.
HERE A JUDGE LET
HER OWN
PETTY EMOTIONAL REACTIONS
CONTROL THE PROCEEDINGS--
"HERE A JUDGE LET HER OWN PETTY EMOTIONAL REACTIONS CONTROL THE PROCEEDINGS"
Petty emotional reactions? Pot, meet kettle. Look above. The legal minds on this thread know better than you what probably happened and what will happen.
First, this case will be refiled. It's unlikely to have been dismissed permanently (i.e., with prejudice). Every single post assuming this case is a ten-year-old girl denied justice is being suckered in by the prosecutor and by the assumption that this judge is acting liberal. The judge probably IS a lib, but that doesn't mean this is a liberal act--it's simply good work on the part of a judge who won't waste court time (and public money) on prosecutors who don't do their jobs.
Second, you reflexively assume that the prosecutor is behaving properly and the judge improperly. Sure, judges let off crooks on technicalities all the time. But why should a prosecutor get to call a judge, another lawyer, court clerk, bailiff, and other staff and not suffer some punishment for making them all wait not only in court for 45 minutes, but wait 45 minutes for even a PHONE CALL to let them know the prosecutor was running late. On top of that, to have as the reason for them running late, "Oh, I was writing a motion in my office," is crap. There was no reason to waste all these people's time and the public's money when that call could have been made before the hearing. Judges, clerks, and attorneys are all people, and judges, clerks, and public defenders are paid by your tax dollars. Was there some reason you thought their salaries should be wasted?
Sure, dismissal and default judgments are supposed to be last resorts, and are not used often in some jurisdictions, but the best judges and best jurisdictions generally use `em frequently to ensure the court calendars are taken seriously by both the parties and their counsel so that judgments issue in a timely fashion. Court calendars have to move so that the public gets resolution, and other defendants aren't let off as a result of speedy trial violations. Defaulting or dismissing cases if attorneys fail to appear is a big part of making certain that calendars progress. And nearly EVERY jurisdiction will utilize dismissal without prejudice on attorneys who entirely FTA. I would bet this was one of them.