Superior courts throughout the state will suspend jury trials for a month this winter to save money. Asked by the governor's office to suggest more spending cuts, the Supreme Court's chief justice has floated the idea of leaving open a seat on the state's highest court from February until summer.

The temporary suspension of jury trials this winter will save about $73,000, said Superior Court Chief Justice Robert Lynn, because the state won't have to pay per diems to the hundreds of people summoned for jury duty in a typical month, which is $10 a half day or a mileage reimbursement.

"This is a difficult cut to make because it directly affects people who want to have their cases heard and that's what we're all about," Lynn said. "This is what we're supposed to be doing."

With the state's budget for fiscal year 2009 expected to fall $250 million short of original projections, every part of state government has had to cut back. The court system has already cut $2.6 million out of its 2009 budget and expects further instruction to cut more than $430,000 this fiscal year, which ends in June, said administrator Don Goodnow.

That amount coincides with the $430,000 worth of cuts that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick suggested in a recent letter to Gov. John Lynch at the request of the governor's office. The biggest item on the list: holding open until June the Supreme Court vacancy that will be created when Judge Richard Galway steps down in February. That, Broderick wrote, would save nearly $68,000 this fiscal year.

A Lynch spokesman said the governor will fill the Supreme Court post in due course. "The governor intends to fill that slot once the judicial selection process is complete," said spokesman Colin Manning.

Already, the court system has made major cuts. Of the 59 slots for trial judges in the state, seven spots are vacant, Broderick wrote to Lynch in a letter dated Nov. 18.

"We have asked you not to fill these vacancies at this time and, with great reluctance, we now extend that request such that new judges . . . would not begin until on or after June 5, 2009," Broderick wrote.

"The remaining judges are struggling to make up the difference in judge time and recently all of my colleagues on the Supreme Court have agreed to each take a turn in the trial courts to try to lessen that burden," Broderick wrote.

Meanwhile, Broderick wrote, the court system is holding open 36 out of 614 vacant posts for nonjudges. It's cut mileage reimbursements for judges, cut their security budget and reduced legal library spending.

The suspension of jury trials throughout the state this winter will take a particular toll in Merrimack County, where jury panels sit for a bit longer than elsewhere in the state. That means there will be no juries from mid-February until the beginning of April. All told, said Merrimack County Clerk Bill McGraw, 13 scheduled criminal trials and 43 civil trials will be pushed off.

In the meantime, McGraw said, court staff will focus on nonjury trials, pretrial hearings and paperwork.

"Actually there is substantial work now in rescheduling all of those close to 60 jury trials," he said.

Most of the nine courts that will suspend trials will do so in February. The only counties that will not be affected are Sullivan and Coos, Lynn said, because they have jury trials every other month.

The heaviest toll of this trial suspension will fall on people involved in civil cases, McGraw and Lynn said. Criminal trials must follow a swift schedule because defendants are guaranteed a right to a speedy trial. Courts typically give second priority to civil cases, which involve conflicts between people or businesses regarding property or contracts.

"Civil cases were getting the short shrift anyway," Lynn said. "This is going to do that even more." (next page »)