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	Podcast:		NHPR News Features
	Episode:		Defense Attorneys Push Back Against Court Efficiency Effort
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:
	Publish Date:		2015-04-14 20:24:10
	Description:		For more than a decade leaders in New Hampshire’s courts have been trying to modernize the state’s judicial system. In 2001 they began a major effort to digitized files. More recently, they’ve consolidated the lower courts. On Thursday, the House begins hearings on an effort to speed up felony prosecutions. Although the bill would create a trial phase in just two counties, debate over the proposed change is rippling through the state’s criminal justice community. How It Works Now Today, felony arrests begin in the lower Circuit court, with an arraignment and bail hearing. Later, police, defendants, attorneys and judges all show up for a probable cause hearing, although Superior Court Chief Justice Tina Nadeau calculates defense attorneys waive these 83 percent of the time. Then, to be prosecuted, the cases get sent over to the Superior Court “where we start all over again,” says Judge Nadeau. “There’s another arraignment, another bail hearing, and then a judge who has the authority to
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