CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — The Camdenton R-III school food services employee accused of stealing more than $125,000 from the district could see a trial delay, due to a full docket on the 26th Judicial Circuit.
Cassandra Franklin appeared in the Camden Circuit Court at 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015 for a pre-trial conference. Cody Edwards represented Franklin, charged with a B level Felony, Theft/Stealing of property over $25,000.
In this case, Franklin allegedly stole more than $125,000 from the Camden R-III School District. At the time of the incident, Franklin was employed in the Food Service Department of the High School and was terminated in September 2014 when discrepancies were found in the accounting information.
Special Prosecutor Jon Morris told LakeExpo.com that the Franklin trial remains scheduled for Nov. 30, 2015. Morris explained that several trials are set for that date and the oldest cases will probably be tried first and newer cases may be reset for later dates. This is the first time Franklin’s trial has appeared on the docket, so it is possible the trial will be pushed to a later date, depending on the other cases scheduled for Nov. 30.
Prosecuting Attorney Jon Morris of Laclede County is handling the case for the State because Camden County Prosecutor Michael Gilley brought Morris in as a special prosecutor. Franklin was married to Gilley’s cousin at the time of the alleged crime.
A pre-trial conference allows all parties to come before a judge to determine if any issues need to be heard and ruled upon prior to beginning of the trial phase. This also allows the judge an opportunity to advise the parties of any information they may need as they prepare for trial. At this point in the trial process, the prosecution provides the defense with any relevant documents such as a police report.
Franklin appeared in Judge Hayden’s courtroom for this conference on Monday, November 9, 2015 where the clerk announced that there were 140 cases on the docket for that day. These included Arraignments and Pre-Trial Conferences as well as requests for speedy trials. If the court remains in session for 8 hours each case would have to be disposed of in less than 4 minutes.
Arraignments are short by nature and can be handled quickly. The court asks if the person named on the docket is present in court and represented by an attorney. An arraignment is the formal notification to the accused of the exact details of the charges brought by the State and the point at which the accused will enter a plea of Guilty or Not Guilty. In many cases the attorney simply states that the accused waives the Preliminary Hearing and enters a plea of Not Guilty, thus advancing the proceedings directly to the trial phase. In these cases, this takes only 1 to 2 minutes.
Pre-trial conferences are also short events conducted by both attorneys approaching the bench to confer with the judge. If no issues exist requiring a ruling from the bench, the Court announces the case will go to trial as scheduled. These conferences may only take 3 to 4 minutes.
Even though having 140 cases on a daily docket seems daunting, and the confusion of dozens of attorneys milling about waiting for their clients to be called forward from the tightly packed courtroom leaves the spectators and family members of defendants nervous and panicky, Judge Hayden moved the docket along smoothly and expeditiously.
