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Abraham's Thoughts on Philadelphia Courts

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

 
When former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham last week discussed with The Legal how prosecutors should vet proposed criminal charges, she had a lot more to say than could be fit into a news story.

Here are some of those thoughts from Abraham in an e-mail to The Legal:

• Abraham noted the First Judicial District since the early 1980s has "ALWAYS" been under the supervision of a Supreme Court justice, and she said no justice ever raised a complaint that her former office's charging function was inappropriate. "Since the District Attorney's Office is a quasi-judicial office, we are, of course, under their supervision in one way or another," Abraham wrote.
•  Abraham praised the state Supreme Court order instituted last week extending the deadline for preliminary hearings from three to 10 days to 14-21 days.

• Abraham also praised the Supreme Court for making other changes to preliminary hearings, including barring judges from marking preliminary hearings that are otherwise ready to proceed as "ready not reached.?

 "Nowhere, but in Philadelphia, do judges leave the bench early with many cases 'ready, but not reached,'" Abraham said.

• Abraham also said Municipal Court judges have allowed "defense attorneys to 'game' the system" by claims of having conflicts in other courtrooms, they haven't gotten discovery, or because they haven't been paid. Abraham also said preliminary hearings would be rescheduled if the defendants failed to appear, if police officers were testifying in another courtroom, or if the prosecution's witnesses were late, she said. She also said it was a good idea to institute other recently instituted rules, including a rule requiring defense counsel to state if they are ready to proceed before prosecutors do and a rule requiring preliminary hearings.
• Finally, Abraham, wrote: "To paraphrase Shakespeare: The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in ourselves, but in the judges failing to follow the PRCP [Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure] Rules, so that justice might prevail."

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on April 12, 2010 (boomark / email).