Anyone think the judge can do this? [For example, how do you appoint a lawyer to a case with a missing defendant?]

Court-at-law judge clashes with DA as he leaves the bench

Web Posted: 12/29/2006 11:00 PM CST

Maro Robbins
Express-News
On Friday, the final day of the year for courthouse business, the question hanging over County Court-at-Law No. 6 was this: Should old cases be forgotten?
Asked without any of the warmth of Auld Lang Syne, the inquiry provoked perhaps 2006's final squabble in the Bexar County courthouse.

In a nutshell, Court 6's lame-duck judge Phil Meyer's attempt to burnish his campaign-battered reputation collided with District Attorney Susan Reed's aversion for dropping even old, minor cases.

Caught in the spat were about 300 misdemeanor indictments that had sat dormant for years until, the judge said, they came to his attention days before Christmas.

Meyer said that as he was cleaning out his office to make room for his successor, a clerk showed him the drawers crowded with files that long had been idle ? largely because the defendants were fugitives or never had been arrested.

Many ? maybe most ? could be dismissed because the delays violated the defendants' rights to speedy trials. Meyers saw an opportunity to trim the caseload and, in the process, answer campaign criticisms that he had let his docket grow too large.

"This is an attempt to show I was a hard worker and I did my job and I would do it again if elected again in the future and I was not afraid to do difficult things," he said.

He appointed six attorneys ? all friends or supporters ? to weed through his files and look for cases that had grown overripe. As a result, prosecutors said, nearly 300 motions to dismiss were filed.

The judge also called the district attorney's office to let prosecutors know he wanted to review the cases. Meyer said that to give both sides time to prepare, he suggested Friday, his last day in office.

Bulk dismissals of old cases used to be common in the courthouse until four years ago, when a WOAI-TV report questioned the practice and judges stopped doing it, at least on a large scale.

It didn't help Meyer's cause that his last-minute timing and appointment of allies raised suspicions of political patronage.

At the standard fee of $100, the cases could add up to a considerable sum. For example, one attorney appointed to about 120 cases stood to earn about $12,000, although Meyer said fees hadn't been determined.

Meyer said his motives were pure; he wanted experienced attorneys and his choices were limited to lawyers he could reach days before Christmas, namely friends.

Whatever the legal fees, Meyer and other court officials insist it would be more expensive to wait until each individual defendant crosses paths with police, gets arrested for an outstanding warrant and then spends a night in the perpetually crowded jail ? only to reach the same result.

The district attorney was unconvinced. As Reed described them, aging cases don't cost anything; they simply take up file space.

The money aside, she said, bulk dismissals would send the wrong message: If scofflaws elude arrest long enough, their cases will evaporate.

"That's not the way I think," Reed said. "At some point you've to get your body into court and be held accountable."

Reed answered the motions to dismiss with some 300 objections, calling Meyer's conduct improper and irresponsible.

Copies of her objections piled up in Court 6 on Friday morning. As three clerks busily filed the documents, one sat in the judge's vacated office, folders stacked about a foot high on the desk.

The incoming judge, Ray Olivarri, said he'd probably handle the cases individually, instead of dismissing them by the dozen, but he wasn't sure what the lawyers should be paid.

The new judge has time to consider the question. Shortly before 5 p.m., when Olivarri stopped by the office, the desk was bare, the files apparently back in their drawers.

Is your question: Can an attorney file a motion on behalf of a client he has never met?

Or perhaps, can the court appoint an attorney on the assumption that the defendant is indigent?

Do I correctly understand that the outgoing judge merely started the process, but did not actually sign any dismissals himself? That is sure one fine way of passing the buck.