New England Public Radio

Drug Court To Open In Pittsfield, Springfield’s Still On The Drawing Board

Berkshire County’s first drug court opens Thursday in Pittsfield. It will be just the third in western Massachusetts.

The other two drug courts are both in Franklin County, located in Greenfield and Orange. The voluntary program seeks to give those suffering from drug addiction — and facing criminal charges — a chance to rehabilitate and stay out of jail.

Judge Mary Hogan Sullivan, who oversees specialty courts for the state, said that new drug court locations previously were only added when a local judge requested them. But she said the Berkshire County court was added as part of a strategic plan.

“Pittsfield was a place that had a need based on its geographical location,” Hogan Sullivan said. “It’s difficult for people in Pittsfield to get other places.”

Springfield is also in line for a drug court, but when it will open isn’t clear. State Senator Eric Lesser announced last year it would be up and running in 2016. Sullivan Hogan said that’s still the hope.

“I couldn’t speak to exactly when it will open,” Hogan Sullivan said. “There are always needs. You need to make sure you have enough probation officers and that kind of thing, but it’s definitely on our list.”

There are 24 drug courts across Massachusetts.

Legal Community In Berkshire County Says More Local Judges Needed

Berkshire County has fewer district court judges based there than it did nearly a decade ago. Members of the legal community say this is slowing down justice. This has left both prosecutors and other attorneys are frustrated.

Nathaniel Greene heads up the Pittsfield office of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the public defender. He says he’s seen many trials delayed for months recently because there aren’t as many jury sessions scheduled as there used to be. Greene says this can be a problem for defendants, like one woman he defended who was charged with vehicular homicide.

“This was a situation where she had her license suspended pending the outcome of the trial,” Greene says. “Fortunately, it was a successful outcome of the trial but she ended up not being able to operate her motor vehicle for several months because of a lack of a judge to hear the case.”

It’s not just a problem for defendants. Berkshire County District Attorney David Capeless says dragging out cases can cause headaches for prosecutors.

“Every delay is an opportunity for witnesses and particularly victims to become fed up with this system and decide they are not going to cooperate any further,” Capeless says.

District Courts in Massachusetts handle matters like misdemeanors, arraignments and some civil lawsuits. There are three court locations in the Berkshires with Pittsfield the only one that’s usually in session five days a week. Capeless points out the judges pool has shrunk since 2006. At least three have retired, but one continues to work past the usual retirement age of 70. To fill those gaps, court sessions are sometimes covered by judges from elsewhere in western Massachusetts, and they’re usually only here one day at a time. And Capeless says that’s a big problem.

“Judges who are only here for a day, and they’re from out-of-county, are going to be disinclined to hear a case that might take longer than a day, and they’ll push that case over,” Capeless says. “That’s justice delayed. This kind of thing happens all the time. Or they’re faced with a difficult decision and they may just put it off and leave it for someone else.”

Richard Dohony, the head of the Berkshire Bar Association, has another complaint about out-of-town judges: They’re less accountable since they’re not part of the community. Judges who’re based here, he says…

“It’s good not only that they know the court personnel, understand the court, know the police departments and the prosecutors, but also live among the people who appear before them,” Dohony says.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Trial Court says the three remaining Berkshire-based judges are used in the county’s courts, with out-of-town judges covering when needed. A look at a recent schedule shows this to be the case, most of the time. There are some instances where the first justice of Central Berkshire District Court, William Rota, is assigned elsewhere in Western Mass. and a judge from the Pioneer Valley is sent to Pittsfield.

So when will Berkshire County get more judges based here? Michael Albano is the western Massachusetts representative on the Governor’s Council, which approves judicial nominations. He says a statutory limit on the number of district court judges there can be at any one time has made it harder to fill vacancies.

“This cap goes back to 1976 and in doing some research, it’s really not clear why,” Albano says. “I suspect there was some financial issues at the time and the legislature, in their wisdom, thought it was the right thing to do, to cap the number of judges.

The cap is set at 158 state-wide. And the state is hovering near that number. Albano says this leads to different regions of Massachusetts competing with each other to get vacancies filled.

And Albano adds: the transition to a new governor, Charlie Baker, has caused the process to slow temporarily. He says it took some time for Baker to set up his judicial nominating commission, which reviews applications and passes possible candidates on to the governor.

Still, District Attorney Capeless says he sees another cause for the slow movement on appointing new a new judge or two.

“Way out here at the western end of Massachusetts, we are just forgotten by Boston,” Capeless says. “Despite the amount of noise we might make, the calls that are made, promises that are made, they just aren’t kept.”

Governor Baker’s office is not saying when he plans to nominate a new Berkshire County judge. And it’s not like far western Mass is the only region with judicial openings. The latest statewide list shows 27 vacancies.