Judge Betsy Cotton asked county leaders for suggestions on encouraging the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department for a quicker response time in the service of process for the local youth court.
“I keep having problems with them getting it done,” Cotton said, during Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “The issue with youth court is our time limitations and when we must have our hearings, which are very quick. It is not like in circuit court where you have a preliminary, then you wait forever for them to do an indictment and then you wait forever for a trial.”
Cotton said her first hearings are to be held with 48 hours by the clock.
“If it is 3 o’clock on Monday, I have to have that hearing by 3 o’clock on Wednesday,” she said. “For those who are in detention, if I keep them there, my formal hearing must happen within 21 days of when they came in. All the summons and subpoenas must be issued and immediately served so that we comply with the rules with how much time we have.”
Cotton told county leaders she has spoken several times with Sheriff Jeremy McCoy but that the matter “has not been resolved.”
“We had a couple of cases that I had to continue two or three times, which means every attorney in there has to come back again,” Cotton said. “They get paid to come back again because it wasn’t done. Our stuff has got to be done timely, and it’s to the point now that I am kind of at a loss of what to do to make sure our stuff is served.”
Cotton said she has reluctantly had to rely on youth court employees to complete the process. But she added that she “has no other option.”
Supervisor Lee Moore asked Cotton whether she could submit a judge’s order to the sheriff’s office.
“I don’t like to do judge’s orders,” she replied. “I know that I can, but I prefer not to if I don’t have to. But if I have to, I will.”
Deputy Jackie Hudson, with the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department, was present at Monday’s meeting. She said she prided herself on the process, which was previously under her responsibility.
“When I started almost 12 years ago, that was my baby,” Hudson said. “I get upset when I get phone calls because that was my baby. What I am going to do is make it my business. Let me know, and I will make sure it gets done. They were trained by me, so I know they know.”
