KESQ.com news services

With a backlog of 1,300 felony cases awaiting trial in Riverside County, the new judge in Indio will have his work cut out for him.

Commissioner Dale R. Wells, 54, of Indio, was appointed Monday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to one of the seven new judgeships in the county mandated by last year's passage of SB 56.

Wells began serving as a commissioner in 2003. He was a family law facilitator for the Riverside County Superior Court from 1998 to 2003, and worked in private practice, handling mainly family law cases, before that.

"What it means for Indio is that more criminal cases will get heard and a new commissioner slot will open up," said Riverside County Superior Court Presiding Judge Richard T. Fields, adding that Wells could remain hearing family law cases and the new commissioner might hear criminal or civil cases.

"It depends on the experience of the new commissioner."

 Fields said he expected it would take about 90 days to hire a new commissioner for Indio.

Over the next three-and-a-half months, the case backlog also will be attacked by a team of 27 retired and active judges from across the state formed on orders from California Chief Justice Ronald George.

The first dozen team judges started work on the judicial pileup -- with some of the cases going back  six years -- last Tuesday.

Judge John J. Ryan, who is retired and was assigned to handle criminal cases in Indio before the announcement of the strike team -- will now handle strike team cases fulltime in the Coachella Valley, Fields said.

Pending bids from contractors, the county-owned Palm Springs Courthouse could also reopen in about a year which would mean an additional three courtrooms, according to Fields.

"It may be we use some of those courtrooms for civil cases... and use free courtrooms in Indio for criminal cases," Fields said. "It just depends on what the need is. Legally we are bound to hear criminal cases first."

Due to the county's severe backlog of criminal cases, civil cases have virtually stopped being heard.

Riverside County now has a total of 54 judges.

Fields said he believes the county needs more than double that number to effectively trim down the backlog of criminal cases pending on the docket and make more civil jury trials possible.