In Baltimore's halls of justice, punishment often comes before a trial.
Suspects wait behind bars for months, sometimes years, for their cases to reach juries. Indigent defendants have been denied the right to lawyers. One man openly pleaded for a trial, only to be told by judges he had to stay in jail and wait some more.
In the past year, a series of people suspected of commiting serious crimes, even murder, have been released because of bungling by court officials and prosecutors who were simply unable to get together and try them.
"If it wasn't so damn serious, it would be laughable," said Abe Krash, a Georgetown University law professor who helped argue Gideon vs. Wainwright, the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that established a defendant's right to an attorney.
How did it get so bad in Baltimore?
Felony drug cases have tripled in seven years, and the number of publicly paid defense lawyers, judges and prosecutors hasn't kept up. For years, pleas for more money have gone unanswered.
Few officials are assigned to fast-track minor cases when suspects are arrested, clogging the jail and courthouse with "junk" charges that will eventually be dismissed or shelved by prosecutors.
A decade after computers became commonplace in most courthouses, judges and clerks in Baltimore still rely on hand-written records to keep track of thousands of criminal cases.
There have been territorial disputes and next to no communication between the key players in the city and state justice systems. Infighting has erupted over the simplest things, such as whether a judge should be stationed at the Baltimore City Central Booking and Intake Center to quickly move cases.
Progress has been made to attack the crisis in the courts since it first surfaced in December. Lawyers and judges are working at breakneck speed to resolve cases, many of which have languished for years.
Still, fundamental problems threaten the system.
"Essentially, the process becomes the punishment, and we need to be looking at whether justice is possible," said Faye S. Taxman, a University of Maryland professor who has been studying some of the problems.
Taxman's recent study showed that nearly half the suspects held in jail between 1996 and 1997 were not prosecuted for their alleged crimes.
Moreover, nearly 70 percent of the suspects released on bail or their own recognizance were not prosecuted, according to the study, conducted for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which tracked nearly 6,700 cases from beginning to end.
With the courts' dirty laundry aired -- possibly harming the state's public image -- the governor and his lieutenant have stepped in to try to update what is jokingly called "Jurassic justice" in Baltimore.
Judges are cracking down on trial delays. More courtrooms are being constructed. Languishing cases involving violent crimes are being targeted for trials. Retired judges have been brought back to hear cases. Money has been set aside to hire more public defense lawyers and prosecutors.
After years of not talking to each other, key players in Baltimore and Annapolis have formed a "coordinating council," meeting monthly to try to solve the problems. While noting that progress has been made, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a member of the council, said that "a lot more needs to be done."
The father of victim Shawn L. Suggs -- whose suspected killers were set free in January because the state took too long to bring their cases to trial -- said he hopes lasting changes are made soon.
"They can't do anything to bring my son back, but why should other families have to go through what my family went through?" Sedric Suggs said. "I hope to one day have the satisfaction that this will never happen again."
The chaos surfaced in December, when the state's Court of Special Appeals dismissed the sex case against James T. Brown Jr., convicted of molesting a 12-year-old Baltimore girl. The court found that Brown's trial was postponed nine times over 16 months, violating his right to a "speedy trial."
Under Maryland law, defendants must be tried within 180 days of their arraignments, or the charges can be dropped, unless the suspects specifically waive the right. Brown never did, and city judges approved seven of the nine postponements after the 180-day deadline had expired.
The reason for many postponements: No judge was available to preside over Brown's trial.
It has been a frequently cited excuse. Last year, there were 13 Circuit Court judges assigned to handle 24,733 felony cases and requests by defendants facing misdemeanor charges to have their cases heard by juries. Most of those cases never went to trial because they ended in guilty pleas, the charges were dropped, or the cases were placed on the inactive docket.
Still, the cases tied up prosecutors, public defenders and judges.
