HOUSTON – Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg met with several criminal court judges Thursday afternoon to discuss the possibility of changing the way docket calls are scheduled. This comes after county officials said it could be close to a year before the Criminal Justice Center is usable.
"I'm just concerned that we're spending more time transporting files than our lawyers have to work on those files," said Ogg.
Ogg says every floor of the courthouse was damaged. Floodwaters from Harvey swamped the bottom levels, but that was only the beginning.
"The pipes backed up, the sewage was forced through the pipes and it contaminated the building," said Ogg.
This meant thousands of case files and other equipment had to be moved out. The DA's Office was forced to find whatever space was available in other county buildings to house its more than 700 employees. Prosecutors are now set up in nine county buildings from downtown, to the Galleria, to the East End to Rice Village.
These temporary offices mean prosecutors now have to shuffle hundreds of files from whatever building they're in to downtown courtrooms every day. Before, prosecutors, judges and courtrooms were in the same building. Many times cases are scheduled to be on the docket, only to be reset to a future date. Still, prosecutors are required to be present at these docket calls.
"It just takes a lot of effort and staff hours," said Ogg.
Hours, Ogg worries, prosecutors could be using to meet with witnesses or reviewing evidence. Still, she praised her staff for having a positive attitude and putting in the extra work to make sure all cases are handled thoroughly.
Ogg is hoping to speak with the judges about having a system similar to what the federal courts use, where a bulk of the deadlines and attorney meetings are done outside a courtroom.
"Our family courts use it, our civil courts use it, so the criminal court way of doing things is archaic by comparison," said Ogg.
Another said another possibility she will discuss with the judges is having docket calls take place later in the day, at night or on the weekends.
