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challenge. There is so much misinfomation and ignorance that its difficult
to know where to begin. So we'll go in the same order as the editorial.
First, regarding a "smooth connection with other counties," two points.
Why would you think that a judge should have such information at his/her
fingertips? We have an adversarial system of justice in this country, not
an inquisitorial one. Under no circumstance should a judge be able to just
look up information. That's not what a judge is supposed to do!
If the prosecutor wants the judge to see other cases from around the state,
the prosecutor has complete access to all of that information and can
present it in open court where the defendant has the opportunity to question
it. A judge has no business looking up things that neither side is aware
of. Ditto in a civil case. It's up to the parties to present relevant
information and the opposing side can challenge it.
The statement that it is necessary for a judge to see such information on
his/her own it just ignorant and a perversion of our system of justice.
The second point on this is that all this case information is already
available to the people that have a need for it. There is no need to adopt
Odyssey which only has access to about 30 counties anyway.
Existing systems already contain all the case information in over 80
counties. Odyssey would be a step backwards.
You list cost as being a reason to go with Odyssey, saying it is free and
that the current system costs a lot. But what you don't say is that Odyssey
is far from free. Over $80 million has been spent on it so far with more
being spent yearly. That's hardly free!
There is a $4 fee tacked on to the costs of each case, civil and criminal,
that is filed in Lake county courts and this $4 per case goes to JTAC to
fund Odyssey in other counties. Lake County is paying a LOT for Odyssey now
and you don't even have it! If the Legislature would change this so that
the fees paid per case could stay in Lake County for the Clerk to use in
paying for whatever system they want to use, this would greatly offset the
cost of the current system. As it is, Odyssey is costing Lake county
residents a lot of money and will cost even more if it should be
implemented.
The misinformation being put out by JTAC concerning Odyssey is astounding.
Even more astounding is the ignorance of those who put this propaganda in
the newspapers. Why don't you do a little digging? Find out the facts?
Then present those. Go interview some current users of Odyssey in other
counties (off the record) and see what they say. You will find that most
users do not like it. There are other computer programs out there that are
better and cheaper than Odyssey. And all of the supposed benefits that
Odyssey brings already exist. There is no need for it.
If you do your homework, you will find that Odyssey is a step backwards, is
amazingly expensive and is a perversion of our justice system. Now why
would you want that?