THE BRONX COUNTY COURTHOUSE IS 1 BIG MESS!

A "disaster" of an experiment to streamline the Bronx courts has led to a log jam that's delaying justice in hundreds of cases.
The backlog is so severe that the number of felony cases brought to trial annually has plunged by half over the last five years.

A 2004 merger of the criminal courts has crippled the system with delays, scheduling conflicts and overburdened judges, lawyers on all sides say.

"This place is a model of inefficiency. It's different than any other county," said Sam Braverman, a defense lawyer who sits on the board of the Bronx Bar Association.

The clogged courts are putting suspects and victims alike in a holding pattern.

In 2003, the Bronx brought 356 felony cases to trial.

By last year, that number had fallen to just 178, the Office of Court Administration says.

Last year it took on average 733 days to resolve a homicide case by trial in the Bronx - longer than any other borough and far longer than the 628-day citywide average.

Critics blame the mess on the 2004 merger of the Criminal Court, which usually handles arraignments and misdemeanors, and the Supreme Court, which deals with felony cases.

The combined court system was designed by then state Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who thought she could relieve a backlog of misdemeanors by putting them in front of Supreme Court judges who were between big trials.

More misdemeanor cases are getting resolved - but at the expense of felony cases.

"I'm not working less, but I try half the cases I used to," said one Bronx prosecutor who handles major felony trials.

This problem is exacerbated by the 100,000 arrests expected in the Bronx this year - more than ever before, said Anthony Schepis, the borough's executive assistant district attorney.

As of last month, the Bronx DA reported 351 pending homicide cases.

"The bottom line is you want people to have their day in court and justice to be swift one way or the other," said another defense lawyer who sits on the board of the bar association. "People are waiting forever to go to trial."

Just asking judges and lawyers about the merger leads to eye-rolling, sighs and shaking of heads.

Among the issues:

A shortage of judges. When the merger began, there were 48 judges. Now there are 40, and only 20 to 25 are available at any given time because of vacations and required night and weekend shifts, according to a June report from the New York City Bar Association.
The new courthouse. Opened in January 2008 but designed before the merger, the courthouse's inmate elevators can handle only one person at a time, meaning it can take as long as two hours every day to get the prisoners where they need to be.
Big crowds. Having two courts in one building means lots of defendants, jurors and visitors. A long line wraps around the block every morning waiting to get through security.
Long delays. Because of all the holdups, most trials do not start until at least 10:30 a.m. They break for lunch at 1 p.m., start again at 2:30 p.m. and end before 5 p.m.

"There are so many choke points in the system," Braverman said. "In a trial, we're taking 3.5hours of testimony in a day. We should be taking seven hours or at least five. That is what happens in any other county."

Ann Pfau, who serves as chief administrative judge under Kaye's replacement Jonathan Lippman, said she's not ready to call the experiment a failure.

"It's too soon to tell," she said.

Pfau's office said 2009 numbers are getting better. But The News found that 122 felony cases had been brought to trial by mid-August, on pace to improve only slightly over last year.

"These numbers reflect a bottom," Pfau said. "The statistics are the statistics. But before we just go adding judges or other staff, I'd rather improve the model and see what resources we can use to make it better."

Her office plans to put out a report this month spelling out the problems and ordering solutions.

Several lawyers and judges praised Justice Efrain Alvarado, who took over as the Bronx's chief administrative judge in May, for making improvements, including giving one employee the sole responsibility to locate inmates in the building.

"The merger is a total mess," said one judge who often tries high-profile cases that don't get started until 11 a.m. "We can't function like this."