Request made for judge : Overloaded Palmer court asks for additional staff

PALMER -- Palmer Superior Court saw a 12-percent increase in caseloads in 2001, while Palmer District Court cases increased by 21 percent, according to figures recently released by the Alaska Court System.

The Alaska Court System Annual Report tallied 14,587 cases in Palmer District Court alone. The previous year saw 12,061 cases, an increase of 2,500. Superior Court processed 1,400, an increase over the previous year's 1,245 cases.

"I knew we were busy," said Jackie Allen, clerk of court, after she heard the new numbers. "A lot of the cases will be traffic offenses, which don't take as much time as a murder case, for example. But we are the fastest-growing borough in the state and the [court] statistics are going to reflect that."

Currently, 18 clerks handle all civil and criminal files related to the cases. Palmer clerks have the highest workload of any courthouse in the state, said Wendy Lyford, administrator of the Third Judicial District, which includes Palmer.

The Alaska Court System has asked the state Legislature for a specific appropriation of $218,800 to fund a new district judgeship and two clerk positions, Lyford said. "We've been wanting to get some help to ease the workload in Palmer for some time now," she said.

Allen said it has been a long time since she has been able to add clerk positions.

As it now stands, Magistrate David Zwink and District Judge Suzanne Lombardi do not have a clerk or

a secretary. They type their own orders, Allen said, and her clerks act as their secretaries or clerks when needed.

Each judge handled 3,996.8 cases last year, while in Anchorage, judges individually heard 2,072 cases. The Valley saw an increase of 10.3 percent over last year in that category.

Calculating just the most serious cases -- felony offenses per capita -- the Valley shows a higher rate of crime than Anchorage. One out of every 148 people committed a felony, while in Anchorage that number is one out of every 224 people.

Of the 413 felony cases processed last year in Palmer, 120 were classified as violent -- assault, rape and murder, 66 related to property damage or theft, 30 were fraud/forgery, 145 were drug related, 45 were felony traffic offenses and seven were listed in the "other" category.

Prosecutors have said the Valley has seen a rise in the number of drug arrests, due to new inroads made by methamphetamine lab operators and because of large marijuana-growing operations here. They also handle a large number of alcohol-related offenses, which pushes up the numbers in the drug/alcohol category.

Jack Smith, Palmer assistant district attorney, accepted 54 drug cases in three months, while Anchorage's district attorney office handled 57 in the same period, spread out over three attorneys. Smith is the only drug prosecutor at the Palmer DA office. "About three-quarters of the [Valley] drug cases were for marijuana grows," he said.

Alaska State Trooper Investigator Leonard Wallner, who works on some of the most serious offenses, said the Palmer post has always been a busy detachment.

"I know department-wide, Palmer is head and shoulders over other detachments in all areas across the board. I can't explain that," Wallner said. "Yet I don't feel the Valley is a violent place to live. It's a busy place but not a violent one."

Anchorage has had three homicides this year, Wallner pointed out, while the Valley has had none so far.

Defense attorney Larry Wiggins said he sees alcohol and drug use as being an underlying cause in many Valley court cases. The statistics may show a burglary or a domestic-violence incident, but the crime likely was committed while the person was under the influence.

"People would be amazed, if they went to court and sat there listening to cases all day, how many cases stem from an alcohol-related incident," Wiggins said.

Wiggins said one solution would be to crack down on bartenders who continue to serve people even when they are intoxicated. Another solution would be to require bars to close earlier than 5 a.m., he said.

Palmer Police Chief George Boatright said he isn't surprised to see that Valley crime numbers are high. "As the population grows out here in the Valley we need to really stay on top of the situation so that we don't have a crime wave in the future. If we could get a handle on the alcohol and drug use problem, the rest would fall in line," he said.

"We are very, very busy," said Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak, whose office handled 3,600 new cases last year. "I don't think the Valley has so much of a problem in terms of violent crimes as other places. But I think nowadays, you have to be careful no matter where you live."

Many cases deal with revoked or suspended driver's licenses, Kalytiak said. "If people would be responsible about taking care of those issues, it would free us up for the more serious cases."