Judicial case backlog stokes Dallas County commissioner race between two attorneys

The judicial case backlog has become a political cornerstone for the Dallas County District 2 commissioner race, as two attorneys stand off on the November ballot. Commissioner J.J. Koch, a former prosecutor and civil litigation attorney, faces Democratic personal injury attorney Andrew Sommerman as he fights for a second term in a newly redistricted map. This district will be more blue than when Koch won in 2018 and went on to become the sole Republican on the commissioners’ dais. In the last few months, one of Koch’s biggest pushes has been to address the pending felony case backlog, which he and Commissioner John Wiley Price say is the biggest reason for the ballooning jail population. As of Wednesday, the county jail inmate population has reached more than 6,100. Koch, 43, and Price have said some district criminal judges aren’t working enough to address cases in a timely manner. They wanted salary reductions for some district judges.

Sommerman, 62, disagrees with Koch’s stance, saying that the commissioners court needs to work with the judges to find a solution to the backlog, rather than digging into their salaries. He wants all parties involved in the criminal justice system — including court clerks and attorneys — to be a part of the discussion. “I disagree with defunding the judiciary,” he said Wednesday during an editorial meeting with The Dallas Morning News. The two commissioners and the district judges have disagreed over the data used to determine the judges’ success. The Office of Courts Administration tracks data from courts across the state, including both the number of pending cases and the number of cases disposed of. The Commissioners Court is concerned about the growing pending felony cases. In June, the state reported a Dallas County logjam of 20,767 active and pending felony cases. But the district judges are focused on their disposition rates, a number used to determine the amount of state funds granted to county courts. Dallas County’s clearance rate from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022, was 94%, while the state average was 87%, according to OCA.