Ask the judge

This is a new column called “Ask the Judge.” It will initially run once a month but may appear more or less depending on how much interest there is.

The premise is simple — the judicial system can seem somewhat “mysterious.” As a judge for nearly 20 years and a lawyer before that, it occurred to me I may be able to penetrate some of that mystery with a column. We can address any questions you have. I will do my best to answer honestly and authentically.

Some of the ground rules are simple. No questions about specific cases. Generalities are fine, however, as long the facts cannot be sourced to a specific case. Legal advice cannot be given. Again, however, the purpose of the column is to educate, so the line drawn may be a fine one. Last, let’s have fun with this, although anytime someone is in court it is usually not a good day. Again, the line between fun and serious will be an evolving one.

State district court is the trial court level for the state. We handle felony criminal cases (a felony is defined as possible imprisonment of over one year), unlimited civil (meaning the plaintiff can ask for as much money as they think the jury will award), family, including parenting plans, division of assets and debts , and child support, as well as abuse and neglect, juvenile, sanities, estates, and anything else for which a lawsuit can be filed over.

Roughly 31 percent of the cases we handle are civil, 25 percent family and 16 percent criminal, with all other cases rounding out the other 28 percent. Due to the variety, being a district court judge is a fascinating job. The old adage “fact is stranger than fiction” is sometimes true when comes to this job.

What people do to other people, even loved ones, is astounding at times. Through it all, I have really enjoyed my time on the bench. The job is hard, however. Deciding who children should live with, or how much a person should be sentenced to is sometimes quite challenging. Of course, these two areas are probably the most important things a judge does.

The human emotion that cases bring is hard to put aside at times. When a person cries or gets angry because of a decision you make, even if you believe it to be the right decision, is difficult to say the least.

I am fortunate that I rarely bring cases home with me. I do the best I can at the time, say a prayer, make the decision and can usually move forward. Once every month or two, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about a case. All in all, that does not seem too bad to me.

Typically judges are assigned between 600 and 1,300 cases each year, depending on the district. Rural judges have to travel and generally have fewer cases, so are assigned fewer cases. Most judges try between 6-12 jury trials a year, 75-150 nonjury trials a year, and hold about 500-1,500 hearings a year. This may seem like a lot, and it is, but many hearings (such as at law and motion) last about five minutes each, and many trials last 2-4 hours. i.e. family law trials.

So, that gives a quick overview of what life is like for a district court judge. If you have any questions about our judicial system, fire away. I will do my level best to answer them.

Judge Russell Fagg has been a district court judge for nearly 20 years and has been assigned approximately 25,000 cases during that time. Judge Fagg is currently the president of the Montana Judges Association.