Local judge: City court meets most minimum standards set out by state

Cape Girardeau’s municipal court meets most minimum standards issued last week for city courts by the Missouri Supreme Court, local judge Teresa Bright-Pearson said Tuesday.

Bright-Pearson said the minimum standards follow in the footsteps of two recent state laws.

“Overall, in general, we are in compliance with most of these things,” she said.

Bright-Pearson said she has looked over standards set forth by the Supreme Court but has not had an opportunity to look at the standards in detail. She said she plans to do so soon.

The state laws and the lengthy standards are in response to charges in recent years municipal courts in the St. Louis area operated as fine-collection systems that put the burden on poor people.

Under the new rules from the Supreme Court, city courts must have or pursue court automation to allow payments online and free online access to information on pending cases, scheduled dockets and outstanding warrants.

Cape Girardeau municipal court already takes payment of fines online, Bright-Pearson said. It does not provide online access to information as spelled out by the high court. But the local judge said the city will work to provide such access.

“We hope to have that next year sometime,” she said.

The city court also will have to comply with another new standard that requires municipal judges to certify Jan. 1 and July 1 each year their courts are meeting minimum standards, she said.

Judges will have to fill out a “minimum operating standards” form and submit it to their local, presiding circuit judge.

The standards require municipal judges to consider alternative sentences for those who cannot afford to pay fines. Bright-Pearson said she already hands down community-service sentences where appropriate.

Municipal courts must be large enough to accommodate the public so people won’t have to stand outdoors, the Supreme Court stated. That won’t be a problem in Cape Girardeau, which already has a spacious courtroom at city hall that serves as chambers for the city council, Bright-Pearson said.

“Most of the time we have plenty of room in our courtroom,” she said.

In some cases, people have been forced to wait in the hallway, but no one has had to stand outside city hall, she said.

Patricia Breckenridge, Missouri’s chief justice, recently reported some municipal courts indicated children were not welcome, even though courts constitutionally are required to be open to the public.

Bright-Pearson said everyone, including children, are welcome to attend municipal court sessions in Cape Girardeau as long as they are not disruptive.

She said the municipal court has a dress code that was established by the local circuit court. The new minimum standards issued by the state’s high court do not mention a dress code.

Bright-Pearson said the local dress code calls for people not to wear shorts or loose or “low-hanging” clothes to court. The dress code, detailed on the city’s website, stipulates all attorneys and court officials wear appropriate, professional attire. For male attorneys, the dress code includes “a suitable coat, tie and socks.” Attire for female attorneys is not spelled out on the website.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.