Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-01-18
OVERCROWDED COURTS
Work Outside the Criminal Branch Has
Common Pleas 100 Gases BEHIND.

Court matters, lunacy matters ana
the Juvenile Court, leaving two
Judges free TO keep the criminal CAL
endar as near up to date as nossibIe
At present the criminal calendars
of Judges Martin and Ovhovaa a..
filled up to the middle of March
Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
OF the weeks up to that time All con.
tain from three 10 as MANY as Ton
criminal cases listed for trial. Aho1it
two criminal cases a dav is AN /,
Judge can possibly DISPOSE of tt,,,s
leaving the ones not reached ta 10
postponed for another date or
course, many of the cases listed g..
trial are disposed of without trial
through the defendant pleading
guilty.
The county Jail is always crowdad
with prisoners awaiting trial and a.
though both judges use every affo,..
TO try cases where prisoners arc o.
tua1ly in custody, instead of on hoil
as early as possible. many nrisoners
spend from a month to sometimes,
three and even more months in iaiJ
awaiting trial. To a. man who is fried
and found guilty this works no hard
ship, as the time spent in iail Is CON
sidered by the judges in imnosinv
sentence. But it does work a hard,
ship to the prisoner who is held IN
the Jail awaiting trial and who l.
found not guilty at his trial and set
free.
One Hundred Await Trial.
In the county Jail at the present
time there are about 100 persons
awaiting trial With the court calen-
dar crowded as 1t is, and with the
judges able to devote only enough
time to criminal to actually try
about ten cases a week, it can be seen
that there is ten weeks work ahead
at the Jail If all prisoners there
should go to trial and none of them
plead.
And more than that, of the prisoners
at the Jail eight of them are to be
tried for murder in six different trials,
and of these it is probable that the
greater part of two weeks will be de-
voted to the trial of Antonio Fiore
and Maddalena Ciccone, accused Of
the murder of the latter's husband
Fiore and Mrs. Giccone are Jointly
indicted for the murder, but they will
in all probability be tried separately
The trial of the three Italians ac-
cused of the murder of Patrolman
John J. McGovern will probably also
take considerably more than one day.
Five murder trials, six if F'iore and
Mrs. Ciccone are tried separately, are
listed for trial between January 81
and the end of the December term OF
court, the second week in March.
Another thing that initiates against
speedy trials and hampers the work
of the criminal courts in Essex county
is the system of having but one petit
jury to serve four courts. The same
panel of Jurors is made to do service
in the Supreme Court, the Circuit
Court and the two branches Of the
Court of Common Pleas.
When court opens in the morning it
frequently happens that a jury is
cedure is for a jury to be drawn in the
| Supreme Court first. Then the re-
naming members of the panel of 12s
will wend their way to the Circuit
Court where another jury is drawn.
Then comes the turns of the two
criminal courts, and is almost in
variably II o'clock, and very often 70
| before jury is drawn in both courts
and the trials actually under way
BY this system the time that could
| be well used in the trial of a small
| criminal matter is lost waiting for a
jury.
The only remedy for this seems to
| be, according to lawyers and court
officers, who have studied the situa-
| ton, would be to draw separate
| panels of jurors, one to serve in the
criminal branch of the courts and the
ether in the civil branch.
That the situation is bad one and
one that calls for relief is conceded
by all connected with the administra-
ton of justice in the criminal courts
of the county.