The short-staffed Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office relies on a quick court with a “menu” of sentences to match minor crimes in order to juggle thousands of cases the office couldn’t otherwise handle.
According to state statistics, the county’s state’s attorney declined to prosecute 75 percent of the 21,404 cases that passed through district court between July 2006 and June 2007. But those statistics do not include the roughly 24,000 cases that were sent to retired Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge Vincent Femia, who oversees the quick turnaround of the so-called “rocket docket,” according to court documents obtained by The Examiner.
Those cases, which cover a wide range of nonviolent charges such as driving while intoxicated, minor drug possession and thefts of less than $500, are pulled from the district courts and sent to Femia who doles out a sentence based on a predetermined formula known as a menu. Nearly 90 percent of those cases result in convictions, a rate that vastly enhances the number of court victories for State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey.
Femia and his rocket docket fill a need in the Prince George’s County judicial system, said Ramon Korionoff, Ivey’s spokesman.
“It’s important to recognize the important role Judge Femia plays in Prince George’s County. … It is a docket that helps keep the flow of cases going,” Korionoff said. Ivey also has created other mechanisms, such as a screening process for complaints made by members of the public against each other, to reduce stress on prosecutors.
Police officers, however, have a different take on the rocket docket, said Vince Canales, president of the police officers union.
“Officers are frustrated that they’re not given the opportunity to express the seriousness of some of these cases,” Canales said. He noted that there’s a sense among his membership that there’s a revolving door in the judicial system that allows offenders to return to the streets almost as soon as they’re taken off.
Meanwhile, Ivey is looking to hire four prosecutors, something the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office has historically not been allowed to do.
A long-imposed state cap on hiring prosecutors in the county will soon be lifted after legislation ending the ban was passed during the last session. Ivey is seeking grants for two of the positions and plans to request county funding for the other two.
