Legal News

Phila. Criminal Case Clerk Now Formally Part of FJD

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

At 10:44 a.m. today, the centuries-old Philadelphia Clerk of Quarter Sessions ceased to be an independently elected office as Mayor Michael A. Nutter signed legislation that officially merged the clerk into the First Judicial District.

Now, the clerical function for criminal and civil cases are under the court's control.

The Clerk of Quarter Sessions became a figurehead when Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, followed by Philadelphia Common Pleas President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe, issued orders in March transferring all the duties and functions from Quarter Sessions to the FJD. The orders were precipitated by concerns over the office's management of criminal remittances and criminal case paperwork. By the end of the month, former Clerk of Quarter Sessions Vivian Miller, an elected official, announced her retirement. Miller's first deputy and daughter, Robin Jones, also left the office.

Prothonotary Joseph Evers, who has been running the Quarter Sessions' office along with First Deputy Prothonotary Debbie Dailey since the spring, said that the office was short-staffed and he has filled positions authorized by the budget. There are now 106 employees, up from 91, Evers said.

?We brought more people in to do a better job,? Evers said.

Since the changeover, over $1 million more than usual has been collected in forfeited bail, Evers said.

As Philadelphia rolls out a zoned court system aligning courtrooms with the city's detective divisions, ?we need a clerk in each courtroom,? Dembe said.

Accounting firm Ernst & Young was retained by the FJD to review the Quarter Sessions' books, Dembe said. ?They found nothing they thought we should take to the U.S. Attorney or the District Attorney,? Dembe said. ?While the accounting was non-existent or difficult to trace, there was no indication of anyone walking off with bags of money.?

Dembe said she had no interest in merging Ronald R. Donatucci's operation of the clerk for the Orphans' Court division into the FJD's control.

?I don't see why,? Dembe said. ?He's doing fine.?

?Taxpayers have the right to expect low-cost, high performance? in governmental functions, said Nutter of his support for merging Quarter Sessions into the FJD.

A bill is still pending in Philadelphia City Council to transfer this fiscal year's general fund appropriations of $4.5 million from the Clerk of Quarter Sessions to the FJD.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on October 12, 2010 (boomark / email).