Issue #50, March 23, 2007

SAG HARBOR GIVES UP THE IDEA OF HOLDING COURT

By David Stoll

Sag Harbor Village has decided not to create a Justice Court of its own, at least for now. Because the village has no Justice Court, when a person is arrested in that Village, all court appearances must take place in Southampton or East Hampton, not in Sag Harbor. This includes the arraignment, various status conferences and, if it gets that far, the trial. Depending on whether the person was arrested in the Southampton or East Hampton side of Sag Harbor, the Southampton Town Justice Court or the East Hampton Town Justice Court will handle the case. This arrangement has created certain problems, so Sag Harbor began considering creating its own Justice Court in 2005. However, many of those problems recently have been alleviated, or so it seems. For that reason, the Justice Court concept has been temporarily, and perhaps permanently, dropped.

The problems that sparked the drive toward having a Justice Court largely stem from the happenstance that Main Street, where most of the restaurants and bars are located, is on the Southampton side of the Village. Nearly 90 percent of all Sag Harbor Village arrests take place on the Southampton side and are sent to the Southampton Justice Court, which is already busy with Town cases. Because of a huge backlog of cases, often Court hearings are adjourned for months at a time, stringing out an already stressful process far longer than people reasonably might expect.

While these delays affect all people who appear before the Southampton Justice Court, not just those in Sag Harbor, Sag Harbor residents pay Village taxes and expect their representatives to provide, among other things, an efficient justice system. In addition, not having a Justice Court in Sag Harbor means that Village residents must travel out of the Village 12 miles into Southampton (or sometimes 6 miles to East Hampton) to appear in Court. While many Town residents must travel an even greater distance, depending on where they live, they are not also paying Village taxes to live in a fairly tiny area.

Yet an additional problem exists. Because there is no Justice Court in the Village, anytime a Sag Harbor Village police officer needs to appear in court — such as to bring a prisoner to an arraignment or other hearing, or even to testify at a trial — the Village must pay for the travel, incurring added costs. To make matters worse, the Town of Southampton was giving serious consideration to moving the Justice Court from Hampton Road in Southampton Village to even further away, in Hampton Bays. This would exacerbate the travel-related cost and the inconvenience to Sag Harbor residents.

Since Sag Harbor began its consideration of creating a Justice Court for all of these reasons, some of the problems have resolved themselves, thanks to a series of decisions made by the Town of Southampton. Most importantly, the Town has added a fourth Justice to the Court. While a single Justice might not make a big difference to a large court, the Town has expanded its Court fully by one-quarter, providing substantial relief to the other Justice and enabling the backlog to clear much faster.

In addition, the Town no longer plans to move the Justice Court to Hampton Bays. While this decision does not resolve the current travel inconveniences, at least things are not going to become worse. Also, the Town may install videoconferencing, if State Assemblyman Fred Thiele can push through legislation making video arraignments legal. This would enable Village police officers to attend arraignments from the Sag Harbor police station.

Establishing a Justice Court in Sag Harbor would be expensive, not only in up-front costs to create an appropriate space, but also in the ongoing costs of paying the various court officials. With all of the problems that had existed, the expense associated with a Village Justice Court seemed well worth incurring. But now that justice will be dispensed more quickly and videoconferencing may be in place by the summer — and with loud complaints about increasing Village property taxes — a Village Justice Court seems more like an extravagance.

Even so, the Village can revive the concept any time. The work that has already been done does not have to be repeated. Village officials will not make any further decision until the videoconferencing plan becomes a reality or is ditched. During the waiting time, they can consider whether the fourth Justice is making a big difference. If, down the road, it makes sense to create a Village Justice Court after all, the Village will simply pick up where it left off.