The new year has brought a new scheduling system for criminal cases in Flathead District Court.

Cases always have been assigned to specific judges, but hearings in those cases could be heard by any district judge based on timeliness and the schedule of each judge. 

Under the new system, only the judge to whom the case is assigned — with rare exceptions — will handle any hearings in that case.

According to District Judge Robert Allison, the previous system that consolidated criminal and juvenile hearings to Thursdays and Fridays, respectively, began in the early 1990s.

“Before that, cases got set all over the place, and the volume got high enough it was just causing people to be running back and forth to court every time you turned around. There were judges in court every day with different cases,” Allison said.

He said there was some discussion when he and District Judge Heidi Ulbricht were elected in 2011 about the possibility of reorganizing the system once again.

“The sentiment among some of the judges is that each judge should handle his or her own cases,” Allison said.

With the new scheduling protocol, rather than each judge sitting for a single criminal day each month with the four judges rotating every Thursday, each judge will sit for a half-day on criminal cases twice per month. That way, each judge ends up on the bench more frequently.

Marcy Hall, the District Court department supervisor, said that format should keep the requirement that cases stay with a particular judge from slowing down each case’s progress.

“If somebody is incarcerated, or just to keep the wheels of justice turning, we need to make sure people have hearings in a timely fashion,” Hall said.

And in those situations where a hearing is needed despite the unavailability of the judge to which the case is assigned, there is a protocol in place to make sure that hearing takes place.

“In cases that might go to trial, for instance a criminal jury term, we request that the cases be assigned temporarily by the [Montana] Supreme Court,” Hall said. “Then we may have a retired judge or a judge from another jurisdiction come in.”

The changes do not please everyone, particularly attorneys for whom the new system creates more work, especially in the short term. 

While everyone is adjusting to the new system, criminal hearings have been taking place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well as Thursdays.

Attorney Lane Bennett said that when all the criminal cases were being heard on Thursdays, it was much more convenient.

“Now we have to be much more vigilant in making sure our calendars are up-to-date and correct,” Bennett said. “It used to be we could rely on printing out the court calendar several days ahead of Thursdays and double-check it against our calendar. Now that’s much more difficult to do.”

That means the cases will take up more of attorneys’ time.

“Of course any time you’re talking more time, you’re talking more cost for the client or more cost for the state, where public defenders are involved,” Bennett said.

Bennett, however, said he is not opposed to the new system.

“When new judges come in and they want to do things different, that’s OK. That’s part of the game,” Bennett said.

One office affected very little by the changes is that of the Clerk of Court Peg Allison.

“I have clerks that are designated for each judge and when the judge is on the bench we’re in there bringing in the case files and taking minute entries, so we will not see a significant change,” she said.

She noted that was not the case for attorneys, who are having a “little bit more of a difficult time.”

“I truly believe that once the dust settles, this will be a much better thing for the litigants and the courts,” Allison said. “[Judges] are going to be able to see from start to finish exactly what happened all through the progression of a case. I think it’s going to be a really good thing, and I’m glad to see it happen.”

Judge Robert Allison said the new system is not set in stone.

“I think we all look at it as sort of an experimental thing that we’re going to see how it goes,” he said. “We’re not married to it so tightly ... that we wouldn’t be willing to consider some other option.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.