MORGANTOWN — Magistrate Ron Bane has held 715 hearings in the first three months of 2021. That’s according to his “quarterly court card,” which was released Friday with the goals of engaging the public and building a database of the court’s workload to support an increased number of magistrates for the county.
“Based on those numbers … looking over the past three months, it seems like we’re emerging as a community and a society from the pandemic,” Vote Bane Chair Wes Nugent said. “The numbers have been stepping up progressively.”
Bane said the numbers on the court card are per hearing, or docket time. So, for example, one case could appear for a misdemeanor preliminary hearing, then a motions hearing, then a plea deal and finally a sentencing hearing.
There were 195 hearings in January, 219 in February and 301 in March. Combined, there were 60 domestic violence and safety order hearings, 92 civil hearings, 70 ticket hearings, 134 felony-related hearings and 335 misdemeanor hearings.
Those numbers only represent the hearings held by Bane and not those of the other three magistrates. It averages 7.9 hearings a day during the 90-day period.
“The volume,” Bane said when asked what surprised him in the data.
Nugent said they hope the data is useful to someone who can make a difference in getting the county a fifth magistrate. Currently, Monongalia County has four magistrates.
Bane said the county needs a fifth magistrate if not a sixth, at some point down the road, as Monongalia is one of few counties with population growth. Bane thinks the expansion toward the western end of the county with WestRidge business and retail park will bring more and more people to Monongalia County.
“And we have the same magistrate levels as Marion County,” Bane said.
In 2019, there were 5,956 criminal filings in Monongalia County Magistrate Court, according to data from the state supreme court. There were also 2,832 civil filings. Marion County had 2,923 and 1,605 filings, respectively.
Bane said all of Mon county’s magistrates work multiple days on their “call week,” which is when they are responsible for signing warrants and holding arraignment hearings from 4-8 p.m. during the week and 24/7 on the weekend.
That’s nothing new. Attempts have been made for years to bring an additional magistrate to the county. However, since magistrate staffing is set by the legislature these efforts have repeatedly failed.
The Dominion Post has reported on the issue multiple times.
“Just to tread water around here to keep up with the cases, I mean, I work double shifts, and it’s usually my call week,” Magistrate Sandy Holepit said in 2019.
This session’s bill, HB 2910, would have removed that responsibility from the legislature and linked it automatically to census data. Bane said he thought it was fair and was surprised it only made it to the House Judiciary.
“At least one more would make sense,” Bane said. “And we have the courtrooms for it.”
Magistrate pay is set by state code. As of Jan. 1, 2017, all magistrates have been paid $57,500 annually. Previously, those serving counties with less than a population of 7,300 were paid less. On July 1, the code increases magistrate pay to $60,375 and increases again to $63,250 in July 2022.
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