00:00:43.970 - 00:01:05.550

Sonoma County, a diverse county of over one million acres is famed for its agriculture industry and recreation boasting a booming economy and a unique lifestyle for its citizens described by the famed Luther Burbank as the chosen spot of all the earth. Sonoma County is the place

00:01:05.550 - 00:01:23.340

to live, work and play as we move into the 21st century. Led by the forward looking philosophy of its governing bodies. Sonoma County's 340,000 residents are a harmonious, successful blend of ethnic and economic backgrounds. We invite you to take a closer look at Sonoma County in

00:01:23.340 - 00:01:43.010

the nineties with your host Rich McGlinchey. Hello everyone welcome to this edition of Sonoma County in the 90s. We're gonna talk to an old friend and a person who holds a very unique distinction in Sonoma County. The moment. Our guest on the right of your screen

00:01:43.020 - 00:02:00.620

is Judge gale wind up. She is a municipal court judge for Sonoma County. She was the first judge woman Judge Sonoma County ever had and in her arms is uh, the latest offspring of granite and bosco. It's john Hamlet bosco, can we, can we possibly see

00:02:00.620 - 00:02:14.130

john, but I hope we don't wake him up. It'll be a short interview that is the son of doug bosco and Gayle and Gayle. It's really nice to have you back here. We're gonna talk to you about municipal court in just a minute. But before we

00:02:14.130 - 00:02:30.600

do want to call your attention to the artwork on the studio walls, we're very fortunate today and having two pieces of work by joe Hoffman. So we consider to be the outstanding uh equine or hotspot artist in northern California? If perhaps not the United States. The

00:02:30.610 - 00:02:44.590

picture you see right now is joe is one of his latest works. It's called from the back stretch exercise boys at morning work. Now, the other picture on the other wall over here is the Del Monte Forest Point to point number one at Bird Rock and

00:02:44.590 - 00:02:59.590

it's open to members of hunts in hunting attire. This is a 26 by 46 inch painting. The other you saw earlier was 24 by 48 that both magnificent works and joe Hoffman. We thank you very much for letting us have them on the studio walls today.

00:03:00.450 - 00:03:19.170

Hi your honor. Good evening and son, how are things going? Great, thank you. How long you've been on the bench now eight years, although I'm off on maternity leave right now. Obviously it's difficult to have a child where you're sitting in the cases. The two things

00:03:19.170 - 00:03:34.800

I was thinking about, one of them is when when were you actually appointed? Was it 83? It was december 31st 82 then I started in january of 83 you were the first woman Judge Sonoma County ever had right now, there is one other. Now I believe

00:03:34.930 - 00:03:58.120

Judge Wong she's our presiding judge this year will be again next year. Oh really? Okay, serena Wong how old is john Hamlet bosco, today's his birthday, two months, two months, eight weeks today. These things keep happening and they keep fascinating me. What was it like that

00:03:58.120 - 00:04:14.700

first year that you were on the municipal court bench? Actually I think back. It was really a fun time. Real unusual time. I remember the first day I went into chambers, the only, the only reading material was field and stream and peace officer magazine and all

00:04:14.700 - 00:04:32.560

the benches were built for six ft men and I had to sit on my feet for the first two months until they could get me a new chair and reduce the size of the bench. And there was one day we have secure parking. I got some

00:04:32.560 - 00:04:49.500

of the deputies monitored to make sure no one's tampering with our cars and they came and kicked me out because they thought that I was, some ways I was supposed to be. I did the highway patrol ride along program and one of the drunk drivers had

00:04:49.500 - 00:05:06.840

been picked up that night objected to my presence and he said that he didn't want some um, I think he said dumb. Suzanne Sommer look alike observing his, his arrest. He was embarrassed when he showed up in case in the court a couple of weeks later.

00:05:08.060 - 00:05:30.820

What cases where you were assigned? Okay, you took office 83. What did you handle it first. Just a regular municipal car note or what were some of the cases? Well, my very first case was a major drug bust psilocybin underground growing plant. But my, my first

00:05:30.820 - 00:05:46.810

long term assignment with civil law and as is still the case, we take assignments at least six months to a year and then we rotate, we have several departments and you through your, you know, your years you might, you spend six months to a year on

00:05:46.810 - 00:06:08.440

felonies and then you rotate into a criminal misdemeanor trial department, Civil department. We have um a commissioner that does um traffic and then we have a criminal calendar which judge Wong is hearing now, which can, here's all the in custody matters. You were, you were from

00:06:08.440 - 00:06:27.390

southern California originally or rather you were educated there. That's correct. I'm from humboldt county. Yeah, that's right. Much closer Snowmen County than the lifestyle. It's like there's like it used to be here. Where did you go to law school in Los Angeles? Some place where university

00:06:27.390 - 00:06:50.450

san Fernando valley. Yeah, that's right. Because you were telling us last time. Okay. As 19 as 1990 approaches its its conclusion, I guess you'd say what changes are in store for the cord. Well, in january of 1991 delay reduction or some um, courts referred to as

00:06:50.450 - 00:07:09.570

fast track becomes mandatory. And as you recall, I think the last time we met we talked about state trial court funding where the states primarily finance the um, county courts. Although the trade off is we send our, all our revenues to sacramento and snowmen County where

00:07:09.570 - 00:07:25.000

we've always come close to paying our way. Um, we're one of the most profitable courts, so it's not as if the state is helping us all that much, but we are participating in the program. What happened is they got us to opt into the program. It's

00:07:25.010 - 00:07:50.780

optional for each county, although they have recruited 56 out of 58 counties to participate. What they didn't tell us was they're gonna, they came back two years later and um have required certain time frames for the resolution of cases for years litigants would complain that justice

00:07:50.780 - 00:08:09.260

delayed is justice denied and, and to a certain degree, I agree with that. Now, all felony matters have been resolved within 90 days of the first appearance, all misdemeanors within 100 and 20 days. Um, When I first took the bench part of us, we have incredible

00:08:09.260 - 00:08:29.520

caseload that. It wouldn't be that unusual. It would take several months to resolve the case civil cases. Now, The case doesn't face mandatory dismissal until it's five years old. Under the new requirements, 90% of all cases have been resolved in 12 months and 100% within two

00:08:29.520 - 00:08:51.430

years. So what's happening is that for the last 6-9 months in our court and similarly in Superior Court, we've undertaken measures to reduce our backlog so that we'd be prepared for the new law, but it becomes mandatory. Um, and I think, I think it's one of

00:08:51.430 - 00:09:07.190

the foremost challenges that I've had. My colleagues have had since we've been on the bench. Let's go back for just a moment dale. What what is a limited time for a criminal case? And what for civil? Was it 90 days and one year. Can is it?

00:09:07.200 - 00:09:22.760

Well, I don't know. I mean I don't want to put words in your mouth, but is it possible to try a criminal case in 90 days? Yes. Well that's we sure hope it is what we're doing first off for instance in my court for the last

00:09:22.760 - 00:09:51.640

several months. Every week we would review at least 150 old files and we have through the great efforts of the Clerk's office and our staff, we have screened out and resolved 9000 cases. The criminal judges have had special calendars and have been a special session to

00:09:51.640 - 00:10:08.670

reduce their backlog. Then we're changing the way you practice law in the states requiring that in order to comply with their guidelines. It used to be for instance, in a civil case, you'd wait for the lawyers to file a document that says, okay, we're ready to

00:10:08.670 - 00:10:26.090

go to trial. That could be three years, four years, 4.5 years after the case had initially been filed. Now When you come in and file a lawsuit, you have to be ready to litigate when you file your lawsuit. Our program, our computer will be programmed that

00:10:26.100 - 00:10:42.470

if it's not ready to go to trial on the 180th day, then you have to come into court and face being held in contempt and fined. If you haven't requested the trial date, you have to serve the other party which triggers the response to other side

00:10:42.470 - 00:11:06.420

within 75 days. So um, what it has done is it's shifted responsibility to the courts and it's given us the legal authority to our local rules to control the timing and sequence of cases. The other thing we're doing is we're going to add 1/4 criminal department

00:11:07.790 - 00:11:32.290

through some maneuvering and changing of the criminal in custody calendar. How many, how many municipal courts are there right now? There's six. I mean there'll be a 7th. No, it's, it's the, the use of other departments will substantially change. Um, how does delay reduction, impact or

00:11:32.290 - 00:11:54.420

affect criminal cases specifically? You kind of told about the that short timeframe, but how will it impact them otherwise? Well, I think that one of the biggest difference is when you come to court, you have to be anticipating a trial in your future now because of

00:11:54.420 - 00:12:14.440

limited resources in vast majority cases. The in depth investigation and preparation of trial doesn't occur until the eve of trial and oftentimes you can't really evaluate a case until you've conducted that investigation now in a much earlier juncture. There's gonna have to be a very comprehensive

00:12:14.450 - 00:12:33.170

investigation realistically, we can only with limited facilities, we can only try a certain number of cases a year. So there's a great um incentive for each trial judge to become totally familiar with the facts early on so that the case can be resolved on the 30th

00:12:33.170 - 00:12:51.620

day rather than on the 180th day. And what I'm suggesting is that if we have all the information that that discussion can take place much earlier than has in the past, Has the, has the public in general been clamoring for this change or is this the

00:12:51.620 - 00:13:06.690

work of the legislature on its own? I know there have been many, many comments about the length of time it takes to get a civil matter before the courts and get a judgment. But what brought about this, this abrupt change because 90 days for a criminal

00:13:06.690 - 00:13:25.110

case or one year for civil is a heck of a change from just what this year? That's correct. Initially, um Governor Doug Mason did not sign the um state trial court funding bill and his, his rationale was, is that there's many more efforts that could be

00:13:25.110 - 00:13:45.700

made to speed up the disposition of cases and ways to reduce our case and we weren't being that efficient. And so um the concern now is that if we don't follow through with this, that we won't our funds will get cut back. So there's a potential

00:13:45.700 - 00:14:10.490

penalty or monetary sanction. So I would suggest that the the um the Governor and the Legislature was concerned about the, the delays in the courts and while they have given us additional resources, they also attach some conditions proceeding to that. And I think it was very

00:14:10.490 - 00:14:35.400

responsible. I think it's something that quite frankly that the judges welcome because it permits us because there's, there's statutes in the government code now that codify this, that um, he's hiccupping um, yes, john that it now gives us the authority to take control of the caseloads.

00:14:35.410 - 00:14:56.020

Previously, we're dealing with a whole different way of operating under our statutory law where a judge wouldn't have the authority to um insist on these trials in the time frames that are now required by the Judicial council. Well then you judges actually, as you said a

00:14:56.020 - 00:15:13.320

moment ago, uh, to put it in blood phraseology. Have a lot more clout about moving things through your course, don't you? You'd have to say yes to that. Okay. Did anything else from john right there right now, that's john Hamlet bosco. He's sound asleep. Ladies and

00:15:13.320 - 00:15:34.180

gentlemen, we're gonna pause just a moment. We'll be back and talk to judge Gail, grown up more about the municipal court judicial system in Sonoma County. First these important messages Hi, this is Arnold palmer for Hanna Boys center in santa ana California. I need a second

00:15:34.180 - 00:15:49.510

chance with that. But the folks at Hannah helps troubled boys get a second chance at life there sure are a lot of miss putts on the golf course and if you can't cope with them, the game gets a little grim, just like life for 40 years

00:15:49.510 - 00:16:07.700

now. Hanna Boys Center has helped troubled boys overcome what they have missed in life. The dedicated professionals there help problem boys straighten out, make par and sometimes even get an ace or a hole in one. But Hanna Boys Center still needs your help as you know,

00:16:07.710 - 00:16:27.790

golf can be an expensive game and so is helping troubled boys find the right fair way of life again. So send your deductible checks and contributions to Hanna Boys center P. O box 100 Sonoma California 95476. Welcome back to this edition of Sonoma County in the

00:16:27.790 - 00:16:44.320

nineties were talking to Judge Gail Gwyneth and Judge when it is the first judge in Sonoma County Woman Judge I should say in Sonoma County was appointed to the bench and 1983 and that was not really the first judge in Sonoma County, but it was the

00:16:44.320 - 00:17:03.270

first female judge in the county. She's visited with this a time or two before today. We're talking about the delay reduction law, which has been passed to take effect in 1991, which she had pointed out, we reduced criminal cases to 90 day limit and civil cases

00:17:03.270 - 00:17:22.450

to a one year limit which is far far, far, far, far less time than has been used in the past. Now that's so much for criminal cases scale, but what about the civil cases, how will it impact them with civil as I mentioned before? Um the

00:17:22.450 - 00:17:41.210

general civil action, 90% of them has resolved within a year and 100% within two years. Um There is a provision that says, if it's complex civil litigation, it can be excluded, that could be a class action, uh you know, airplane collision, something very severe with complex

00:17:41.220 - 00:18:00.560

issues of multiple parties. I personally believe by the nature of municipal court with $25,000 Um jurisdictional limit that by its very nature, there's no such thing as complex civil litigation. Municipal court. Um some may disagree. I'm not minimizing our responsibility, but I don't think will be

00:18:00.560 - 00:18:20.430

excluded from the having to resolve all cases within the two years, small claims actions, all small claims actions have resolved within 30 days, which is Um probably one of the most difficult aspects of the new law to comply with. And similarly unlawful detainers um have a

00:18:20.430 - 00:18:43.330

maximum 45 days from 30 to 45 days. So what the, as I mentioned before, the biggest changes is that when someone files a case, they're going to have to have a request for trial on file within the six months in the general case. Um what I

00:18:43.330 - 00:19:01.590

found in reviewing the case, as I mentioned before, it's not just that courts are congested. It's much more that people file lawsuits to protect themselves or a lawyer has someone come in that makes you think something's happened to them. So without a full investigation, they go,

00:19:01.600 - 00:19:26.200

Okay, we'll file this lawsuit. When we reviewed these 9000 older cases, about Maybe 2000 of those cases were such that the lawyers were notified that I was considering dismissing it And I would say only one Or less of those cases, was there any objection by the

00:19:26.200 - 00:19:43.810

lawyers? There's a bay area law firm that routinely files lawsuits with us a minimum maybe 15 lawsuits a month. I have never met any of the lawyers from the firm. They have never come up and litigate the case is they take they filed a lawsuit, they

00:19:43.810 - 00:20:02.070

either settle the case or they just preserve such limitations and they never litigate it. I thought that when we started screening these older cases that we would be stirring up a can of worms to all of a sudden have 9000 new cases coming before us. And

00:20:02.070 - 00:20:19.150

it was other than the actual screen of the cases, it really was a minimal increase in our workload. So I think that the way it impacts civil as well moving cases faster that you'll have to know that you have a case. And I think I really

00:20:19.150 - 00:20:41.230

think that's a incredible benefit because you there is such criticism these frivolous lawsuits and I think it's unfair for someone to have the um potential of a lawsuit hanging over them for what previously has been five years at a time. It certainly is. What is your

00:20:41.230 - 00:21:04.340

courts or what are the courts doing to prepare for this change? Well, we've had to draft new rules and we have, we have local bar committees. We have, we've had very significant participation from local lawyers and we have drafted rules that we believe are workable for

00:21:04.340 - 00:21:20.030

the lawyers and the bench in order for the to be implemented, they have to be adopted by the judges which the civil rules were adopted yesterday. The criminal rules aren't quite then they have to be sent to the State Judicial Council for review and then third

00:21:20.030 - 00:21:37.570

days after they go into effect. So they will be in effect january 1st. So we've come up with a new governing law for next year. We have put in many additional hours and calendars to reduce the backlog. So we're not spending precious time next year dealing

00:21:37.570 - 00:22:00.830

with older cases. Um what will the cost be to the county for all the scale cold for the most part? Um near to nothing that um obviously there's a lot of it's being done by computer programming to earmark cases. But most of it has been people

00:22:00.840 - 00:22:18.900

putting an additional time on their own without any expectation of additional compensation. Mm If there's no cost and if you're going to reduce criminal cases to 90 days in civil cases to one year, that must make the public pretty happy. Have you heard any response for

00:22:18.900 - 00:22:40.610

the proposed law? Um I think that it hasn't received that much publicity. Tell you the truth and I don't, most people don't really know how we handle the cases and why certain cases are being heard before others. And um you know, there's there's been a general

00:22:40.610 - 00:22:58.420

criticism mean, the reality has been even before delay reduction, we're processing an average of 2000 cases a month And many of those cases are only 30 or 60 days old. But the public doesn't know that there's always a horror story that sticks out in their mind.

00:23:00.210 - 00:23:15.000

I think that it'll it'll become much more apparent after the first of the year. Let's go back a little bit to your career as Minister Court Judge. We talked about your first year and some of the strangest there, but how have you been accepted? I don't

00:23:15.000 - 00:23:29.220

even know if that's the correct word. You are the authority of the acceptance isn't really necessary. What has been the feeling of the public towards you being our first woman judge, Was it to begin with? And what is it now? What that you sense? I think

00:23:29.220 - 00:23:47.680

it's always been really positive. I think initially I was only, I think I was 31 I was the youngest judge in the state at the time and I was unknown quantity and I think, you know, people were perplexed, but as you mentioned, your job is you

00:23:47.680 - 00:23:59.160

have self executing power when someone comes before you and you're debating how it's trying to put them in jail. They're not really questioning whether or not you're a woman or not. They just care about how many days and lawyers similarly are coming in for a specific

00:23:59.210 - 00:24:16.330

issue and how to prevail on the merits. And they're not as, you know, they're not as concerned about. Um, you know what your sex is. Obviously think that another positions and business being a woman in power can be more difficult because your power often is dependent

00:24:16.330 - 00:24:37.680

on people conferring power on you. But I believe that once I took the bench and worked well with my colleagues and um didn't do anything to um suggest that I was an unpredictable flamboyant character, that um it's been a real pleasurable experience. I think it's been,

00:24:37.690 - 00:24:54.000

I've often said that probably the greatest value of what I do isn't so much on the bench. It's the, the school Children and working with the community and that even, you know, in this day and age, there's still a lot of kids that don't visualize that

00:24:54.000 - 00:25:14.430

they have a limited opportunities or that they, that eight year old girl can visualize yourself, you know, being a judge. Um, so I think in terms of sort of the role modeling that is oftentimes what we do off the bench. Um whether it's working with, you

00:25:14.430 - 00:25:29.780

know, young addicts are trying to um motivate someone out of juvenile hall, You know, we've had the pleasure of having people from our own commission on the status of women here on the program. In the past we've had the privilege of having, and in Sonoma County,

00:25:29.780 - 00:25:48.150

I think that we have got a lot of women in very responsible positions. We have our county clerk and our our county recorder who are women. We've had 234 women supervisors. Uh they've done a magnificent job, all of them. But you sort of had to break

00:25:48.150 - 00:26:04.140

ground in the judicial deal because we had never had a female on the bench. And I think, and I say it flat out, I commend you tremendously because I think, and I know many of the people that you have judged if you will and they all

00:26:04.140 - 00:26:20.740

speak highly of your professionalism and they don't even think of you as you said as a member of one sex or the other, but merely the authority figure up here at the top. Um what are, what are some of the other significant changes as you've witnessed

00:26:20.740 - 00:26:42.050

this? We've got about three or four minutes left. Well, I would say that, yeah, the greatest significant since I've been on the bench has been that the the courts have become much more responsive to the victim and perhaps the public at large, I don't mean to

00:26:42.050 - 00:27:04.930

suggest they were insensitive previously, but that I believe that the courts have taken to heart um some of the criticism, some of the unfortunate experiences that we've seen. Um, you know, for instance, in the incredible number of child molest cases, molestation cases, which are very painful

00:27:04.930 - 00:27:28.860

to all concerned. Um, now we have a support person for the victim. We have separate waiting rooms. Those cases have calendar preference. Um, with the speedy trial initiative that passed in the primary, um, the case can proceed to preliminary hearing without the victim even having come

00:27:28.860 - 00:27:55.040

into court. Um, similarly with restitution, see, the, the criminal justice system is to adjudicate guilt or innocence. It isn't necessarily a system that was designed to make the victim whole. In theory, if you look at the case law in the history and yet in response to

00:27:55.040 - 00:28:16.290

the public's concern. Now, restitution is considered and ordered in every case possible. So if your house is burglarized or in the, the sexual molestation contacts, the victim's counseling if he or she desires, that could be paid for. You know, obviously people are sent to prison or

00:28:16.290 - 00:28:33.210

jail for a long period of time, don't necessarily always have the resources, but at least we investigate it in each instance. So I think there's, there's much greater focus on all aspects. I think that initially were more sensitive to the victim. Now, I think there's a

00:28:33.220 - 00:28:53.040

greater response than to the public at large and we're actually having um at least annual, if not, um more regular meetings with the public to educate them about the system to answer their questions. It's been a fast eight years. Yes it has. When did you stop

00:28:53.040 - 00:29:10.120

off to give birth to John Hamlet? Two days after I went off on maternity leave. And when will you be back on the bench? Early january january. It's really nice to see you. Pleasure always to have you here. It's a real pleasure to meet john Hamlet

00:29:10.120 - 00:29:25.080

bosco to cry. I think he might be snoozing now. We'd better. Okay that's about all the time. We got gail. Thanks again. Seeing you soon. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we've been talking to municipal court Judge Gail going up and our guests. Other guests has been

00:29:25.090 - 00:29:38.130

john Hamlet bosco who has been very quiet this morning for some reason. My name is Rich McGlinchey. The program with Sonoma County in the nineties. I'll be back with you next week with other members of the county government family or some interesting individuals from elsewhere in

00:29:38.130 - 00:29:44.810

our county, in our state or our nation. Until then. Good night, good luck and as always good health. Each and every one of you