Los Angeles County Court officials announced late last week that due to budgetary shortfalls of up to $85 million, they are forced to close 10 LA County community courthouses, including Avalon’s Courthouse on Sumner.
Los Angeles County Court officials announced late last week that due to budgetary shortfalls of up to $85 million, they are forced to close 10 LA County community courthouses, including Avalon’s Courthouse on Sumner.
These closures are reported to begin immediately with layoffs of some court employees, and be completed by June 30 of 2013 when all 10 courthouses will close their doors. This announcement comes on the heels of a similar order which saw 56 courtrooms countywide close their doors in June of this year. This resulted in more than 350 LA County court employees losing their jobs, judges seeing their case load double in some areas, and many more employees being moved from full-time work to part-time status.
The Catalina Courthouse joins nine others throughout southern California who were named the next to have to close their doors. Although we are certainly not immune from large countywide decisions such as this, the impact will be felt perhaps no greater than here, on Catalina Island.
The Avalon courthouse has existed for 50 years, operating on Fridays. The current presiding Judge Peter Mirich has been a fixture on the bench serving our town and its people for a quarter of a century.
“He has served our town for so long and knows our unique needs and community issues,” said Lt. Doug Fetterrol of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s Avalon headquarters. “He certainly has his hand on the pulse of this community.”
Although court is only held in Avalon on Fridays, there are on average 30-40 criminal cases heard each week on top of the juvenile cases and the civil cases which include small claims matters and restraining orders.
These cases range from criminal, including assault and battery, drunk driving, drug possession, all the way down to simple tickets given to youth who were not wearing their helmet while riding their bike home from school.
Regardless of the charge, when one needs to appear in court, it is a simple walk down to 215 Sumner Ave.
Facing the courthouse closing, Avalon residents will experience a change when it comes to any of these court procedures.
Anyone required to appear in court, whether it is a defendant (and/or their parents in some juvenile cases), a witness who has been subpoenaed to appear to testify regarding the case, the arresting officer, or family and friends who are there for moral support, all parties will soon have to travel to the mainland for court proceedings. Many courts begin at 8 a.m.
Meanwhile, there are no boats that leave the Island early enough to arrive on the mainland and get Avalon residents into their required courtroom by that time.
Therefore, it appears many defendants will need to travel to the mainland the night before and arrange lodging. For those subpoenaed to appear at a court proceeding, failure to appear would result in a warrant being issued for their arrest.
Part of the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s mission statement addresses accessibility. It specifically says the court’s mission is to “Equally serve all people and consistently work to identify and remove barriers to access.”
