THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Some routine but crucial tasks seemingly have not been performed by the Portsmouth Circuit Court clerk's office.
State Supreme Court examiner Paul DeLosh is reviewing procedures in the clerk's office. So extensive are the problems he's uncovered that he has had to bring in assistants for the first time in his three years of reviewing clerks' offices.
He has found court papers on the floor instead of in case-file folders. He said some clerks did not understand how to properly conclude cases in the computer system that relays information to the state Supreme Court. As a result, 3,000 cases that should have been closed out by the clerks were listed as pending.
DeLosh noted flawed procedures for providing access to case files. Worse, some important papers have been received without having the date of receipt marked on them. With no receipt date to show legal deadlines have been met, papers can't be used in court.
Staff writer Angelita Plemmer reported Tuesday that two Portsmouth Circuit Court judges said they have been forced to dismiss at least three felony cases, all involving drugs, and to delay other serious cases, as a result of errors by the clerk's office. Also, some civil cases reportedly have been affected by errors in the clerk's office.
Circuit Court Clerk Walter M. ``Square'' Edmonds, an elected official, is in charge of the office. Regarding the judges' statement that three felony cases had been dismissed because of errors by the clerk's office, Edmonds said, ``Three times out of thousands and thousands of cases. . . I don't understand why it's a big problem. They've got more (cases) on the docket that are pending than (cases) that should have been dismissed.''
Edmonds blamed one clerk for failing to correctly close cases in the computer. That clerk, however, has been with the office more than a decade, ample time for training by Edmonds.
Examiner Delosh started his clerk's office review in mid-February. The review could last six months or more. Already he seems to have hit on a key point: Staff training, he said, is inadequate.
The responsibility for training rests with the top guy, Edmonds, 62, who in November was elected to his third eight-year term. The job pays well: $87,402 a year. Edmonds owes it to his only bosses, Portsmouth voters, to set his office right. He should be moving heaven and earth to ensure that his workers know how to do their jobs. The judges and prosecutors can't do their jobs unless the clerk's office properly dates and files court papers. by CNB