More and more trials are being conducted in the Mohave County court system. Court Administrator Kip Anderson said 89 trials were conducted in the just concluded fiscal year compared with 58 in fiscal year 2017-18, an increase of roughly 30%.
“These numbers represent juries scheduled and called to appear,” Anderson said. “Other trials were set and then canceled.”
Presiding Judge Charles Gurtler explained that there are occasions where jurors are summoned but trials are not conducted because cases are resolved or rescheduled at the last minute. Gurtler said increasing criminal case filings are driving up the trial numbers.
“Criminal filings increased four years in a row. The criminal filings in 2015 were at 1837. That increased to 2,355 in 2018. We are on pace for a similar amount of filings this year,” Gurtler said. “Those amounts do not include petitions to revoke probation, nor does it include post-conviction relief filings.”
Gurtler noted the county added a second grand jury last year just to keep up with the criminal case filings. He said it sometimes took up to two months to bring a case to the grand jury before the second unit was established.
Gurtler said civil case filings jumped from 1,343 in 2016 to 1,684 in 2018. There was only a slight increase in the number of trials in that arena because most civil cases are resolved by settlement or dismissal.
Gurtler said civil trials, such as medical malpractice matters, can be complex and lengthy, sometimes taking two weeks or more to complete. Most criminal trials are finished in a week or less.
