Superior Court presents strong clearance rates but flags data and interpreter costs

Superior Court (speaker 13) presented a one‑page snapshot of the last 365 days, reporting a 93% overall clearance rate, criminal caseload closure at or above 100% for recent reporting periods, and average days‑to‑closure of approximately 204 days for felonies and 137 days for misdemeanors. The presenter said pending criminal caseloads currently average around 350 active cases and noted a decline in filings compared with earlier years.

The presenter also discussed technology improvements, including purchases of a duplicator to rapidly copy large evidence drives and a courtroom display used for presenting exhibits. He warned that modern cases can include enormous volumes of digital evidence—"close to 6 terabytes of data" per defendant in one recent major drug case—and described investments made to buy hard drives and readers to speed defense and prosecution work. The court noted that using cloud or file‑transfer products proved too slow in some cases; in one instance the clerk said the team had to buy drives and physically duplicate data to meet discovery timelines.

On language access, the court said telephone language line services cover many routine matters but that contested hearings and trials sometimes require certified in‑person interpreters, which can be expensive and carry minimum hourly charges; the presenter described a recent interpreter cost of about $200 for a short appearance and cautioned that certified interpreter rates can be much higher for multi‑hour trial work.