Has the exodus from the courts began?

"Marriages and adoptions, those are the only occasions when everyone in the room loves you. Otherwise, you're not very popular at all."



----Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dallas Holmes, to the Press Enterprise





The relationships between development firms and elected officials is being examined by the Press Enterprise in Temecula and Riverside County.


But in Riverside, development projects including high-priced housing and condos continues as the city tries to hold lending institutions accountable through a new ordinance that gets its second reading this week doesn't single out lenders for its enforcement.


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The city of Riverside passed a blight ordinance last week.

"Banks need to maintain property just like everyone else," said Riverside Councilman Frank Schiavone. "They can't just sit vacant and go to hell and let the neighborhood go to hell."



Some people think after the first round of law suits are filed by banks and lending institutions that the city will focus its enforcement not on foreclosed properties but on ones held by property owners. Some individuals spoke against it because there are already ordinances in place that enable code enforcement to act in these cases.





The Press Enterprise again pleads to restore the function of Riverside County's civil court but so far its editorials haven't worked. The civil courts have virtually stopped and the criminal courts are falling even further behind in felony trials, even with the "strike force" judges sent to the region by the state supreme court chief justice.


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Finding solutions to the press of criminal cases will require determining just why the county's courts are so overloaded. Riverside County cannot point to high crime to explain the criminal case bottleneck. Crime statistics from the state attorney general's office show Riverside County's crime rate as broadly comparable to that of other counties, and offer no evidence why Riverside County should struggle to keep up with criminal cases.

And while the number of judges in Riverside County has not kept pace with the county's rapid population growth, other counties in California face the same judicial shortages without stalling civil trials.

San Bernardino County judges, for example, generally have higher caseloads than Riverside County jurists. San Bernardino County judges have faced more filings per judge than Riverside County judges for all but one year since 1999-2000.

Adding judges to the county's roster would help, but will not solve the county's case crunch anytime soon. The Legislature approved 100 new judgeships over the past two years. But California might not see any additional judges next year, given the state's nearly $10 billion budget shortfall.

And more judges require more courtrooms, which poses a financial challenge for a county struggling to find money for a costly jail expansion.

The real solution rests with Riverside County judges and attorneys, who need to cooperate on unclogging the courts. Justice demands a compromise that preserves the courts for all, not just criminals.




This is happening just as another judge, Dallas Homes, hangs up his robe. Bad news for the city because of the growing number of judges including Steve Cunnison and Joan Burgess who have been papered by the city with Gloria Trask sure to follow after her latest decision involving the Friends of the Hills law suit.

Burgess was spanked after she handled the racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation trial involving Officer Roger Sutton, who is Black and was suing the Riverside Police Department. After the $1.64 million verdict was delivered by a jury, Burgess denied the city's motion for a new trial. The city later withdrew its planned appeal.

It's not clear why Cunnison has been papered by the city on several occasions. He's handled the arbitration case involving the city and former Det. Al Kennedy and upheld Kennedy's reinstatement to the department. Kennedy had been fired by Chief Russ Leach after allegedly having sexual relations with a rape victim whose case he had been assigned.

Kennedy was reinstated without back pay after his arbitration hearing, a decision backed by Cunnison. The case is currently at the Court of Appeals.

The city later settled a federal law suit filed by the woman in relation to the case. Cunnison also presided over a criminal case involving a woman who was acquitted two out of three misdemeanors for assaulting a Riverside Police Department officer in 2004. During her sentencing on an obstruction charge, Cunnison allegedly made comments about his evaluation of the level of force used by that officer.

But Holmes last foray with the city was when he had sided with its argument in the law suit filed by Officer Ryan Wilson who wanted Holmes to annul the finding by the Community Police Review Commission that his shooting of Summer Marie Lane violated the department's use of force policy. Holmes said, no you can't have a "name clearing" hearing and have it remain confidential because that's a contradiction in terms.

In a shocking disclosure, Holmes said it's the sad state of the civil court system that has led to his decision to step down after years on the bench.



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"I realized that our civil courts in Riverside County had virtually been destroyed," Holmes said. "I didn't want to be the last one out to turn off the lights."

Riverside County's courts have been in a crisis for the past year. Observers say a combination of too few judges to serve the county's fast-growing population, too many continuance requests from attorneys and a rising tide of criminal-case filings have resulted in an overwhelmed system.

In an interview, Holmes declined to point out any source for the backlog of cases.

"I haven't tried a civil jury trial all year," Holmes said. Civil judges "work at the margins because we don't have time to do anything else."

Civil cases do not have the same speedy-trial guarantees as criminal matters so those trials get delayed and unheard.

"The civil justice system is about damaged human beings, and damaged human beings aren't getting justice," Holmes said. He said he would have continued as a judge if the scene weren't so bleak.




But given how bleak it appears to be, Holmes is packing it in. No word yet on whether any other judge will join him. No word either when the county will get its civil branch back.




The Riverside Police Department is accepting applications for its upcoming citizen academy.

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The Riverside Police Department is accepting applications for its citizen’s police academy.

The sessions include learning about patrol procedures, investigations and other police activities.

The academy will run from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays from Jan. 17 to March 27. Applications must be submitted by Dec. 21 and can be filled out on the agency’s Web site at www.riversideca.gov/rpd or at the station, 10540 Magnolia Ave., Riverside.

For information contact Petite Cunningham at 951-353-7690 or pcunning@riversideca.org




By phone, former Bolingbrook Police Department sergeant, Drew Peterson denied that he had ever asked several truckers to help him transport a package, according to ABC-News.






Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona's aide, Donald Haidl, who sought power is now the chief witness against his boss according to the Los Angeles Times.



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But Haidl wanted something more. A high school dropout, he spent years as a non-sworn volunteer for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. That whetted his appetite for the status and clout a big-time sheriff enjoyed, especially one who offered the promise of a wide-open political future, people close to Haidl say.

And so, according to federal prosecutors and others, Haidl bought those things too.

"He wanted a badge so he wouldn't have to play by the rules like everybody else," said a former associate from the auction business, who, like others close to Haidl, spoke on condition of anonymity. "Don wanted power."

Today, Haidl, 56, has confessed to a federal tax crime and is a chief witness against the man whose career he helped bankroll, indicted Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona.







Not surprising with all the scandals and the changing of the guard in the Chicago Police Department, complaints are increasing, according to the Chicago Tribune.



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Ashunda Harris said she recently heard an officer call her West side neighbors racial epithets and "said the most derogatory things to young girls I have ever heard."


"We can't sleep at night, and I wonder how some of you all go to bed at night," Harris told the council's Police and Fire Committee.

Grant Newburger, an antibrutality activist, said, "What kind of society is it when people responsible for public safety are themselves a threat to public safety?"

Daley on Thursday named J.P. "Jody" Weis, a career FBI agent, to head the department as it grapples with problems, including corruption and excessive force, that have embarrassed the mayor and eroded public trust in the police.

Weis vowed to back officers who work aggressively but within the rules, but said a major personal focus will be outreach to city neighborhoods, beginning with "those communities where we sense the widest gulf between the police and our residents."



Weis, the new chief has his work cut out for him taking the helm of a scandal-plagued agency which has sunken to the point that its officers were taking out murder-for-hire contracts on one another and it was being investigated by federal agencies for torturing people in custody.



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Weis, 49, who climbed the ranks of the FBI, will face the delicate balancing act of having his officers fight violent street crime aggressively while demonstrating sensitivity to minority communities that view some officers as overly forceful and abusive.


"There are still too many neighborhoods in our city that are plagued by gangs, guns and drugs and where violence must be fought proactively day by day and block by block," Daley said at a City Hall news conference. "At the same time, because some officers have fundamentally abused their trust with the people of Chicago, public confidence in the Police Department has eroded. If we're doing all we can to lower crime in Chicago, people must have confidence that the Police Department is doing its job to 'protect and serve' them."

As he introduced himself to the city, Weis sought to balance his two imperatives of soothing a beleaguered police force and gaining the confidence of residents who distrust police.

Weis vowed to reach out to city neighborhoods and said he "will begin with those communities where we sense the widest gulf between the police and our residents."

"I will begin a dialogue that will be continuous," he said.





Controversy surrounds the appointment in some circles for among other things, being an outsider, according to the Washington Post.


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"Because some officers have fundamentally abused their trust with the people of Chicago, public confidence in the police department has eroded," Daley said at a news conference on Thursday when he made his announcement. "I've made it clear that his mission is to further reduce crime in our city and to increase confidence among the people of our city in the actions of the Chicago Police Department."

If approved by the City Council, Weis will replace Philip Cline, who announced his retirement in April in the face of mounting criticism.

Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police's Chicago lodge, said officers are disappointed that the post didn't go to one of their own. "Weis has no police background, and that will be an issue with some of our members," he said. "We would have felt more comfortable with someone who could have hit the ground running. This gentleman will take longer to get up to snuff."

Bringing in an outsider is commonly seen as a good way to ferret out corruption and bring a fresh eye to gang problems. But police unions typically oppose such moves because they want officers to be able to move up through the ranks and obtain the ultimate goal.




Someone reviewed the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.