretary of the Magnolia Bar Association.
Justice Chandler served for almost seven years on the Mississippi
Supreme Court. He left the Supreme Court in December 2015 to lead
the Department of Child Protection Services. He retired as Commissioner
of Child Protection Services in September 2017. Chandler served for
eight years on the Mississippi Court of Appeals before he was elected to
the Supreme Court. He also served for two
years as Municipal Judge of Weir. He earned a Ph.D. in education before
earning a law degree. He spent the first 20 years of his career as an
educator and school administrator. He was a teacher, counselor, school
psychometrist and administrator with Choctaw
County public schools for about 10 years. He then served as a research
and curriculum specialist at Mississippi State University, where he
directed curriculum development to provide a more skilled work force.
Justice Dickinson served on the Mississippi Supreme Court from January
2004 until September 2017. He was a founding member of
the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, and served as the
Supreme Court's liaison to organizations providing legal services to the
poor. He left the Supreme Court to become Commissioner of the
Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services. He
retired from Child Protection Services this past January. Before he
joined the Supreme Court, he served for a year by special appointment as
a circuit judge for the 12th Circuit District of Forrest and
Perry counties. He taught evidence and trial
practice as an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law
for many years. Before his election to the bench, he practiced law for
more than 20 years, mostly on the Gulf Coast.
16 comments:
Three good selections-
Now they can cut the accused criminals loose twice as fast!
Attn 3:44. Cut them loose from what? They don’t seem to ever put them in.
Judge is given money to spend - something that normally stays in either the Executive or the Legislative branch of government.
Got money to spend, gotta do something with it, so why not give my buddies and former associates a little lagniappe?
there is so much more to this story
Now, we need 6 new employees at JPD to man the evidence room, 6 additional district attorneys with investigators, and 6 additional public defenders with investigators.
How will more judges help the problem? How will they indict cases, get evidence to the district attorneys and public defenders, and effectively prosecute/defend cases?
Or, is speedy trial going to be enforced? Inquiring minds want to know, Kingfish.
Where's the money coming from to pay all these judges? What's not gonna get done instead?
Not that I disagree, but I want to know the impact.
The Legislature allocated the Supreme Court $2.5 million from CARES Act to assist with cases delayed because of COVID-19.
If these honorable judges can hear and dispose of more cases than her Hon. Tommie Green, I am for it. She got to be the Chief just because of elections, certainly not for her expediency.
I've noticed how often the poors bellyache when they aren't the benefit of powerful connections. But you wouldn't hear a complaint if they a part of the spheres of imperium.
5:09 - Judges, DAs, and Assistant DAs are paid by the state.
I just love my fellow commenters, if we were given $10,000 we’d bitch about that!
Reckon we can get the feds to send a district judge or two down to help for Henry T move his docket?
8:11 p.m. Why am I only getting $20k? I want more. That sucks.
I suspect these judges will focus on civil cases while the active judges give priority to the criminal docket.
Nice retort, 8:11.
It's probable that the Supremes are hunting more than one bird, and took advantage of the opportunity to send a message to the Hinds County judiciary.
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