Federal judge wants to delay bringing felons to trial in Arizona (Why Judge Roll at Giffords Event?)

East Valley Tribune ^ | January 4, 2011 | Howard Fischer

[healey22]

The presiding federal judge in Arizona wants permission to delay bringing felons to trial.

John Roll said Tuesday that Congress has essentially flooded the state with lots of new Border Patrol agents and added prosecutors to bring charges. The result, he told Capitol Media Services, is a record number of felony cases being filed.

But Roll said the state is stuck with the same 13 authorized judges it has had for years.

"We've reached a choke point," he said.

Roll said the situation is particularly acute in Southern Arizona, where there are just five judges assigned. In actuality, there are just four, with a vacancy waiting to be filled.

Roll said the seven judges left in Phoenix -- one just was named to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- already have their hands full and cannot help with the workload. And he said the space in the courthouse is so tight that even when they can get visiting judges, only one can be accommodated at any one time.

What Roll wants is a waiver from rules that now require cases to be brought to trial within 70 days after arraignment. His proposal is to lengthen that to 180 days.

[healey22]

It appears the Judge wasn't just stopping by to say hello to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, his district is overrun with criminal FELON illegal aliens and he did not have enough judges to oversee these cases. Judge John Roll made these comments this past Tuesday of this week. He obviously had stopped by to see her to press his case for more resources to the border courts. The Judges and Courts down there are overrun with Felons.

[blueplum]

and, also overrun with illegals trying to sue for compensation for being apprehended by ranchers, one such case Roll was involved in:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/22/rancher-ruling-adds-to-border-debate/print/

[SF_Redux]

alinsky, overwhelm the system

[pepsionice]

It is curious...we’ve built up Homeland Security, the border patrol, and the FBI...but in terms of the federal court system...it would appear to me that we operate with the same numbers that we had in 1980.

[org.whodat]

It is the damn judge that let’s the cases drag on and on and on. The judge could try most of those cases in an hour for each case if he wanted to.

[LibLieSlayer]

Yes... the judges are not doing their job period.

LLS

[phockthis]

sfl

[kenmcg]

Roll was appointed by Old Man Bush. He presided over a case where illegal aliens sued a rancher who apprehended them on his property. He allowed this law suit to proceed. And it is strange that a federal judge would appear at a congess person’s campaign gathering.

[txhurl]

bttt