Arraignment battle over new courthouse
The 30 miles that separate the northern reaches of Alameda County and a new $147 million courthouse in Dublin, which opened this week, have divided the county’s underfunded court system and its public defender over how to handle in-custody criminal arraignments.
The top judge in the sprawling East Bay county, Morris Jacobson, said he first floated an idea in 2014 to move such inmate arraignments — which average about 50 a day throughout Alameda County — to Dublin at the East County Hall of Justice.
Criminal arraignments for those arrested in areas such as Oakland have long been held at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland.
Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods, and a new coalition of 28 nonprofits, politicians and other groups aligned behind him, say that arrangement is crucial for defendants arrested in the north part of the county.
The coalition argues that an arraignment, the initial court appearance for defendants, is one of the most significant stages of a criminal case. The introductory proceeding is a judge’s first opportunity to lay eyes on a defendant and gauge the support of family and friends, they say.
It is also when criminal charges are formally announced by the district attorney’s office, when many defendants who can’t afford a private attorney get assigned a public defender and when the court sets bail.
The judge is not required to allow acquaintances of the defendant to address the court, but he or she sometimes permits the practice.
Under the new rules, if a person is arrested around Oakland, that means family members, especially those with lower incomes who may not own a vehicle, must travel a long distance to attend the hearings. A BART ride between West Oakland Station and Dublin/Pleasanton Station costs $9 and can take well over three hours round-trip.
“In our system, there is always a presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” Woods said. “Not everyone who’s in custody is guilty of something, and so when you move those things out ... it makes for a strain on the family members, because oftentimes individuals, who do have jobs, they can’t take off to travel farther distances.”
In a letter obtained by The Chronicle sent Tuesday by Jacobson to Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, the judge wrote that “we should be most concerned” about Oakland defendants, who under the existing system are awakened at 3 a.m. from Santa Rita Jail to be bused to Oakland for arraignments. And back.
Cognizant of growing tensions, Jacobson asked for Chan’s help in “reaching a solution” to arraign defendants in Oakland. He proposed as one fix that the Board of Supervisors allocate $2 million to the court for clerks to staff local arraignments.
Another alternative suggested by the judge is to place inmates arrested around Oakland in the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility, which is connected to the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse by an underground tunnel where inmates are shuttled back and forth.
But Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the sheriff ’s office, said that’s not practical. Increasing staffing at Glenn Dyer would cost $3 million, and much of the space is already used by the U.S. Marshals Service, he said. Even then, the Oakland facility can hold only about 500 inmates. The Santa Rita Jail averages about 2,100 inmates a day.
Tirien Steinbach, executive director of the East Bay Community Law Center, which signed Woods’ petition, said moving the arraignments to Dublin will be catastrophic to low-income minorities who are arrested at disproportionate rates.
“When politicians stand on a stage, they stand up with their families and their supporters for a reason,” Steinbach said.
The Dublin facility, the first new courthouse in Alameda County in decades, is expected to be fully operational by the end of July, when incustody arraignments will begin.
Jacobson defended the consolidation for the severely underfunded court system. County courts have weathered eight straight years of budget cuts, dropping from a $125 million budget in fiscal year 2008-09 to just $76 million this fiscal year.
The judge said court employees have been slashed from a height of 950 to about 650. He said the shift will help the court — and the Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office, which houses and transports inmates — save money.
Inmates now arrested in Oakland are housed in the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin adjacent to the new courthouse and transported in cuffs on diesel buses all the way to Oakland to be arraigned.
Kelly said the 300 yards from the Dublin courthouse to the Santa Rita Jail will save time, he was not so sure about money.
“In certain areas, it will save money,” Kelly said. “But salary- and staffwise, I don’t know that it will. Officers still work eight hours a day, regardless of transportation.”