Even in Jefferson Parish, which received relatively light damage to its infrastructure, getting back to normal is proving more difficult than many expected.

At the Jefferson Parish courthouse in Gretna, just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans’ handsome Garden District, Clerk of Court Jon A. Gegenheimer points to water stains on his office walls where wind shear blasted around the edges of the glass windows as Katrina passed over the building. The 1958 green-glass-and-steel structure made it through the storm with only minor damage: water on the first floor and fewer than a dozen broken windows. The new modern courthouse next door, where the courts are gradually moving, sustained no visible damage.

Unlike in neighboring Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish had begun the tedious process of scanning records and creating electronic databases in 1992. About two years ago, clerks started transferring title abstracts and land records to electronic formats, and got as far back as the late 1960s. Electronic records, server backups and microfilm were stored off-site in redundant locations. Gegenheimer’s office began offering e-filing in June. So as soon as electricity was restored to the parish, much of the clerk’s operations were online. Indeed, Gegenheimer reports, there was “virtually no interruption” in services.

Despite those steps, the magnitude of the storm simply overwhelmed the court system. “We have taken a big hit financially,” he says, estimating that income for the court, funded largely through filing fees but also from the parish budget, was down in September and October by $1.3 million from the $17 million expected for the year. The courthouse was unable to accept in-office filings for six weeks.

“The whole month of September, this place was virtually a ghost town,” Gegenheimer says. But he didn’t resort to layoffs. He avoided handing out pink slips in part because 40 members of his support staff were displaced by the storm and didn’t return to work. Also, for the first time ever, he required employees to contribute 20 percent of the cost of their health insurance.

Gegenheimer knows that if the economy doesn’t revive, his community may be in real trouble. He is hopeful he will get FEMA grants or loans to relieve some of the financial pressures.

Yet even government assistance won’t help get jury trials, especially for criminal cases, back under way in Gretna. Like New Orleans, though to a lesser extreme, Jefferson Parish needs to have not only a population from which to pull a jury, but also witnesses, defendants and their lawyers in court to resume trials.

By the beginning of this year, most of the 480,000 people who lived in Jefferson Parish before Katrina were expected to have returned. In late 2005 Gegenheimer sent out jury service notices, though he nearly doubled the call from 600 to 1,200 notices in hopes of pulling 120 residents for duty.

Gegenheimer says that by the end of December, the clerk’s office was about 85 percent operational. “In another six months, I think we’ll be back in full operation,” he says. “Then we face the next hurricane season beginning June 1.”

Meanwhile, witnesses, victims and defendants who aren’t in jail were scattered across the U.S. And though FEMA promises to pay for witnesses to return for trials, the tricky part is locating them. Courts have established toll-free numbers for witnesses and defendants to call in.

Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr., whose office had a skeleton crew running within four days of Katrina, has begun to identify and prepare at least 50 cases for trial and to reset court dates postponed because of the storm. As cases are readied, the idea is that criminal defendants who were moved to detention facilities outside of the region will return to the Gretna jail.

By November, the jail was ready to accept detainees, but as of late December the facility, which can house 1,300 inmates, was empty. Why? Because in order to hold detainees, it needs a contract with a local hospital. For most jails in the area, that was the now-shuttered Charity Hospital, which maintained a separate and secure ward for prisoners. A proposal to decentralize indigent and prisoner care from a single hospital system to local and regional hospitals scattered throughout the parishes is now being explored.

Meanwhile, Connick’s office has been busy with new cases—more than 270 looting cases alone—and cleaning house by getting rid of old cases that should have been dismissed long ago. It also has been asked to assist the state attorney general in dealing with the huge influx of habeas claims.

“You plod through it, do what you are able to do,” Connick says. But he also feels a sense of urgency to get the courts functioning again.

“Without the criminal justice system, no matter what you do, you’re going to have total chaos,” Connick says. “You have to have law and order.” That’s why he and so many other prosecutors, judges, lawyers and court system employees have been dedicated to the rebuilding effort.

Just after the storm, Connick was on a ride-along with the police, and he recalls how eerie it was in New Orleans. There were no lights in the city as helicopters, filled mainly by news crews with spotlights, buzzed overhead.

“It was just creepy driving through the French Quarter,” he says. He had a feeling that the “bad guys” could easily take advantage of the situation, knowing there were no courts and that the police wouldn’t be able to handle them. He wanted to be sure would-be criminals got the message that they couldn’t take over.

“That’s why it was important for us to raise the flag on top of our building so we could say, ‘We’re ready to go,’ ” Connick says.

©2006 ABA Journal

JAZZ

Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court JON GEGENHEIMER has created a new electronic filing system that allows attorneys to file civil suits or pleadings via the Internet. The innovation will cut down on storage problems for documents and make attorneys' jobs easier.

Attorneys no longer have to drive to downtown Gretna to file civil suits or pleadings in the 24th Judicial District Court.

Filings can be done online, through a new electronic filing system installed by Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer.

Gegenheimer said some attorneys may be reluctant at first to adapt to the new methods. "But it's going to be like changing from typewriters to word processors some years ago. Once people understood it, they realized it was a lot better. All we are doing is using 21st century technology."

The Times-Picayune -- Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Dear Editor: 

The Times-Picayune’s June 10 opinion piece, “Hand them over,” accuses Louisiana’s clerks of court of attempting to deny citizenry access to public records.  The clerks want to forbid the use of hand-held scanners designed to circumvent payment of per-page copy charges. 

Present law already prohibits the use of personal, Xerox-type copy machines in clerks’ offices.  The proposed law merely recognizes 21^st-century technology and extends the prohibition to hand-held digital copiers.

The newspaper opines: “The desire of clerks of court for revenue shouldn’t trump the public’s right to court records and other documents.”   It then asserts that “building a budget on fees that limit people’s access to public records” is unwarranted.  Those arguments are, mildly put, specious.  The public has always had unfettered, free access to public records.  But unlimited access has never meant the right to receive copies gratis.  Many clerks depend on copy charges to fund the operations of their offices.  They don't, as the newspaper claims, “build their budgets on fees.”  Their budgets depend on fees.  Clerks of court receive little or no tax revenues to fund their operations.

I hasten to add that, in Jefferson Parish, access to public records has been enlarged vastly.  The law recognizes the right to view public records at no charge from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays.  Today, the public can examine Jefferson Parish records at any time on any day via remote access.  There is a charge for this enhanced access.   But the charge isn’t, as the newspaper’s editorial staff would probably say, designed to “prop up the clerk’s budget.”  The assessment, rather, is the only way that we can fund the sophisticated software development and the equipment necessary to provide an immensely enhanced service. 

Dear Editor: 

The January 13 execution-style murder at the Earhart-South Claiborne intersection is yet another black-on-black homicide linked to the drug trade, a calamity that has plagued us for too long. 

There are only three options in the struggle against illicit narcotics:  (1) the current, demonstrably ineffective “war on drugs”, (2) legalization (decriminalization), and (3) a user-level approach aimed at reducing drug demand. 

We must admit the futility of the hapless, obscenely expensive drug war, and our experience with legalization (witness alcohol and nicotine) tells us to reject that specious proposal.  Option three is another matter, but most policy makers have shunned it. 

Without the demand for drugs, there can be no drug trade.  There is compelling evidence that random drug testing in the schools (beginning at the eighth grade) and workplaces significantly reduces demand.  But civil libertarians object to random testing on “privacy” grounds, and they have thus far prevailed in the judicial arena in those cases involving public schools and workplaces.  Random testing restricted to the private sector does little to solve the problem.   

A question is in order:  What do the ACLU and the Cassandras who support its position propose that we do about the corrosive effects of drugs?

Jon A. Gegenheimer, Clerk of Court, Jefferson Parish

Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon A. Gegenheimer was elected as the 41st president of the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association by his fellow clerks in Monroe, Louisiana on March 22, 2003.

Mr. Gegenheimer will direct the Association's office for the next year.  He is especially interested in legislative reform that will focus on streamlining the justice system and modernizing the courts.

The Honorable Jay C. Zainey, U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Louisiana, administered the oath of office at a ceremony attended by the clerks of court for Louisiana's 64 parishes.  Mr. Gegenheimer replaces out-going president Carolyn Ryland of Rapides Parish.

But soon, prospective jurors will be able to watch the video on their home computers, getting an advance look at the basic workings of the judicial system, Jefferson Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer said.

The seven-minute video, recently updated with new information, will be available within a week or two on the clerk of court's web site, jpclerkofcourt.us, Gegenheimer said.

"When the video becomes available on the web site, people can view it at home before arriving at the courthouse, and they therefore will know what's going to happen," he said.  Jurors can also access the site for directions from their front door to the courthouse in Gretna.

Gegenheimer's web site already has received international recognition for its features and innovations, which include the posting of quick returns on election nights.

The clerk of court also said he is working to have the jury duty video shown periodically on Jefferson Parish's public access channel, Channel 8, on Cox Cable.

The video, with brief introductions by Gegenheimer and Judge Melvin Zeno, chief judge of the 24th Judicial District Court, gives prospective jurors an overview of the judicial system by showing highlights of a brief mock trial.  Jurors are informed about how they are selected, how trials proceed, and what happens in deliberations. They also are given practical tips about the availability of free parking for jurors in the new Jefferson Parish government complex parking garage on Derbigny Street, monetary compensation for jurors and other matters.

"For a lot of people, performing jury duty is like going to a foreign country," Gegenheimer said. "They really don't know what goes on here, and we believe the video will help them out a lot."

Joe Darby can be reached at jdarby@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3786.

Following is Clerk of Court Gegenheimer's letter to the editor of the Times-Picayune, where he responded to false accusations about jury selection.

Dear Editor:

The December 24 Times-Picayune article, “Attorney:  Jury pool list biased,” is quite open to question. 

Counsel for defendant Lawrence Jacobs offered the columnist the false notion that “the Jefferson Parish jury list contains [over] 830,000 names, “almost double the parish’s population.  Counsel says that duplicate names account for the inflated list; and, accordingly, since the parish is 70% white, most of the duplicate names are whites, and blacks are less likely to be called for jury selection. 

That argument is specious, but, in any event, here are the facts.  The jury list at the time surrounding Mr. Jacobs’ 1998 conviction for capital murder contained about 180,000 eligible citizens gleaned from voter registration and drivers’ license rolls.  75.43% were white, and 19.59% were black.  The 2000 census reveals a voting-age population (jurors must be voting-age) breakdown of 73.4% white and 19.7% black.  Jefferson’s jury list is wholly reflective of that distribution. 

Counsel overlooks the fundamental truth:  Each potential juror is (randomly) selected by juror identification number as an individual, not as a member of any group.  The selection process is unqualifiedly colorblind.  That is a fact; and, as John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things.”                                                                                    

Following is Mr. Gegenheimer's letter to the editor of the Times-Picayune, when he responded to misstatements made by the Metropolitan Crime Commission in one of its reports on the court system.

Dear Editor:

The Metropolitan Crime Commission's recent findings concerning the Jefferson Parish judiciary's efficient administration of its criminal docket are, for the most part, well taken.  I take issue, however, with the commission's gratuitous assertion that "better training of clerks of court...is needed."

The commission assigns the court an impressive B+ rating, based largely on its wholly appropriate finding that the Jefferson Parish bench fairly and efficaciously disposes of major criminal cases.  Yet, the commission injudiciously neglects to say that the judges are efficient largely because the clerk of court's employees are efficient.

The commission's analysis inexplicably ignores a major player in the justice scenario: the system software designer, an independent contractor selected by the court and the clerk to write the complicated codes that drive case management.

Despite the clerk of court's continual admonition, the system designer failed to consult the court clerks at-large in formulating the new code-driven case-management system.  Instead, it focused on the unique insight and experience of only one court division.  Predictably, after system implementation, the neglected clerks struggled; and that situation led to the commission's unwarranted and misleading conclusion that "better training of clerks of courts is needed.

The commission's report is good work, and I applaud that body's efforts.  But I hope that, in connection with future assessments, it directs proper attention to the practices of the system designer.

Following is a letter that Mr. Gegenheimer submitted to the editor of the Times-Picayune.

The recent courthouse fire in Plaquemines Parish is a telling reminder of the predominant problem confronting the keepers of public records:  paper.  Paper has become a bad idea.  It wastes time and space and is at the mercy of arsonists and natural disasters. 

Fortunately, we no longer need paper as a records-storage medium.  Information technology has enabled us to re-invent data preservation, storage, and retrieval at affordable prices.  But resistance to computers and their appurtenances persists, especially in the public sector where Luddites too often call the shots. 

In 1991, the clerk of court in Jefferson Parish summoned attention to the inefficiency and vulnerability of paper records and advocated the development of an integrated computer network for the criminal justice system.  That proposal has been actuated, and criminal case-management advances in Jefferson were recently recognized by the Metropolitan Crime Commission. 

The time has come for the bench and bar to advance further by abandoning the anachronistic paper standard in favor of electronic filing and the electronic presentation of evidence at trials.  A pilot project aimed at effecting this seismic shift is under way in Jefferson Parish.  Unless the Luddites get in the way, that crucial enterprise will eventually free us from the paper strangle-hold.