Valley residents gather to meet their judges

PALMER -- Inquiring citizens were able to ask questions on legal issues they find confounding at Monday's Meet the Judges forum in the Palmer Courthouse -- everything from why suspended time is held over an offender's head to why the system seems gender-biased in domestic cases.

Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Dana Fabe fielded questions from an audience seated in the courthouse corridor. The questions were written on index cards handed to Fabe, who asked the audience to phrase their questions in general rather than asking about specific court cases judges are barred from discussing.

The panel was made up of Palmer Superior Court Judges Beverly Cutler and Eric Smith; District Court Judge Suzanne Lombardi and Magistrate David Zwink; Wendy Lyford, court administrator of the Third Judicial District; Palmer Clerk Jackie Allen; and Stephanie Cole, state administrator for the Alaska Court System.

On the question of why judges use suspended jail time in sentencing, Cutler said it is used to discourage the person from reoffending if he or she knows a new offense would cause even more additional jail time.

Zwink said he uses it to encourage a person to change his or her behavior, particularly in domestic violence and alcohol-related incidents.

"It's a question of how much punishment needs to be involved, or does that person need treatment," Zwink said. "We look at each case individually rather than as a system of strict automatics."

Another set of questions dealt with how restraining orders work, and why do they seem to favor the person who takes one out even if both sides of the story are unknown to the judge.

Smith said judges recognize they have an obligation to avail themselves of all possible facts in the matter. "Our system is set up to protect the victims. Victims are placed in a powerless position and now we have laws that give them more power. Yet, the system also gives the other side a chance to say this just didn't happen," Smith said.

"If the other side wants to dispute the 20-day restraining order, which is the first part of the process, by law we have to hear from them within three days of the order. And we find a place on the calendar for them," Lombardi said.

Another questioner wanted to know what the Palmer Court intends to do about the double pre-empting of judges that happens in Valley cases. There are only two Superior Court judges available to hear felony cases in Palmer, and if both the defense and the prosecution exercise their power to pre-empt those judges, the case goes to an Anchorage judge for hearing.

"This happens in a number of locations around the state," Lyford said. The Third Judicial District already makes a visiting judge available two weeks a month in Palmer because of the need for additional resources at Palmer's busy courthouse.

The right to pre-empt a judge is a fundamental right for both sides in a case and they do not have to give their reasons, Fabe added.

What can be done about an ineffective defense attorney, another wanted to know.

A person can make a complaint to the Alaska Bar Association, Cole answered. "They have several attorneys who can take complaints and investigate them."

What if someone can't afford an attorney -- do judges discriminate against those who want to handle their own cases?

Increasingly there are more self-help resources available for those who want to file their own motions or handle their own divorces, the panel said. On line, a new site is set up to help: www.state.ak.us/courts/selfhelp.htm or call 264-0581.

Cutler said judges do not discriminate against people who want to handle their own cases, but they need to be aware that their case can be overturned if something is found procedurally wrong in the handling of the case.

The judges also were asked to tell a bit about themselves, why they became judges, what they find most rewarding or dissatisfying about their jobs.

Smith said he was drawn to the public-service side of being a judge. He finds the most useful part of his day to be when he hears cases involving children. "When I meet people in stressful situations and help them work through their problems, that is very satisfying," Smith said.

Cutler, in her 22nd year as a judge, said she enjoyed being a public defender attorney, but really wanted to be the one up there deciding the cases.

The most difficult part of her job involves the larger, underlying ways American society creates its own paradoxes. "We're a permissive society and yet we also push for Draconian rules. Americans believe in giving a person a chance, but also believe in a graduated system of discipline. There are so many contradictions."