Prosecutor asks judges to assign cases faster

CLEVELAND (AP) — A prosecutor in Ohio’s most populous county has asked judges to help speed up its sluggish criminal justice system by changing the way cases are assigned.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason wants criminal cases to be assigned to judges when defendants are charged, instead of weeks later at arraignment.

The judge in each case oversees the sharing of witness statements, police reports and other evidence between the prosecution and defense, so an earlier assignment could speed up that process. That could decrease the time it takes to reach a plea deal or send a suspect into drug treatment.

Mason has asked common pleas judges to approve the switch by amending criminal case rules.

It would build on the success of other pilot reforms that have expedited cases, he said.

“We’re striving to make the system as efficient as possible,” he said. “But the current rules don’t reflect the progress we’ve already made. So we can either adhere to the old way of doing things around here, or we can do it better.”

Many of the ongoing reforms stem from a plan developed in 2005 by the Denver-based Justice Management Institute to help the county fix its cumbersome criminal justice system.

The court is beginning to expand one program, in which Mason restructured some of his prosecutors’ assignments to minimize the number of cases being bounced between different staff members.

The prosecutors were assigned to handle cases from a specific geographic area and to work on a designated floor, instead of rotating. They also set aside a space for video conferences and lawyers’ meetings, removing pretrial discussions from crowded bailiffs’ offices.