Laramie County D.A: We Need Another Judge

Laramie County District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg says he hopes state lawmakers will approve funding for a fourth District Court Judge for Laramie County.

He goes on to say even that won't be enough to eliminate the need for yet another such judge for the county in the near future. Sandburg says the county's population has increased by around 10,000 people in recent years, adding to the workload facing the local court system.

He says one example of the problem can be seen in the cases of juveniles who are removed from their parents by court order due to abuse, neglect or other issues. Sandburg says it takes about twice as long for a resolution in those cases to be reached in Laramie County as the rest of the state, due in part to the workload faced by District Court Judges, who are responsible for those cases as well as a variety of other legal proceedings.

Sandburg says in general it takes longer to get all kinds of cases before a judge in Laramie County then it should because judges are overloaded and overworked. He says of the situation "there are only so many hours in a day" for judges to carry out their duties, and the three District Court Judges hearing cases in Cheyenne just don't have the time available to handle their workload in a timely manner.

Sandburg says a request to fund a  fourth District Court Judge was well as the other positions that would be needed to operate another District Court in the county has been put forward to the legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee. But in light of declining state revenues caused by low energy prices and the prospect of an extremely tight state budget over the next biennium, Sandburg says it's hard to say whether the request will be approved.

The state legislature will convene a budget session in Cheyenne in February.