Prosecutors prepare for budget cuts DA says some crimes may go unpunished

BANGOR – Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy may soon be spreading the word to police departments in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties that some crimes are just going to have to go unpunished.

“It’s possible that we just won’t have enough prosecutors to prosecute the cases that these departments bring to us,” Almy said this week, as the state’s budget crisis deepened. “If that’s the case, we will make a determination of the crimes that we simply won’t prosecute anymore. We will have to tell police officers that those who commit those crimes get a free ride.”

The threat of serious budget cuts is causing concern, if not alarm, in the offices of county and state prosecutors as well as within the entire court system in Maine.

Could lack of funding change the way the whole system operates in Maine? You bet, said Leigh Saufley, chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Not long ago, Gov. John Baldacci’s office asked Maine prosecutors what would happen if their offices were “flat-funded” for the next fiscal year.

“For us that means significant layoffs,” Almy said. “I mean we are so personnel-heavy that salaries and benefit packages are about our entire budget. Therefore, if you flat-fund us, that means personnel cuts, because the increases in health insurance and such simply does not allow us to employ the same number of people this year as we did last year for the same amount of money.”

As for the rest of the court system, Saufley said it’s still up in the air how hard it will be hit.

“I am convinced that the governor and the Legislature understand that we already are underfunded and that further cuts would cause us serious problems. … But, in these economic times, all of the understanding in the world is not going to prevent us from having to make cuts,” Saufley said Friday.

The budget for the court system for the 2003 fiscal year is estimated at about $50 million, or 2 percent of the entire state budget. Subtract from that the fees and fine revenue generated by the court and the entire court system actually consumes less than 1 percent of the budget, Saufley noted.

So what could be at risk? Small claims court, the new drug court and civil jury trials.

All of it means justice delayed.

Already there are between 15 and 20 vacancies in court clerk positions throughout the state. That means fewer people to process cases and a resulting slowdown of the system.

There are only 49 judges in the state, 20 fewer than New Hampshire, and Saufley said the prospect of judicial vacancies would be “alarming.”

While she waits to get her final budget from the governor, Saufley ponders possibilities.

It’s possible that small claims court would have to be cut back, meaning that small claims cases would be heard once a month instead of once a week. It would be a difficult decision since tough economic times often sends more small-business owners to small claims court in attempts to collect on unpaid debts.

“The bottom line of any court system facing tough economic times is that safety of children and issues involving violence come first,” Saufley said. “Depending on the budget situation, it may become clear that small claims, for example, is not urgent.”

Also at risk could be the fairly new and highly acclaimed adult drug court. The drug court, which has been up and running for about a year and a half, offers alternatives to those offenders deemed more drug addict than criminal.

It’s a highly intensive process that allows offenders to stay out of jail if they attend court once a week, seek continuous drug treatment and abide by other rules set by the court. In the Bangor drug court, 10 addicts have graduated since it started in September 2001.

With heroin and OxyContin addiction still a problem throughout the state, the drug courts have been commended for trying to offer solutions other than jail.

The drug court is funded primarily with money from the state’s tobacco settlement, but programs using alternative funding such as that are at risk, Saufley said.

Drug court also requires a lot of “judge time.” Offenders in drug court meet with a judge on an average of one hour a week, or about 50 hours a year, compared to a regular criminal offender, who may only require 10 or so “judge hours” a year.

With budget cuts, judge time is going to be a crucial element.

“There is no doubt we are going to have to make hard decisions,” Saufley said. “It’s possible we won’t be able to run all of the courtrooms we do now on a daily basis. I don’t mean shutting down courthouses, but limiting the amount of times the courtrooms are open.”

Almy says he’s not ready to say what particular crimes his office may be telling police to ignore should prosecutors be lost.

“It’s too early. We have to wait and see. I’ve given some thought to what those crimes might be, but not enough to say which ones. … One thing I’ll tell you is that the state of Maine’s court system is one of the most – if not the most – underfunded court systems in the country and if further cuts are made I think it’s just a matter of time before they just start shutting the system down,” he said.

Meanwhile, as budgets and dollars and cents are being scrutinized all over the state, Justice Andrew Mead presided over his third drug court graduation in Bangor on Friday.

“It’s always exciting to see these people complete this,” said Mead. “It’s not an easy process. It keeps them out of jail for the most part, but the requirements are tough. We expect a lot. And you know for every one who succeeds, that’s one less person in jail that we’re paying for. Or in Acadia that we’re paying for. Or one less person who is having their children taken away by the state, which we ultimately pay for.”