Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

District Enjoys Single Status

There has been talk about splitting the Eighth Judicial District, merging Nevada and Hempstead counties with Clark County.

Currently, Clark County is a single judicial district, the 9th. Should the split and merger be approved by the Judicial Realignment Commission, and passed by the General Assembly, the Ninth Judicial District would be composed of Clark, Nevada and Hempstead counties.

The 8th Judicial District would be Miller and Lafayette counties.

Henry Morgan, prosecuting attorney in the 9th district, opposed the possible change. Morgan, speaking at Gurdon's Rotary Club meeting Thursday, Jan. 22, talked about the disadvantages Clark County would incur, basically saying there would be no advantages involved.

He said more than 30 percent of the cases in the 8th District are two years old or older, while the figure for Clark County, as a single judicial district, is 3 percent.

According to Morgan, the 9th Judicial District Judge handles 1,900 cases per year, as compared to about 1,600 per judge per year in the 8th district.

However, there are four judges in the 8th Judicial District each handling 1,600 cases per year, totalling 6,400 criminal cases annually for the district.

Morgan informed the club of the problems which could be created in getting arraignments. With the one-county district, he said, there is no problem finding a judge to sign warrants or get arraignments.

In fact, he said, he can go across the street from his office to the courthouse and get anything he needs to do done.

"We've been trying a lot more cases," Morgan said, "with fewer plea bargains. Our juries are letting people know they're not sympathetic with sentencing."

People in Clark County, Morgan said, are charged and brought to trial within a month unless there is an objection registered by the defense attorney. Then, he added, it could take two or three months for a case to come to trial.

If a case is not prosecuted within a year, Morgan told the members, it can be thrown out of court because of the speedy trial law.

He pointed out there were 200 such dismissals in Hot Spring County last year because they didn't get to trial fast enough. This is not a problem in Clark County, he said, because of the county's uniqueness in being a single county judicial district.

"Our jurisdiction works well," he said. "We don't need the trouble they (the 8th Judicial District) have attached to us. They want to do this immediately, so we can help take care of their mess."

Should the redistricting be done, he said, Clark County's prosecutors would have to travel to Nevada and Hempstead counties.

He said such a measure would also distract his and the judge's office from the plans they have for Clark County.

One of these plans, Morgan informed the club members, is the juvenile court system. He said the problem continues to grow in the state.

There are 200 beds for youthful offenders in the training school, he said, but there are 10,000 juvenile cases annually statewide.

Morgan said these young people need to have more options available than either being sent to the training center or turned loose on the streets. He suggested using them in community service programs, much like adult offenders are utilized

"They need to know they've been punished," he said. "We can't do this if we're distracted."

According to Morgan, the idea for the realignment may have come from Miller County's political system. He said Sen. Wayne Dowd is on the Judicial Committee, which will review the issue if a bill is introduced to the assembly this session.

Because Hempstead and Nevada counties are close together, he said, they do business with one another. He said if the merger is done, the district judge will probably come from Hope, as will the prosecuting attorney.

This, he said, would mean Clark County officials would have to go to Hope to get court orders signed. The judge, he said, would make regular visits to Clark County, but this wouldn't make up from having a sitting judge available daily as the current situation has it.

According to Morgan, Rep. Percy Malone and State Sen. Mike Ross, along with Sen. George Hopkins, are opposed to the merger.

However, he suggested the Rotarians get in touch with other legislators and voice their opposition as well. "I'm afraid they'll start making deals," he said, because this issue will not be important to the vast majority of legislators.

He pointed out Clark County's Hot Check violators pay about $160,000 in restitution annually to the area's merchants, saying this figure in Hope is about $40,000.

"If they separate Hempstead and Nevada counties," Morgan said, "they don't need to be put with us. Single county districts work well. There's more accountability.

"You (the people) know who's doing their job in smaller districts and can make changes faster."

Morgan said the Clark County Quorum Court, Clark County Bar Association, Arkadelphia City Council and Caddo Valley City Council have all stated their opposition to a merger.

"Clark County is the fifth busiest court in the state," he said. "We don't need any changes. We're at the top in all categories with cases, and rarely dismiss cases. We send drug dealers to prison with long sentences. There hasn't been a murder in Arkadelphia in three years, and the last one was found guilty."

Morgan said there are no unsolved murders in Clark County, while there are six or seven in Nevada County. Hope, he continued, is out of control with drugs.

"We're not without problems,"he said, "which is why we're working on the juvenile problem. A merger would be bad news for Clark County."

Robert McAllister, who was appointed to fill Judge Dub Arnold's term after he was elected to a higher office in Nov., agreed the county's legal system is working well and doesn't need to be changed.

He said civil cases are heard within two or three months, while most criminal cases go to court in a month, either with a plea bargain or for trial.

"I don't want to travel to Hope two or three times a week," he said.

McAllister said multi-county districts have logistical problems in setting trials, because there are more judges involved. He added it would also be more for the county expensive because of the transporting of suspects to Hempstead County and time away for the officers involved. It also costs more when trials are delayed, he said, due to having to house prisoners longer.

With faster trials and sentencing, he said, there is less expense to Clark County because once a suspect is found guilty and sentenced, they become the state's responsibility and the county is reimbursed for holding them until they are taken to the state penitentiary.

"I hope the legislature does the right thing and leaves the district the way it is," he said.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith informed the Rotarians the city pay