Minutes
Board of Judicial Policy and Administration
September 11, 2002
Justice of the Peace Jury Room
Jackson, Wyoming
The September 11, 2002, meeting of the Board of Judicial Policy and Administration was held in the Justice of the Peace Jury Room, 180 South King Street, Jackson, Wyoming. Chief Justice William Hill, Justices Larry Lehman and Bart Voigt, Judges E. James Burke, Ed Grant, Rob Denhardt, Michael Huber, Wade Waldrip, and Scott Cole attended. Matt Fermelia, Holly Hansen, and Linda Burke also attended.
The meeting was called to
order at 8:35 AM on September 11, 2002.
T. Approval
of August 13, 2002 Conference Call Minutes
After a motion by Judge Grant and a second by Judge
Waldrip, the August 13, 2002 minutes were unanimously approved.
U. Old Business
1.
User Policy on Judicial Branch Network – Chief Justice Hill &
Hansen
The Board
considered a policy statement defining who could be a user on the judicial
network housed in the Supreme Court.
Justice Voigt suggested removing the word “expressed” from the third
line of the draft policy. After further
discussion of funding and privacy issues, Judge Grant moved and Justice Voigt
seconded a motion to approve the policy as drafted, with the removal of the
word “expressed” from the third line.
The motion passed with a seven-to-two vote, with Judges Denhardt and
Waldrip voting against the motion. The
Board indicated its desire, however, to forward the policy to the Drug Court
Sub-Committee established by the Board for the sub-committee’s consideration and
recommendations.
2.
Fee for Record Checks – Circuit and District Courts
Holly Hansen
and Matt Fermelia reported on the work of the sub-committee appointed to study
the fee for record checks. Holly Hansen
reported that Gerrie Bishop, Laramie County District Court Clerk, polled a
number of district clerks and found that the district clerks would be
comfortable with a $10.00 fee rather than the current $5.00 fee. Kathy Cowen advised the sub-committee that
the circuit court clerks would be agreeable to lowering their $20.00 record
check fee to $10.00. Judge Waldrip
moved and Judge Grant seconded a motion to approve the proposed modifications
for fees for record checks for circuit and district courts that would make the
fee $10.00 in both courts. Motion carried
unanimously.
3.
Court Interpreters – Holly Hansen
Holly Hansen
reported on her discussions with State Public Defender Ken Koski about the use
of interpreters in the courtroom. She
advised the Board that the responsibility for hiring and paying interpreters
does not appear to be consistent in the circuit courts. The Board decided that they would like to
hear from Ken Koski at the Board’s conference call in October and Holly Hansen
agreed to meet with Koski before the call to clarify the issues.
4. Extension of Circuit Court Jurisdiction
to Municipalities
After a brief
discussion, Justice Lehman moved and Judge Denhardt seconded a motion to
approve the Policy Statement for Extending Jurisdiction to Try Misdemeanors
Committed in Violation of City or Town Ordinances. Motion carried unanimously.
5.
Dual Role of Justice of the Peace/Municipal Court Clerks in Hot Springs
and Weston
The Board
decided to send a letter to the Hot Springs Clerk thanking her for the
information she provided.
V. Rule
Changes – Matt Fermelia
1. Wyoming Court Rules – Replacement of
“justice of the peace”
Matt Fermelia explained the process of
eliminating “justice of the peace” from the rules and the need to replace
county court references with circuit court references. Judge Grant pointed out the use of “justice”
on Page 6, Rule 28(c)(2) and suggested changing the word to “judge” in that and
similar instances throughout. The Board
discussed a suggestion for a minor change to the State Bar Bylaws and Matt
Fermelia volunteered to forward the proposed change to the Bar. Ultimately, the Board decided that Matt
Fermelia would make the discussed changes and submit the proposed rule changes
to the Permanent Rules Advisory Committee for their review and comments.
W. Personnel
Matter
The Board considered a
letter from Linda Beaver, Justice Lehman’s judicial assistant, regarding the
interpretation of the Personnel Rules with respect to leave time for a person
elected to serve a legislative term of office.
After discussing the matter, the Board decided that it would advise Ms.
Beaver that it would tentatively agree that her vacation time could be used to
serve in the Legislature, subject to existing law and statutes. In addition, the Board would study the matter
further and discuss again at its December meeting.
1.
Citizens’ Access to Courts Committee (CACC)
Justice Lehman
advised the Board that the CACC would be meeting on Friday, September 13, 2002,
and a major focus would be the placement of pro se forms online.
Judge Huber mentioned
that Judge Brown expressed concern about litigants being represented by
marginal attorneys and the resulting impact to those litigants’ access to
judicial remedies.
2.
Judicial Technology Task Force (JTTF)
Holly Hansen
updated the Board on the activities of the JTTF and detailed the Public Access
Panel presentation scheduled for Thursday morning, September 12, 2002. Hansen also mentioned the success of the
June 27, 2002, technology meeting in Cheyenne and the continuing efforts to
address public access and privacy issues as electronic access to records
progressed.
Y. New
Business
1. Supplemental
Budget Overview – Joann Stockdale
Holly
Hansen explained that Board members must deduct the meal allowance from their
vouchers to adjust for the September 11, 2002 Board lunch and the September 12,
2002 Annual Banquet.
After
a brief overview of the supplemental budget, Hansen reminded the Board that if
district courts were interested in a supplemental budget request combined with
the Board of Judicial Policy and Administration’s budget request within the
Supreme Court’s budget for communications and travel, they must notify Joann
Stockdale. Judge Burke advised Hansen
to combine the district court supplemental budget request with the Supreme
Court supplemental request.
2.
Fee Increase for Twelve (12) Person Juries – Judge Burke
Judge Burke
suggested increasing the fee for a twelve-person jury from $50.00 to $150.00,
citing the increased amount of paperwork, man-hours, and other costs as support
for the change. Following a short
discussion, Judge Burke moved and Justice Voigt seconded a motion to forward
the suggestion for an increase in fees to the Permanent Rules Advisory
Committee. Motion carried unanimously.
3. Protection
Orders – Dona Playton
Holly
Hansen and Dona Playton described the changes suggested by various circuit
judges to the proposed Protection Order documents presented to the Board for
its review. Dona Playton explained that
after the comments had been received from the judges, she worked with Sharon
Montagnino to ensure that the pleadings complied with statutes. After a detailed discussion of possible
changes to the Protection Order documents, Dona Playton and Holly Hansen agreed
to make further revisions to the documents and resubmit the package at the
Board’s October conference call, with the goal of approving the entire amended
package of documents. Dona Playton
added that the next project would be to address Stalking Form issues.
4. Letter from Joyce Boyer Regarding Jury
Management
Holly Hansen
explained that Joyce Boyer contacted her regarding the possibility of the
Wyoming Clerks of District Court Association continuing the work of the Jury
Reform Commission. As part of that
effort, Joyce Boyer wanted to query the Board about possible financial aid to
send Wyoming representatives to a Jury Management seminar sponsored by The
National Center for State Courts. After
the Board discussed priorities for training and best use of limited funds,
Holly Hansen volunteered to gather information about bringing jury management
training to Wyoming.
Z. Other Matters
1. Legislative Breakfast
Supreme Court Courtroom
2. Legislative Authorization of BJPA
After
discussing the idea of seeking legislative authorization for the Board of
Judicial Policy and Administration, the Board decided to table the matter for
the present time.
3. Ideas from Board Members concerning
Future Board Agenda Items
Holly
Hansen pointed out that the Drug Court Sub-Committee and the Compensation
Sub-Committee would be presenting future reports. Matt Fermelia added that the statutory review for justice of the
peace references would appear again at a future meeting.
Judge
Burke suggested working with judges, attorneys, the law school, and the State
Bar in regaining and improving respect for the judiciary and legal profession
as a whole. Ideas included recognizing
and enforcing the Codes of Conduct, training jurors, law school students,
attorneys, and judges, and involving the Bench-Bar Relations Committee. Judge Burke emphasized the “two way street”
relationship between attorneys and judges and the importance of opening
dialogue between attorneys and judges about professional procedures and
expectations. Areas of concern
mentioned were: punctuality,
preparedness, appropriateness of dress, civility, and professional
procedures. Holly Hansen suggested the
creation of brochures directed to courts, attorneys, jurors, witnesses, and
others identifying specific behaviors and procedures. Judge Burke agreed to chair a sub-committee for Standards of
Conduct and Decorum and Justice Hill, Justice Voigt, Judge Grant, and Judge
Waldrip were appointed to serve with Judge Burke. Sub-Committee members agreed to discuss these matters at their
divisional meetings.
4. Time of Day for future conference calls
The
Board decided to schedule future conference calls for the noon hour. In addition, the Board rescheduled the
October 8, 2002 conference call to October 15, 2002 at noon.
5. Rules and Regulations of Board of
Judicial Policy and Administration, Rule 4, Membership
Based
on the transition of the justice of the peace courts into the circuit court
system in January of 2003, the Board discussed changing the membership of the
Board by deleting the justice of the peace representative and becoming a nine-
person body. Board members agreed that
the circuit judges could speak for and represent the magistrates. Accordingly, Judge Grant moved and Judge
Denhardt and Justice Voigt seconded a motion to delete the justice of the peace
representative effective January of 2003.
Motion carried unanimously.
The Board
discussed future Board meetings coinciding with the State Bar Meeting. Judge Grant moved and Justice Voigt seconded
a motion to discontinue future Board meetings in conjunction with the State Bar
Meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
The Board
further discussed the scheduling of the Judicial Conference in relationship to
the State Bar Meeting. Justice Voigt
moved and Judge Grant seconded the motion to schedule the Judicial Conference a
day in advance of the State Bar Meeting in the same location. Motion carried unanimously.
Finally, the
Board briefly discussed holding the October 2003 meeting at the Vee Bar Ranch
and changing the March 19 and 20, 2003 meeting in Torrington to Casper. Board Members also mentioned planning future
meetings for one day, rather than two days.
October 15, 2002 Conference
Call, Noon
November 12, 2002 Conference
Call, Noon
December 5 and 6, 2002 in
Douglas
January 14, 2003, 7:00 am –
Legislative Breakfast, Supreme Court Courtroom
February 11, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
March 19 and 20, 2003 in
Torrington
April 8, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
May 13, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
June 19 and 20, 2003 in
Saratoga
July 8, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
August 12, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
September 9, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
October 1 & 2, 2003 at
Vee Bar Ranch
November 11, 2003 Conference
Call, Noon
December 4 & 5, 2003 at
Law Enforcement Academy
The Board adjourned its meeting at 3:35 pm.
BJPA
Action Plan
Resulting from September 11,
2002 Meeting
Judge Burke (Chair), Justice
Hill, Justice Voigt, Judge Grant, and Judge Waldrip
Proposed Rule Changes (Justice of the Peace)
Proposed Rule Change [W.R.C.P., Rule 38(b)(2)]