Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy is warning lawmakers of what he calls a potentially catastrophic threat to the state’s criminal justice system. Amestoy says more people are being held in jail for longer periods before they go to trial.
Amestoy wrote a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Bartlett detailing what he sees as several problems in the criminal justice system. But he says the delayed dispositions of felony cases is the most pressing problem today.
Amestoy says that last year there were 28 people in the corrections system who had been held more than a year awaiting trial.