eCourts is biggest change to Meck County system in 60 years, leaders say

Hannah Goetz
·2 min read

The new eCourts system in Mecklenburg County is already bringing headaches and frustration for some families.

Court leaders say moving from paper to an online program is the biggest change in the system in 60 years.

A number of setbacks came Monday with the new system. Those included delays in hearings, delays in inmate transfers to the courthouse, and error messages that had court officials scratching their heads.

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Day two of the new online court system led to some more hiccups, and attorneys say the real test will come in a few weeks when the number of cases picks back up.

Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz spoke to attorneys Tuesday who said there are two clear pros and cons. The pro is the accessibility to documents, but the con is it takes time.

“The disastrous part is the waiting time. It just takes everybody so long to do very menial tasks,” defense attorney George Laughrun said.

“It’s tedious,” criminal defense attorney Kevin Barnett said. “It’s meticulous, it’s a little slow. Speeding ticket, plead today took me about 45 minutes where it used to take me about two or three.”

But the defense attorneys told Goetz they saw some progress Tuesday.

“It’s actually not as bad as I anticipated, but there’s still some glitches,” Barnett said.

The new system, Odyssey, allows attorneys to view court documents online instead of having to go to the courthouse. However, making sure those documents are scanned into the system seems to be slowing down the process.

“Then there’s still some remaining questions as to how they’re going to deal with it in a couple of weeks, once the volume comes back,” Barnett said.

Attorneys said the court purposely scheduled fewer cases during the rollout -- they ballpark between five to 10 defendants a session. But a normal schedule will pick up again in a few weeks with about 50.

“But the system is not designed for speed. It’s not designed for volume,” Laughrun said.

Goetz was told some people didn’t leave the courthouse until 8 p.m. Monday.

Another issue many encountered Monday was with traffic court. The traffic court is closed for the week, but some people who had court dates were unaware.

Cards were handed out at traffic court Monday that had QR codes for the eCourts portal. That’s where people were told they could check for their new court date, but some names aren’t showing up in the system.

One person told Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz they showed up to court and were told their date would be moved to February.

Attorneys said the caseload is expected to go back to normal on Oct. 23.

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