In addition to an adult recovery court, funding in this year’s state budget brought in other money that will be used to help the Roanoke Valley judiciary.
Both Superior Court Judge Brenda Branch and state Representative Michael Wray discussed the additional funding Monday during a check presentation for the Halifax County Accountability and Recovery Court — funds that have been allocated for 12 new public defenders who will be located in Northampton County and funds for third-floor renovations at the Halifax County Courthouse.
“It was determined we were a legal desert,” Branch said. “We were awarded positions for 12 lawyers and six staff. We were not the only county vying for those positions but Representative Wray and the Administrative Office of the Courts worked steadily at it. They all went out lobbying and they brought it home.”
With the recovery court and the public defenders, Branch said, “Right now we have two programs that are going to help us. When you start talking about backlogs you start talking about a third of the people.”
The adult recovery court will help the system with its family drug treatment program, the judge said. “This funding will help both those courts and it will help with the public defender's office.”
Branch said she assured the state’s chief justice that if the court system received the funding it needed the tasks would get accomplished. “With that, we’re moving up, we’re growing. We have good partners at the state level that are working with us to help move these cases forward and to change our reputation.”
Wray said, “We heard the cry. We appreciate what our attorneys do. They’re out there on the beaten path and we have four counties. When a judge calls they expect an attorney to be there. Clients have to move on with their lives.”
With those needs being assessed, state lawmakers approved $1,231,447 for a Judicial District 7 public defender's office which will be based in Northampton County. “When they move from the old courthouse to the new courthouse they’ll be able to use some of that facility there.”
Courthouse renovations
In 2021, Wray said, the state got $14 million for Northampton County’s new courthouse which is expected to open in February. “That’s going to be a transformation for that community and for the court system there.”
But he received a call concerning the Halifax County Courthouse and in the short session lawmakers were able to get $450,000 to start exploring what could be done with the facility. “A lot of people don’t know this is like a house,” Wray said of the Halifax County Courthouse. “You build a two-story house and finish the first floor and save your money up.”
The courthouse was never finished, he said. “I was amazed there’s a shell up there (on the third floor) that’s not utilized.”
He said everyone who occupies the building — from the clerk’s office and the district attorney’s office to the tax department — is crammed.
The architect who had done the work on the building had retired but transferred the documents he had.
Those documents were reviewed and the legislature secured $8,250,000 this fiscal year for the courthouse project.
Through these appropriations, Wray said, “We’re going to bring jobs and opportunities and we’ll be able to move our court system to being more efficient.”