QUESTION:
Does any one use electronic signatures for documents? We conduct video arraignments with detention facilities around our county and this would be most helpful and much more efficient. Any information you can provide will be appreciated.
RESPONSE:
QUESTION:
“…We have a defendant charged with child molestation. The child is the defendant’s niece. The defendant is in his 20s, is deaf and mute and family speaks Spanish. The family has created a home sign language to communicate with the defendant. The court has excluded the brother (father of the child molested) as someone to communicate between the court and the defendant due to the obvious conflict. A sister was questioned in court as to her ability to communicate and it was determined that the home sign language was extremely basic information and she did not have the ability to communicate the court process to the defendant nor did she understand the court process. Today we had an certified American Sign Language interpreter who also is a Spanish interpreter. He was able to communicate very basic words i.e. mother, father, Mexico, hospital but did not believe he could communicate well enough with the defendant to explain the court process or the allegations to him.
Have any of you encountered this situation, and if so, how did you handle it?”
QUESTION:
We as a court are in the process of looking under every rock for potential funding sources. To that end we are interested in getting ideas and tips about short- or long-term legislation and policies around the nation that have provided directed funding to court programs or projects. Specifically, temporary filing fee assessments, temporary fine enhancements, fees for ongoing technology improvements, etc… We intend to use these as ammunition for similar funding should that possibility exist or become necessary during our legislative process. The sky is the limit here and we are looking for ideas so any thought would be helpful.
RESPONSE
QUESTION:
What is your policy on cell phones in the courthouse? Are you able to keep them with you? If not, what do you do with them while you are in the courthouse? Can you use them in the courthouse?
SOME RESPONSES:
Volume 20 Issue 3 September 2008
Table of Contents
The Preparation of Narcissistic Witnesses
QUESTION:
“I am looking for any courts that have a video system that displays the docket or room assignments for patrons of the court. I looking for any specs that you have in place. For instance are you using LCD TV screens or just normal computer screens. Do you have a system that is doing real time updates or do you have set times to up the list? ”
“Do you have a scrolling list or a static display with the screen changing every x seconds?”
From: Quinlan Law Enforcement E-News Alert, August 14, 2008
Question:
“Peals was arrested in his garage by a number of Terre Haute, Indiana police officers from the Street Crimes Unit, a unit used to perform special tasks including high-risk arrests, narcotics arrests, and narcotics information gathering. Among these officers were two K-9 units. The police officers had a warrant for Peals arrest, but they did not possess a search warrant for the home. After the officers took Peals into custody, several of the officers and K-9 units looked around the garage. Did the search of the garage violate Peals’s constitutional rights?”
QUESTION:
“My library’s board just learned of a plan to move our library from our wonderful space in the county courthouse, to some undecided space in another building (yet to be considered). We barely managed to stall a vote on the decision yesterday, and have just till Monday for the next meeting and vote. The County wants to convert our space to a jury room.”
“I wonder how those of you who moved from the courthouse have fared? I would appreciate any letters/messages expressing your experiences, thoughts, or ideas of help. We’re rallying as much help from all sources as possible”
Some of us in “Wordperfect shops” are always looking for ways to cut and past from Word to Wordperfect. Yesterday I came across the following tip from Charles T. Lester Jr. He was responding to a question on TechnoLawyer–Answers to Questions http://www.technolawyer.com:
QUESTION:.
“My problem with WordPerfect is that when I cut data from a Word doc and paste it into a WP doc I seem to get equal parts type and Word-inserted codes. Can I accomplish a Word to WP cut and paste without all the garbage? If not, what’s the quickest way to delete all the garbage? Thanks.”
Criminal Law Library Blog