By GREG JORDAN
PRINCETON – State and local officials celebrated the formal dedication Monday for Mercer County’s two newest venues of justice.
Both the Mercer County Circuit Court and the Mercer County Family Court have new courtrooms in the Courthouse Annex next to the Mercer County Courthouse. Gov. Joe Manchin and other dignitaries praised the work of the Mercer County Commission, delegates, local cities, the county judiciary and the county residents for the years of work it took to make the new judgeships and facilities a reality.
“The confidence of the people of Mercer County speaks volumes,” Manchin said as he toured the new courtroom and offices of Judge Omar Aboulhosn.
“The case levels you have here and the quality of the people you have to meet them is something to be proud of,” Manchin said to an audience in the Mercer County Courthouse. “We have a lot to be proud of in this state, and one of the things we can be proud of is our people.”
A third circuit judge for the 9th Judicial Circuit in Mercer County became possible when Senate Bill 291 was signed into law.
Before Gov. Manchin appointed Aboulhosn to the newly created judgeship, Chief Judge William Sadler and Judge Derek Swope of Mercer County had to divide hundreds of cases between their courts. Since Aboulhosn’s appointment, the number of new cases has eased, allowing judges to get each one more attention, Sadler said.
“It’s helped us out. It’s eased the docket load we have,” Sadler said. “It’s made the dockets a lot more manageable, especially in the child abuse and neglect cases.”
Cases coming before the circuit court are still complex, but now judges can spend more time reading case files and preparing themselves, Swope said.
For instance, once judges could receive up to 50 juvenile and abuse cases at once, but having a third judge has reduced this workload to “the high twenties or low thirties,” Swope said.
The ceremony also marked the opening of a new courtroom for the Family Court of Mercer County. Chief Judge Mary Ellen Griffith, Judge Lisa Clark and Judge Anthony Bisaha attended Monday’s celebration.
“Mercer County desperately needed the judges,” said Steve Canterbury, administrator for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, who thanked Gov. Manchin, the Legislature and county officials for making it possible. “It was a multiple year, long term project. You didn’t hesitate. You made it work.”
Chief Justice Brent Benjamin said, “It is such a wonderful day when we open courtrooms. They say a courtroom often takes on the personalities of the judges serving in them. I’m confident that the two new courtrooms will have a good service here. It will be many years in which the courtrooms give good service to the state.”
“I join in congratulating Mercer County,” said U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. “It’s a big deal, which it is.”
