Judge Stanley reflects on case-filled first year
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A backlog of cases has left him busy during his freshman term as circuit court judge and he admits the transition from attorney to judge has been a challenge.
“It’s been a great year, not a lot different from what I expected,” Stanley said of his first year in office, noting the court has cut deep into the large backlog of cases during his first year.
Stanley was elected last year following the retirement of longtime Circuit Court Judge Charles Haston, who stepped down in the middle of his eight-year term. Stanley will serve four years before the next election.
Tripling the number of jury trials heard from the previous year, he hopes to have things caught up by 2004, noting he has tried cases that have been awaiting trial since 1998. As it stands right now, the average wait for a trial date is about 15 months, meaning cases arraigned today may not come to trial until deep in 2004. Stanley hopes to cut that wait in half by continuing to aggressively attack the remaining docket.
Stanley serves the 31st Judicial District comprising Warren and Van Buren counties. He is the circuit court judge, criminal court judge, and chancellor, which means he sees a wide variety of cases.
Of all the problems he sees from the bench, Stanley feels the meth epidemic is our district’s biggest problem.
“It’s not a dealing drug. They make it for their own consumption which makes it a unique and an extremely hard problem to fix,” Stanley said.
In answer to the drug problems here, Stanley is trying to implement a drug court. The court, which he hopes to see implemented in the coming year, will be a specialized initiative focused on addressing drug cases and ways to cut into the drug problem.
At age 33, Stanley is the youngest circuit judge in the state. However, Stanley feels youth has its advantages when it comes to the judiciary.
“It gives me a fresh outlook, plus right now I have the time and energy to spend on the cases,” Stanley said.
Stanley noted he has been helped in his transition from attorney to the circuit bench by other judges, who have offered advice and insight. Stanley pointed out concerns here in Warren County are not that much different than concerns facing other jurisdictions in Tennessee.
In addition to enacting the drug court, Stanley says he has more plans he believes will help the local judicial system. One of these is making himself available on short notice to handle non-contested cases so they can be taken from the docket without delays. The strategy will help provide more room on the docket for contested cases.