1 For district court motor vehicle cases, the guidelines
adopted by the Supreme Court in 1996 were 30 days less than each of the numbers
above. This is because the guidelines begin measuring case age from the first
court appearance rather than filing. The current automated system does not have
the date of first court appearance. In general motor vehicle offenses are initially
set for the officer's next court date, and the first court appearance will normally
be within 30 days of the case filing. Therefore, since the CPMS measures age from
filing, 30 days are added to the times established in the guidelines. The Supreme
Court Order did not set guidelines for infractions. The CPMS uses the same times
for infractions as it does for motor vehicle misdemeanors, although infractions will
generally have shorter disposition times (largely because so many are waived/uncontested).
2 For district court felonies, Supreme Court Guidelines state
that indictment should occur within 90 days of arrest. However, for these district
court ages, the CPMS cannot use the time of indictment, because many felony cases are
disposed in district court, and become superior court cases, before indictment. This
will happen, for example, if the defendant waives the right to have the district court
determine that probable cause exists. Also, a felony could be disposed in district
court by a finding of no probable cause, in which case again it is disposed in district
court without an indictment. This measure, therefore, is for disposition (rather than
indictment) to occur within 90 days of filing. For more explanation
(definitions) click here.
3 For superior court felonies, the 1996 Supreme Court guidelines
measure the time from indictment to disposition. The CPMS measures from transfer from
district to superior court, whether by indictment or otherwise. Many cases become superior
court cases before indictment. This happens often when a defendant waives the right to have
probable cause found by a district court judge; during fiscal 2003-04, this occurred in 22%
of the felony cases, nearly 20,000 cases. Such cases are treated as disposed in district court;
if indictment were the triggering event, these cases would not be counted by the CPMS at all in
superior court, until indictment, which could be significantly later. Therefore, for the CPMS a
superior court felony case is considered filed, and the age of the case begins, on the date the
case is transferred from district court to superior court. In some cases this will be earlier
than the time of indictment contemplated in the Supreme Court Guidelines.
