Court is not in session: LAX move to cost city
SM COURTHOUSE — The criminals here have left the building, never to return again.
The Santa Monica Courthouse has seen the last of its accused drunk drivers, trespassers, code violators, burglars, shoplifters and every other criminal who has violated the law in Santa Monica. Starting next week, they’ll either be shipped to the Airport Courthouse, courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, or will have to find their own way to court.
And City Hall’s five prosecutors, the county’s public defenders and the criminal court judge say they will face longer commutes, as well as the countless witnesses who will be forced to travel to LAX to testify.
Officials estimate moving the criminal court out of Santa Monica will cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it’s not just about the money — Santa Monica’s community courtroom is gone forever, as is the convenience and efficiency of handling criminal matters in the same city where the cases were filed, officials said.
“There is something to be said about what a real community courtroom does,” said City Attorney Marsha Moutrie. “It is the public’s courtroom where the social contract by which we live is upheld, and I don’t like the symbol of that being remote.”
Los Angeles County officials announced in April that all criminal court cases would move to the Airport Courthouse to save an estimated $769,000 in security costs annually. Santa Monica’s move is part of a larger reshuffling of the entire Los Angeles Superior Court system, with some courthouses closing altogether. The Santa Monica Courthouse will pick up the caseload from there. In addition to shutting down courthouses in Culver City, Monrovia and South Gate, lock-up facilities at the Malibu and Huntington Park courthouses will also close shop. Lock-up facilities are used at courthouses for prisoners when they are waiting to appear before a judge.
“Lock-ups are extremely expensive to run because deputy sheriffs have to staff them and the Airport Courthouse has a state-of-the-art facility,” said Los Angeles Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini. “From a financial standpoint, this is a very easy call... Any corporate executive would do the same.
“We are consolidating our services,” he added. “Santa Monica is expensive and old.”
Combined with plans to move criminal cases out of Santa Monica, the closures are expected to net about $3 million in security savings. Another $1.1 million will be cut from the budget for perimeter security, meaning longer waits getting in and out of some courthouses, according to officials.
“The county, they’re saving something, but we’re picking up the tab,” said Deputy City Attorney David Armstrong, who prosecutes criminal cases for City Hall.
Armstrong and his four colleagues will now have to drive the extra distance to their jobs. As a result, City Hall was forced to rent office space at the Airport Courthouse to the tune of more than $12,000 a year. Moutrie estimates that the added travel time for deputy city attorneys will be about 1 1/2 hours a day.
“I was worried about the time the deputies would spend going back and forth,” she said, adding they handle about 100 cases a week. “The volume of cases they handle can make their daily calendars very busy.”
Like many officials in Santa Monica, the attorneys are not pleased that they have to spend their time commuting instead of working on cases.
“This has been a real morale buster,” Moutrie said. “But they are very good soldiers, they will do what they have to do.”
And while city attorneys and court personnel grin and bear the changes, criminals might just buck the system. Armstrong predicts that many of the accused — especially vagrants picked up on a myriad of violations — will fail to appear in court because of the distance.
“A little less than half are never going to make it (to the LAX court),” said Armstrong, adding that bench warrants will have to be issued and the no-shows will have to be jailed so they can be transported to court by the sheriff. The Santa Monica Police Department, located just steps away from the local courthouse, will now have to pay $70,000 to the sheriff’s department every year for the cost of prisoner transport.
Moutrie and others expect many witnesses will also fail to appear, or decide altogether not to press charges because their involvement in the case requires a bigger time commitment.
On Thursday, as the final day of criminal court proceeded, movers shuffled in and out of the courtroom, hauling files and boxes to a truck to be transported to the Airport Courthouse. Between judgments on drunk driving and probation cases, Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins temporarily halted criminal proceedings to instruct movers on what to take.
Red and gold balloons adorned the otherwise brown and subdued courtroom, while defendants sat quietly awaiting their sentences. After municipal violations were completed, Judge Kamins moved downstairs to another courtroom to deal with defendants in custody. For the past few months, Judge Kamins has had to use different courtrooms for prisoners because of security concerns resulting from a $4 million renovation occurring at the courthouse.
The last defendants were led into the courtroom wearing an assortment of green, blue and yellow prison jumpsuits. Judge Kamins started the proceedings by lecturing them of their rights and the maximum penalties they faced. They eventually were given their sentences and will see Judge Kamins next time near LAX.
The types of people that come through criminal court run the gamut, but some defendants remain constant.
“We have some that go off the deep end and they’re back in here, it’s a revolving door,” said a courtroom worker, who asked not be identified. “You get a lot of people who are crazy and you need an even-tempered person on the bench. “(Judge Kamins) is a prince, he doesn’t get rifled from anything.”
Judge Kamins, who has presided over criminal cases for nearly a decade, oversees between 80 and 180 cases each day, adding that anywhere from seven to 28 of those cases involve suspected criminals in custody. The decision to move the courtroom, which hears only misdemeanor offenses, comes a year after all felony cases were transferred to the LAX Courthouse.
A native of the westside and former public defender who has served on the bench for 19 years, Judge Kamins attempts to change criminals’ behavior through rehabilitation and punishment, when necessary. Although the criminal court staff will move with Judge Kamins, he said he’ll miss Santa Monica, especially since he lives in Malibu and the commute was relatively short.
“There is much sadness,” he said. “I’ve been here 10 years. But I’m excited about the challenges at the airport.”
Judge Kamins, court staff and attorneys spent Friday familiarizing themselves with their new surroundings and learning all the different “catacombs” in the new courthouse. What they won’t find, however, is a bustling business district like downtown Santa Monica where there are plenty of choices for lunch. The Airport Courthouse is surrounded by LAX and has only a cafeteria for food options.
It makes no difference to Judge Kamins, though. His wife packs his lunch every day with health food.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.