Our Own Little Part to Help with the case backlog at the Municipal Court

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-munycourt_10met.ART0.Central.Edition1.298e02b.html

According to the DMN, the City of Dallas Municipal Courts are full.  Full and overflowing.  The City implemented a new "proof or plea"court.  Meaning, the defendant could bring in proof of innocence (like a driver's license for driving-without-a-license ticket) or plead guilty.  I guess the only difference between this special court and regular courts is that in the "proof or plea" court, there are no trials.  According to the article, the backlog is improving the length of time pending trial, but it is causing more paperwork for the defense attorneys.

I am the co-chair for the Aid to the Homeless Committee of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers.  We organize a Municipal Community Court for the Homeless twice a year.  At this Court, the individuals are sentenced to community service instead to be preformed that very day under the supervision of the Stewpot.  This month, we had well over 400 homeless people apply to participate in the program.  With 1-10 tickets per person, even a low turn out rate of 50% would alleviate 200-2000 tickets for the Municipal Courts.  One could say that we are doing our own little part to help the case backlog on Main Avenue.

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Adrienne Dunn is a Criminal Defense Lawyer in Dallas, for more information, please visit http://www.dunncriminallaw.com/