Pandemic delays justice system, poses other problems

CHARLOTTE — The criminal court systems are backlogged due to pandemic delays, which has forced some legal teams to make unprecedented moves.

“We’re not going anywhere. This work has not stopped,” said Spencer Merriweather, district attorney for Mecklenburg County.

Two major issues are affecting crime in the community.

Prosecutors are offering more plea deals, and it could take years, which is longer than usual, to go to trial.

There are more cases and fewer trials in the legal system, which means a longer wait for justice.

In December 2016, Nia Hantzopoulos was on her way to a flea market in Fort Mill, South Carolina, when she disappeared.

Police found her body days later in the trunk of a car in Ballantyne in south Charlotte.

Authorities in Myrtle Beach arrested Humberto Mendoza a week later on a murder warrant from Mecklenburg County.

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Mendoza’s trial has started 4½ years later in the only courtroom configured for COVID-19 safety protocols.

There are more than 120 cases in the queue.

“COVID has exacerbated or increased this backlog that we have in the courthouse,” said Rob Corbett, defense attorney.

He estimates that if someone was arrested Tuesday for a murder, the case may have to wait at least nine months, or until February 2022, before they must enter a guilty or not guilty plea.

If someone pleads not guilty, Corbett said it would probably be three more years before their case finally goes to trial.

He said that extended timeline is inevitably putting pressure on prosecutors to cut deals with defendants.

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“I think you can say in select or maybe a few cases, there are offers that are extended that we may not have seen before,” Corbett said.

“It is true that we are dealing with cases that have aged and, in many cases, are not well,” Merriweather said.

Merriweather said COVID-19 delays are forcing some tough decisions.

Witnesses may disappear or not remember clearly what happened when they do finally go to court.

Merriweather promises “we will not stop until we hold people accountable.”

Murder warrant issued after Charlotte woman's body found in car trunk Murder warrant issued after Charlotte woman's body found in car trunk

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