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Referee court processing cited as easing higher-felony backlog but not yet reducing jail population

5812573 · September 2, 2025
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Summary

Officials said a referee court has increased case-processing rates (peaks of 275% then 168%) and is handling more high-level felony filings; staff said it may take time before that reduces local jail overcrowding.

Judicial and prosecutorial leaders told the J-RAC on Sept. 2 that the new referee court has markedly increased case processing and has shifted a higher share of felony filings into a court that handles more serious cases, but they urged patience before expecting clear reductions in the county jail population.

"As far as processing cases, we've been as high as 275 percent. And today, we're at 168 percent," said a judicial official overseeing referee-court processing. The official said the additional court is now receiving higher-level felony filings — including the county’s first attempted-murder case and a growing number of level-1 through level-5 felonies — which require more pretrial preparation and can keep defendants in custody while cases proceed.

Prosecutors and public defenders said the additional court capacity has allowed other courts to focus on higher-level felonies and has improved case turnover. "It's allowing the prosecutors and the other courts to focus on the higher level and not be... burdened," a prosecutor said.

Court and sheriff’s office staff said the processing gains have not yet produced a net reduction in jail population because many higher-level felony defendants remain held pending trial; they said that as those cases progress to resolution the jail population could be affected.

Officials added that additional staff provided by the county to support the referee court had been important to the gains and that further staffing allocations may be considered as caseloads evolve.

Ending: Officials said they will continue to track caseloads, prosecution rates and jail census and return updated metrics to the board at future meetings.