Houston County Circuit Criminal Court Jury Trials

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
[email protected]
334-790-1729
Date: Nov 04 2013 11:45 AM

HOUSTON COUNTY:    Today marks the beginning of Huston County Circuit Court Criminal Jury Trials.

Each month four of the five Circuit Court Judges hold criminal jury trials while one Judge holds a week of Civil jury trials.

This month judge Kevin Moulton docket is Civil Jury Trials. The other Circuit Court Judges - Judge Anderson, Judge Binford, and Judge Mendheim each will hold Criminal Jury Trials. Each case tried will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney’s and District Attorney Doug Valeska.

Judge Conaway will handle  other matter and has no criminal jury trials scheduled before him this week.

Judge Larry Anderson has 68 criminal jury trials on his docket for the week. The trials before Judge Anderson include cases such as Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Controlled Substance, Burglary, Receiving Stolen Property, Theft of Property, Rape in the first degree, Robbery in the first degree, Sodomy in the first degree, Attempted Murder, Unlawful Manufacture of a Controlled Substance Unlawful Manufacturing of a Controlled Substance, Trafficking In Marijuana, Assault in First Degree, Sex Abuse, Discharging Gun Into Occupied Dwelling, Domestic Strangulation.

Judge Binford has 21 criminal jury trials on his docket for the week. The cases before Judge Binfird this week include Felony Domestic Violence, Possession of Marijuana, Theft By Deception, Sex Offender Notification Act, Possessionf Marijuana, Possession of a Forged Instrument, Possession of Cocaine, Unlawful Distribution/Furnishing of a Controlled Substance, Sodomy, Sexual Torture, Electronic Solicitation of a Child,, Assault, and Receiving Stolen Property.

Judge Mendheim has 72 criminal jury trials on his docket for the week. The cases before Judge Brad Mendheim include cases such as Theft of Property, Unlawful Manufacturing of a Controlled Substance, Trafficking, Domestic Violence, Burglary, Breaking and Entering In to A Motor Vehicle, Possession of a Forged Instrument, Chemical Endangerment of a Child, Fraudulant Use Credit/Debit Card, Possession of Cocaine, Distribution/Sale Drugs, Obstruct Justice, Making a Terroist Threat, Promote Prison Prison Contraband.

HOW DOES CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS WORK

A Judge has 72 cases. Now that is 72 cases but not 72 people.  One person can have, and many do, multiple cases against them. Some of the cases are continued because of issues relating to their cases.

Those issues which can cause continuances can include evidence not back from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, attorney conflicts in cases in other courts, witness issues. and many more. 

Those persons wanting to enter a plea of guilt can do so this week. The Judges take those pleas before starting jury trials.

All cases on the docket might not be reached for trial. An example is a Judges docket, like Judge Mendheim, consists of 19 pages for the week. A case on page 4 of his docket might go to trial and take the rest of the week. That would mean all other cases would be forced to be continued until the next month for jury trial.

We are monitoring the cases this week and will be updating.

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