It was a busy and varied session this morning with Judge Connor presiding at Hudson City Court. A welcome surprise for me was a rare appearance by jailed defendant Michael Madison, who apparently decided it might be worth his while to appear in front of the judge rather than refuse to budge from his jail cell, as he has done on several recent occasions. Before I get to Madison's case, I will briefly describe what else Judge Connor was dealing with today, both before and after Madison's case was called.
First to appear was a defendant with an unregistered vehicle ticket. He was offered a reduced charge from the Assistant DA and Judge Connor in the court, right away, not via the County DA's online plea deal option. The total charge came to $180.
A Creole-speaking defendant was given an adjournment for an unspecified charge, likely a traffic ticket. The defendant had an English speaking friend with him to act as his interpreter, but Connor was not satisfied with the situation. As the judge wrote his notes in the file for the case, he said out loud "We need a Creole translator for August 1st." An official, court- appointed Creole interpreter (not a translator) will likely show up to Hudson City Court then to help move things along. The defendant was seated in front of the judge for just over 5 minutes, having difficulty with, among other things, the contact form he was required to fill out.
A man wearing shorts with a ticket for unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle approached the bench. The judge adjourned the case for two months in the hope that the defendant would apply for a plea deal online with the DA's office. Connor then concluded with this: "For the future, please don't wear shorts to court, okay?"
"Okay, Judge."
This is a common admonition from Judge Connor, though there is no mention on the court's website, nor any signs in the courthouse, regarding the prohibition of wearing shorts when one is appearing in court. Skirts, regardless of length, apparently, are not prohibited.
Then, a man who had missed 5 consecutive court dates for an unlicensed operation of a vehicle ticket approached the bench. Connor told the defendant that a warrant for his arrest was going to be made had he not shown up. It turned out that the guy had several scofflaws from other jurisdictions. The case was adjourned to August 8th to give the defendant time to straighten out his other unpaid tickets.
A woman approached with a speeding ticket, 45 in a 30 zone, her first appearance in court for the ticket. The judge offered her three options: plead guilty, pay a fine and get points on your license; request a trial; or, adjourn so you can request a plea deal from the DA's office online. She chose the latter, and the case was adjourned for two months, until August 23rd. Connor concluded: "If the DA offers you a reduced charge, mail it to the court and you won't have to return on August 23rd." Until about a month ago, Connor would adjourn these types of plea deal/reduced charge request cases for one month. Now it is two months, likely because the DA's office is having difficulty turning the requests around quickly enough.
There were also the following cases: harassment; drug possession; probation violation; "actions injurious to a child"; DWAI; and, a trial for a traffic ticket that was quickly dismissed because the police officer who issued the ticket failed to appear for the trial.
At 9:53, Connor called for Michael Madison to be brought into court. Madison, in prison garb and handcuffed, was led in by a court officer through the back door and took a seat where every other defendant does. Judge Connor began by greeting Madison, adding, "I know you have been in jail for a while unwilling to come to court." With that, Connor read each pending charge that Madison was in court for -- detailing the charge, an identifying number and the date of the charge. It took over 5 minutes for Connor to read them all.
There were 45 trespassing charges from earlier this year (January through March), a few of them from the same day; one illegal discarding of garbage; one disorderly conduct; one open container; one harassment -- all violations, not criminal matters. Madison had a bad habit of continually stepping foot on the Citgo property across from the 7th Street Park when he was not supposed to do so. If HPD found him there, they would either issue him a ticket or move him along.
Claverack Court had recently found Madison incompetent to stand trial, and his charges there were dropped, according to Connor. The issue for Connor was to determine if Madison was competent to stand trial in Hudson City Court. If Madison is considered incompetent, all the Hudson violations also have to be dropped.
However, Madison has 3 outstanding felony charges that he has been arraigned on but not tried for: 5 counts of stolen property; weapons possession; and menacing in the 2nd degree. Madison has been in jail for at least two months on these charges, and his bail is still set at $3,000. I'm not certain how, or if, the competency issue would have any bearing on these charges.
Connor ordered Madison to have a psychiatric evaluation through the Columbia County Mental Health Department. A representative of the department in attendance agreed to have the evaluation done by August 1st, the date Madison's case was adjourned to. The representative told the judge that Madison had a psychiatric evaluation done in July of last year.
Madison wasn't too happy about this, asking the judge why he needed an evaluation. Connor did his best to explain his stance, but it didn't help much. "I'm not incompetent," Madison blurted out. "I ain't talkin' to no one. I'll stay in jail, just give me the time," he added. Then Madison told his attorney (from the County Public Defenders Office), "I want to press charges against the jail." He loudly and repeatedly complained about the intercom at the County Jail, and how he had issues with the food he's being served there.
At 10:05, Madison was led out the back door to return to jail by the same court officer who brought him in. Then his yelling and cussing began, clearly heard by everyone in court. Madison was having a meltdown, and I hate to think of how officers (including HPD officers) might have handled it. It did not sound pretty.
It appears that the Hudson City Court and the County DA's Office still do not quite know how to handle, or what to do with, Michael Madison. And I still haven't heard anything about the charges of burglary and sexual abuse brought against Madison after an incident in Claverack in March of last year. As far as I know, those felony charges were immediately put in the hands of the County DA's office and the County Court, and Madison has served no time for them.
City Court is held 12 times a month by two judges, each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not one of those court sessions is held exclusively for traffic tickets. Given the amount of traffic tickets being issued, wouldn't it make sense to have at least two traffic court sessions per month? You know, keep the handcuffed defendants doing jail time separate from those trying to get a simple traffic ticket taken care of. I think it's rare for a municipality NOT TO HAVE a regular traffic court session. It seems like the smart way to handle things for everyone involved, including the judges, and that's probably why it's so common elsewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment