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| Alabama Governor Releases Funds to Resume Jury Trials |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/13/2002 |
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Gov. Don Siegelman released $500,000 in emergency funds recently to allow jury trials to resume statewide and break a deadlock with the chief justice over funding for the courts. Leaders of two judges' associations and the district attorneys' association helped mediate the dispute, which started when Chief Justice Roy Moore claimed the court system was in a fiscal crisis. Moore charged the governor and the Legislature had underfunded the courts' $122 million budget by $2.7 million. On April 18, Moore, known for his fights to post the Ten Commandments in public buildings, ordered all civil court jury trials through Sept. 30 halted and limited jury trials in most criminal courts to two weeks. The order took effect April 29. The decision forced delays in everything from million-dollar lawsuits to a long-awaited murder trial from a 1963 church bombing. Siegelman, a Democrat, earlier proposed a $500,000 emergency loan to the state's courts. Moore, a Republican, declined, saying the governor should give the courts $1.2 million from his state departmental emergency fund. Court officials said the money should allow jury trials to return to normal within a month and to continue through the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30. In return, judges pledged to try harder to collect an estimated $112 million in unpaid court fines and fees, including jailing people who refuse to pay. |
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