Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Law prompts West Allis courthouse remodeling

By: Beth Kevit, [email protected]//October 15, 2012//

Law prompts West Allis courthouse remodeling

By: Beth Kevit, [email protected]//October 15, 2012//

Listen to this article
State law and a lack of forethought during the original construction has prompted a remodeling project at the West Allis Police and Municipal Court Center. West Allis Judge Paul Murphy says he has a difficult time seeing those who appear before him because of a ledge located directly in front of him when he sits on the bench. (Staff photos by Kevin Harnack)

A remodeling project at the West Allis Police and Municipal Court Center is expected to bring it into compliance with a state law requiring separation of courts and police departments in shared buildings.

Anyone with court-related questions is currently directed to a counter staffed by police officers, who then must go find a court clerk. The clerk then comes back to the same counter to speak with the person.

“You often feel,” Judge Paul Murphy said, “as if you’re dealing with the Police Department instead of the court.”

By changing where people interact with clerks and other legal personnel, potential concerns about the court’s impartiality should be calmed, Murphy said.

The remodel will create a counter exclusively for the court clerks. Ann Drosen, lead court clerk, said defendants have sometimes claimed to have been given misinformation by someone other than herself or Lori Nabrzyski, the other clerk. This new area, Drosen said, will give them more control over what defendants are told.

The remodel also will include office space so Nabrzyski’s desk, albeit just a few steps from Drosen’s office and the courtroom, won’t be in the police station anymore.

Michael Jungbluth, West Allis police chief, acknowledged the possibility that misinformation could have been given in the past. That counter is operated 24/7 by police staff members, Jungbluth said, so they’re available when court clerks are not.

Jungbluth became chief in 2008, and he said he has never received a complaint about an officer giving false court information. However, he said, he understands the arrangement could lead to the perception that the line between police and court activities is muddled.

Those changes, and moving some files, are all that is needed to clarify that line and comply with the law, according to City Attorney Scott Post.

But the remodeling project will go further, such as resolving the problem of the judge’s chambers also being used as a meeting room. Among other improvements, pre-trial conference space will be built behind the new clerk’s counter.

The state law took effect Jan. 1, 2011, and Michael Lewis, the city’s director of public works, said about a year passed before detailed remodeling talks began. He said he became aware of the space problems through the remodeling effort, and West Allis decided to solve everything at the same time.

Sign of the times

When Murphy uses his chambers, the sign identifying him as a judge is displayed outside. When the city attorney or assistant uses the chambers, they place their names over the judge’s to make sure defendants know they are not speaking to the judge.

However, Murphy said, that’s not always enough to stave off problems.

Though he couldn’t recall any formal complaints, he said at least one defendant has appeared in court confused. The defendant, Murphy said, claimed to have spoken with the judge a month before the court date.

When Murphy asked where the defendant had spoken with the judge, the defendant pointed to Murphy’s chambers. When Murphy asked the defendant whom he had spoken to, he said it was a woman.

That means, Murphy said, the defendant met with a female assistant city attorney.

Trail of justice

To reach the courtroom requires walking past two small rooms in a hallway off the main entrance. Those rooms, Post said, were designed for pre-trial conferences, but due to security and privacy concerns, they’re never used for that.

“No thought, really, went into the design of those two rooms,” Post said. “It’s noisy, and you’re totally isolated from the court personnel, especially the bailiff.”

If an altercation were to occur in either of those rooms, the bailiff in the courtroom would not be able to see it. The new pre-trial conference space and another existing meeting room will both be visible from the courtroom.

New meaning to ‘witness stand’

The remodeling effort also will solve another visibility problem in the courtroom.

The witness stand is nothing more than a podium in line with the defense and prosecution, and Post said, it’s hard to see more than a witness’ profile during testimony.

READ OUR RELATED EDITORAL

The remodel includes a portable witness stand with a seat, so attorneys should find talking with a witness easier, Post said. He said he knows witnesses often feel uncomfortable, and standing while they testify can exacerbate that.

Murphy said the witness stand should be portable because trials are held only two days each month. What doesn’t help, he said, is how close the witness stand is to the defense table.

“We have the defendant,” he said, “and the person who’s testifying against them 2 feet away from them.”

The courtroom originally had a permanent witness stand, but that area, to the left and below the judge’s bench, is used by the bailiff. It was more difficult to see witnesses there, Post said.

“Nobody can see the person, including the judge,” he said. “The judge can maybe see the top of their head.”

Murphy described the court’s problems as similar to someone acclimating to a new home. After a while, Murphy said, that homeowner might realize he should have built one more closet or designed a bedroom slightly smaller.

“In hindsight,” he said, “we would have done this a lot different.”

Out of sight

Paul Murphy is the West Allis court’s sole judge, and in nearly a decade on that bench, he said, the view hasn’t changed much.

The way his desk is designed, it’s often difficult to see more than defendants’ or lawyers’ foreheads past the counter in front of him, Murphy said. If he rolls back from the desk, that view shrinks.

What defendants and lawyers do while seated, Murphy said, can directly affect his ruling. He said if he can’t see everyone’s faces, he might miss a key nonverbal message.

“You can’t pick up satire, sarcasm, humor,” he said. “You can’t tell if their eyes are open or closed.”

Lowering that counter was part of an alternate bid that wasn’t included in the contract the council awarded to Burkhart Construction Corp. of Milwaukee, Butler.

Michael Lewis, the city’s director of public works, said the city could take up that project in the future if it continues to hinder Murphy.

“If we do elect a shorter judge in the future,” he said, “we will have to do something.”

— Beth Kevit

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests