Municipal and General Sessions Court judges without law licenses are constitutionally prohibited in Tennessee from presiding over criminal cases without the defendants' approval, the state SupremeCourt said Monday.
The 4-1 Supreme Court decision, written for the majority by Justice Frank Drowota, involves a non-lawyer judge in White House. Following the 1994 election of Charles R. Bobbitt, Jr. as the city's municipal judge, district attorneys general for the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Judicial Districts declined to prosecute state criminal cases in his court. They cited concerns that defendants might be denied constitutionally guaranteed due process because Bobbitt was not an attorney.
The Supreme Court, affirming a Court of Appeals decision, said in nearly all criminal cases in Tennessee, including misdemeanors, defendants may be incarcerated and are entitled to due process. The court's decision applies to cases tried or retried after Oct. 12 and cases on appeal if the issue was properly raised by the defendant.
In a dissent, Justice Janice Holder disagreed with the majority that criminal defendants tried before non-attorney judges are denied their constitutional rights. She said criminal defendants in Tennessee have an automatic right to appeal the decision of a non-attorney judge to a higher court presided over by a judge who is licensed to practice law. Also, she said, no provisions in the state or federal constitutions require attorney judges.
"Accordingly, I would hold that this area is purely one of legislative prerogative and reserved for the voting public," she wrote.
The majority of the court said a criminal defendant is constitutionally entitled "to a determination of his status with the full panoply of rights at the earliest hearing on the merits" without having to appeal.
"It is unreasonable to require an appeal in order to obtain access to all the safeguards deemed essential for a fair trial," Drowota wrote. "The second hearing will not only recreate anxiety, insecurity and strain, but is likely to be time consuming, expensive and burdensome as well."
Drowota said non-attorney judges have made a "valuable contribution" to the administration of justice in Tennessee. He also said the Supreme Court decision in the White House case does not mean "municipal or general sessions judges must be licensed attorneys to hold office or to exercise other duties and jurisdiction," such as presiding in civil cases, criminal cases not involving potential incarceration and criminal cases in which a defendant waives the due process right to have an attorney judge. Across the state, 22 general sessions judges and 75 municipal judges were not licensed attorneys in 1996, according to the Municipal Technical Advisory Service.