Could you kindly provide some insights regarding the concept of conducting criminal trials through a docket system? In the past, the court proceedings we witnessed were captivating, demonstrating to the citizens of this wonderful city that justice prevails. However, I am currently disheartened by the apparent absence of enthusiasm to utilise the courtroom as a platform for people to voice their innocence.
Is there a plan for the Judicial Branch to reopen the courtroom? Could you kindly offer an explanation as to why the citizens of Los Santos are being denied the opportunity to have their day in court?
San Andreas Judicial Branch Public Inquiry - OJ Wood "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW"
Mr. Wood,
To begin, I thank you for posting this public inquiry. As we said in the Press Release #19"We believe this new system will assist us in reducing our backlog and hopefully within the next couple of months, eliminate it completely." That is the main reason we implemented the docket trial system.
For over a year now the judicial branch has struggled to reduce our backlog and conclude cases as fast as they were coming in. Before we made the decision to move to this system. we implemented numerous things to help reduce it, mainly the abolishment of hearings, both discovery and motion hearings. This change helped as we would only need to schedule a trial as opposed to multiple hearings and a trial. However this didn't help enough to get the backlog down.
We also do not plan to keep this system in play as it is right now. Once we hopefully clear out the backlog in its entirety, we plan to put in place restrictions that allow most cases to go to an in person trial however as it currently stands we plan to make most trials take place on the docket until we get our backlog under control. Once again as we stated in our release, "While we understand that this new system will take away some of the public's opportunity to see firsthand the work of our court system through the use of public trials, we believe this system will be crucial to the success of our judiciary"
Finally, you stated, "Could you kindly offer an explanation as to why the citizens of Los Santos are being denied the opportunity to have their day in court?" They are not being denied their constitutional right in any way as the constitution states, "In all criminal trials brought forth by or too the San Andreas Judicial Branch, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial" The docket trials are and always will be public, the public has the opportunity to view them as they happen in real time. The main focus of this new system is to made sure we adhere to the 6th amendment as they have the right to a speedy trial as well.
We understand that the docket trial system is not a popular one, and it was not an easy one to make, as it takes away the opportunity for citizens to gather and watch justice prevail. However this is only temporary and we fully intent to open the courtroom doors once again once we are in the right position to do so.
Respectfully,
Associate Justice
San Andreas Judicial Branch
(909) 402-9713 — [email protected]
