By Evelyn Pyburn

Yellowstone County has a new addition to its judicial system – -a new court that focuses upon arraignments. It is being operated in the county department of Justices of the Peace. Judge Jeanne Walker and Judge David Carter have been presiding over the court for about a month.

Creating an arraignment court is part of improving and making more efficient the process of adjudicating criminals, which is a necessity in making the new short-term detention facility functional, according to Justice of the Peace Carter, who has spent the past year or more leading the process of developing and establishing the court.

The short-term detention facility is a city-county project in the process of being built next to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, which is expected to be completed late this fall. It is viewed as a solution to the over-crowded jail that serves Yellowstone County. It will enable law enforcement to arrest and hold those perpetrating offenses who, in the past, law enforcement has not been able to arrest because of having no place to hold them

The concept of an arraignment court – this will be the first one in Montana – emerged from Yellowstone County’s  10-person committee that was appointed two years ago to look at the entire justice system and the new jail proposal for the county and City of Billings, to develop a more efficient and economical system. An arraignment court was viewed as essential to the process of making the short -term detention facility function well.

So far arraignment court has gone well, said Carter. They have focused on working out the wrinkles. “There will probably be changes,” said Carter, but so far it’s been pretty smooth. “We are building something,” he said, “Until you start doing it you are not quite sure how it will work.”

Arraignment court will be held at 2:30 pm every day, Monday through Friday.

An arraignment is usually a felony or misdemeanor defendant’s first court appearance after arrest. During the arraignment, a defendant is formally advised of the criminal charges against him, informed of their rights, and asked to enter a plea to the charges, and often a public defender is appointed. The court also looks at the defendant’s history, and decides whether the defendant will be released pending trial, whether they must wear an ankle bracelet and bond is set.

A public defender stands with the defendant during the process to explain and advise about the proceedings.

The judge goes through a process of sorting out the charges against a defendant in accordance with state laws or local ordinances, looking at their criminal record and determining, if there are other outstanding charges, misdemeanors or felons.

Most of the time a defendant has other outstanding charges against them, perhaps in more than one court, explained Judge Carter. During arraignment court the judge gives them a schedule of not only their next court appearance on the current charge, but also other pending court appearances and dates at which they are required to appear.

According to Judge Carter, missing court dates is the most common infraction for which other charges are often made. “It gets to be a revolving door,” he said, underscoring that their goal is “to get the people who don’t need to be in jail out, or to make sure they are in jail for the right period of time – – and to do that correctly — more efficiently and elegantly and timely.” Court hearing dates can be complicated, he said, and overwhelming for people who sometimes have many other unfortunate things happening in their lives.

Currently, the defendants appear in arraignment court via video from the Yellowstone County Detention Facility (YCDF), with the court room located in the County Courthouse. Asked if that will continue to be the model, Judge Carter said it is not considered best practices. Ideally, he believes, arraignment court should be held at the YCDF.

Whether that will be included for the plans of a new addition to the YCDF, he isn’t sure. The county has to authorize that, he said, adding, “There has been discussions, and support expressed. But there is no room currently.”

The process of being prepared for their first court appearance is far more complicated than it might appear. It takes a staff of knowledgeable and trained people to prepare the case – to gather all the documents pertaining to other outstanding charges and their status, and to check on the defendant’s record, family and criminal record. The first half of the day on court days is spent by staff preparing all the necessary information and documentation for the judge. Some are on the job at 6 a.m.

Starting an arraignment court required the hiring of 1.5 FTEs (employees) said Carter, pointing out however that much of the work involved is being absorbed into by the existing Justice Court staff. While $45,000 has been set aside in the budget for the arraignment court, it is just there in case they discover a need for it.

Right now there are five people in Justice Court dedicated to pre- trial services. “It is more expansive than just arraignment court,” explained Judge Carter. “We have other programs for pre- trial services.” Four of the five staff members have been trained for arraignment court, but they also have secondary duties. “It is very hard,” said Judge Carter, “But we are building on that and will evolve.”

In the long term – which essentially means when most of the county’s administration offices move into the county’s new administration building, and the Courthouse has been remodeled as exclusively a court house – Justice Court anticipates requesting another Justice of the Peace. An additional Justice of the Peace would be welcomed, said Judge Carter.

The challenges before Yellowstone County’s judicial system are significant and so will be the challenges to the arraignment court which will not only be serving a justice court with the largest case load in the state, but also a district court with the largest case load in the state, and a city with the largest municipal court case load in the state. They haven’t taken on the arraignments for the city municipal court yet because that court is quite literally in the process of moving to the new city hall.

The arraignment court expects to assume their case load in May.