ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — Case after case after case is waiting to be tried in Ector County.
A backlog is impacting criminal, civil and family law cases.
"The pandemic required people not to gather together. Courts required people to gather together, therefore we couldn't have court," said Dusty Gallivan, Ector County District Attorney.
Midland County is dealing with the exact same situation.
"56 cases involved death last year alone, so even if we tried one of those cases a week for the whole year we would not clear that docket," Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf said. "That doesn't include the numerous crimes against children we have, the family violence, the burglary of a habitation. Those are serious cases with serious offenders. And those cases often need to be tried."
So how are they managing? Ector County is bringing in visiting judges to help with the load.
"A trial docket would normally have about 20-30 cases. Well because we have a backlog, those dockets now contain 40 or 50, which gives us the opportunity to try to move those cases through a plea or trial," Gallivan said.
You can bet these offices are moving as fast as they can.
"Well it's important that if somebody breaks the law they're held accountable. A lot of our cases have victims and it's important that victims have their day in court. They should be able to go through the process and see justice in their case," Gallivan said.