Humboldt Superior Court exceptions and impact on Marsy's law and transparency

Both the Jason Warren case and the  Gary Lee Bullock cases have gag orders. Several of the last court hearings have occurred in a closed courtroom. There are last minute changes on dates and no information is available.

Several lawyers who have practiced elsewhere in California and other states have mentioned to me that the intervention hearings at 3 p.m. in a closed courtroom are a Humboldt exception.

Clerks, attorneys and Visiting Judges, who are not local, express surprise on what should be known as the Humboldt Superior Court exceptions, one such example is the way pleas are taken and another example is how warrants are held for one or two court hearings.

There are some matters that are confidential, and by law, held in a closed courtroom such as a Marsden hearing. Dates and whether a Judge is being assigned is not confidential. To make matters worse, motions and other reports, normally held in an open courtroom get discussed during a Marsden hearing or similar situation in a closed courtroom, as they have been in the Jeremy Kish case. Similar situation has happened in the Jason Warren and Gary Lee Bullock case. The Jason Warren case has gone on for three years and the Gary Lee Bullock case for almost two years. The court should be closed for confidential information but reopened to discuss matters normally heard in open court.

Some of this is probably done because the calendars are jam packed on some days.

Court minutes in Humboldt and what is entered in the computer is often so cryptic, it is hard to get timely information.Files often are with a Judge or a clerk so one cannot have access for days. Humboldt County Superior Court Interim CEO Mike Tozzi should sit down with staff and the Judges and look at possible solutions.

The post on the Jason Warren case and the letter the family members of the victims in that case had to write illustrates the dilemma that family members of victims are put in by these Humboldt exceptions. A gag order in these high profile cases is a good thing to ensure defendant's rights and integrity of jury pools but it is not needed in every homicide case. In Humboldt, it is overused, mostly by Public Defenders.

The situations in the Bullock and Warren cases put Marsy's law, the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act that was passed in 2008, the freedom of the press and the community's right to transparency in competition with a gag order. And if there is a gag order, Judges in cases like the Jason Warren and Gary Lee Bullock case need to state certain information such as dates and whether there will be a continuance or lack of a Judge in an open courtroom.

Not having enough Judges also impacts a defendant's right to have a timely preliminary hearing or jury trial. If you are in jail, that is a big deal. The State keeps cutting funding but expects the criminal justice system to function on overload. As taxpayers, there should be pressure on the State to find solutions instead of basically saying to defendants, victims, their families and those who work in the criminal justice system, tough luck.

And if money is an issue, cut some management positions and put that money to pay those are in the front line and to make sure defendants and victims' interests rights are safeguarded.