Palmer Court to hire new magistrate

PALMER — Valley population growth has lead to infrastructure increases, and among the places seeking to beef up capacity is the Palmer Courthouse.

Court officials said they were looking to add an additional magistrate judge to reduce the caseload on the three existing circuit court judges and magistrate/master. Those case increases are caused in part by skyrocketing population, and also by an additional load caused in part by the presence of Goose Creek Correctional Facility, said Superior Court Judge Vanessa White.

“Between our exponential growth and the realities that come with having the prison in the valley, our caseload is increasing all the time,” she said. “I like to say we’re the biggest little courthouse in the state.”

Funds for the new magistrate/master position — magistrate is a title given to presiding officials in minor criminal proceedings while master is the title given a presiding official in a minor civil proceedings — will come from the existing court budget, White said.

In addition to changing the number of available court judges, the courthouse also has begun offering after-hours and weekend sessions designed to minimize the impact of legal proceedings on, for example, commuters from Anchorage, according to White. Officials call this the “community court” model, aimed at handling mostly minor cases such as small claims cases and traffic court.

“All of these kinds of things are done in a non-traditional schedule,” she said.

Court officials want to continue to offer those services, in part because they’ve been well-received by the community, White said.

“We have just gotten nothing but positive feedback on the community court model,” she said.

The increased capacity in the form of a new magistrate, as well as the non-traditional hours, could reduce or eliminate administrative delays in court cases without the media splash of criminal convictions, but just as serious consequences for those involved, like child custody cases.

“Cases aren’t getting scheduled as promptly,” she said. “For example, I might get a motion to modify child custody. But because the magistrate is so booked up, it might be two months before a hearing.”

“We don’t want them to be in limbo for a month at a time,” White added. “We want to free up time so the magistrate judge can hear those cases.”

Department of Corrections officials said any increase in cases stemming from Goose Creek was unanticipated, largely because the prison is not an intake facility, but instead a long-term incarceration facility.

The increased caseload from the prisons possibly stems from inmates challenging conditions faced in incarceration, said Department of Law Divisions correction director John Skidmore. He offered examples of an inmate believing their cell had been searched improperly, or an inmate feeling as though their religious liberties had been impugned.

“There is an (Department of Corrections) administrative process to file a grievance,” he said. “For any administrative action, there is potentially always legal action. Some of these cases do make their way into the state court system.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.