A drop in felony and misdemeanor cases from 2014 to 2015 resulted in Starkville Municipal Court’s lowest caseload since 2004.
Statistics released by court administrators show the system handled 9,349 new cases last year, a decrease of about 1,100 cases compared to 2014’s total.
The total dip reflects an across-the-board drop in the types of cases handled in 2015: felonies (190), misdemeanors (1,219) and traffic citations (7,940) all decreased from their previous marks.
Of the total felonies, drug-related (53) and aggravated assault (47) cases represent more than half of the serious crimes handled by the court last year. Thirty-one theft, burglary and robbery cases were presented, while the court also handled 20 white-collar felonies and six felony driving under the influence cases. “Other” felony cases (33), a category filled with multiple types of serious crimes, was the third-highest total reported.
Starkville Municipal Court handled 225 felonies in 2014, and its overall felony caseload has only dipped below 200 cases once from 2010-2014.
Excluding traffic-related citations, probation violations (390) were the highest total of misdemeanor cases handled last year. Coupled with probation violations, drug-and alcohol-related cases, a combined 393 cases, represented about two-thirds of the total non-traffic misdemeanor caseload.
Rounding out 2015’s non-traffic misdemeanor cases includes thefts (134), other (111), disturbing the peace-disorderly conduct (108) and assault-domestic violence (83).
The court handled 1,423 non-traffic misdemeanors in 2014. Since 2010, that total has eclipsed the 1,500 caseload mark twice.
Traffic cases dropped to a five-year low last year, edging out 2010’s previous low of 8,057.
“Other” cases (2,090) led the category, followed by no insurance (1,829), no seat belt-child restraint (1,349) and speeding charges (1,063).
DUI cases slightly dropped from 2014’s 389 mark to last year’s 383 total. Misdemeanor DUI cases represented 5 percent of 2015’s traffic citation caseload, while felony DUI cases made up 3 percent of the total felony cases.
The total DUI cases handled in Starkville Municipal Court has not exceeded 400 since 2012.
The data reflected in the court’s presentation does not reflect the total amount of emergency calls or reports received by Starkville Police Department or investigations that have yet to yield charges.
SPD Chief Frank Nichols said the volume of calls his department receives is steadily increasing each year.
Last year marked a transition for the court system, as it moved to the new city hall. Aldermen also approved new electronic filing systems for Starkville Municipal Court.
“Now our court and our facilities are second to none. The morale of our staff is tremendous,” said Judge Rodney Faver. “This is kind of like Christmas for us. We got everything we wanted.”
During Tuesday’s presentation, Ward 2 Alderman Lisa Wynn suggested the city look into hiring an outside contractor to handle uncollected fines.
The amount of outstanding fines was not included in the court’s presentation, and no action was taken on the matter.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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