CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The State's Office of Court Administration sent Nueces County $900,000 to run an auxiliary court to clear out the backlog of criminal cases slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The court focuses on clearing out the criminal-case backlog in district courts that are at least 100 days old.
After two months Judge Sandra Watts, who heads that court, said that she has been able to make a definite change in the case backlog.
"It's a very limited docket with the idea of 'Just push those cases until they get resolved,' and I am the pusher," she said.
Watts presided over the 117th District Court judge for some 20 years until she said she was forced to retire from the bench because of her age. Now that she is in charge of managing a large backlog of cases, Watt takes every detail into account before making a decision.
"This is my trial docket for 12/12," she said. "The cases, how many days they have been in jail, who are the defense attorneys and how many cases I'm gonna dispose of for each defendant."
One case that Watts has handled since she started the court proceedings back on Oct. 3 is the sentencing of Richard Ramon Jr., who was charged with sexual assault of a child. Ramon pled guilty, and the judge gave him seven years in state jail. Watts said she has a 'rocket docket' designed to move old cases like this one at lightning speed.
"This is how many trials I did, how many pleas I did, how many dismissals, how many withdrawals and this is the number of charges that have been disposed of in 60 days," she said.
Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales feels that the need for the auxiliary court will certainly be backed up by the statistics.
"It will serve as a way to do a benefit cost analysis so that you can say 'hey, is the money spent on the administration of this court worth it?' And the answer, of course it will be if you move cases," she said.
Since Watts has taken charge, 197 charges have taken off the books within a two-month period. The quick initiative is helping to cutdown on the number of jail inmates.
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