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Editorial: Hearings are not trials
Streamlining procedures for preliminary hearings in Municipal Court could be a reform with far-reaching benefits for Philadelphia's beleaguered court system.
Crime victims might have an easier time if not forced to appear at each and every preliminary hearing. Skittish witnesses could be spared time testifying in open court - in effect, letting prosecutors save their best stuff for the trial. The city also could save on police overtime with more efficient courtroom practices. In the process, the court just might improve upon a dismissal rate that's nothing short of outrageous.
So it's welcome news that state Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery - in his assigned role to overhaul the courts - is looking at ways to make sure Municipal Court serves up justice more often than not.
As detailed in an Inquirer series, the Philadelphia courts are plagued by low conviction rates, thousands of cases dismissed annually, and 47,000 fugitives on the loose.
Many of the problems can be traced back to an inefficient Municipal Court, where cumbersome procedures and arcane rules result in the breakdown of thousands of cases each year.
Among the more ludicrous rules is the three-strikes provision, by which a judge can toss a case if prosecutors fail three times to conduct a preliminary hearing. That practice encourages an array of stalling tactics used by defendants and their attorneys to trip up a case before it ever reaches a trial.
By the Inquirer's analysis, 82 percent of violent-crime cases that fall apart do so at the preliminary hearing stage in Municipal Court.
Working at the direction of Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, McCaffery is asking why Municipal Court can't be more like its suburban cousins - the state's county-based Magisterial District Courts.
Without fanfare, those local courts conduct speedy preliminary hearings to determine whether defendants should be held over for trial. The legal standard to hold someone over for trial is lower than for an actual conviction, merely requiring proof that enough evidence exists against a defendant.
The streamlined process is perfectly legal and makes the courts in Montgomery County more efficient, as a story in last Sunday's Inquirer showed.
For instance, rather than have witnesses or victims testify at a preliminary hearing, police officers recount their statements. District justices may also go ahead with a case, even if a defendant doesn't show for the hearing.
As a former Municipal Court judge, McCaffery pushed to make court hearings less like mini-trials, but the court slipped back into its old habits when he left the bench several years ago. Now, though, he's in a position to order the sort of sweeping reforms needed to fix Municipal Court.
The shortcuts have been decried by defense attorneys, understandably. But it's clear that justice isn't being served by so many thousands of cases' being bounced over procedural glitches. That makes the city streets less safe and makes a mockery of the notion of equal justice.
McCaffery should move ahead with reforms that modernize courtroom practices and still preserve the defendants' right to a fair trial.
