Interim Municipal Court judge Lorenzo Atencio took over judgeship duties for Judge Stephen Salazar Aug. 1, after Salazar was suspended for 90 days in July for repeated acts of willfull judicial misconduct.
Since then, Atencio has settled into his temporary post, into a familiar spot behind the bench with a gavel close at hand.
“It has been a pleasure working with this staff,” Atencio said. “They are very competent, very professional. I’ve never seen anyone be rude to people as they come into this court.”
Atencio said his fellow court staffers have been essential in acclimating the judge to his temporary surroundings.
“They’ve helped me a lot in learning the procedure,” he said.
Atencio said he finds the job exhausting at times but, in general, he gains a sense of fulfillment serving as municipal court judge.
“It’s tiring but we’re getting it done,” he said.
The judge said even though municipal court functions primarily as a traffic court, sometimes the cases that come before him require serious reflection before decisions are handed down.
“The thing that is interesting is that it’s traffic court,” he said. “There’s no felonies here. It’s traffic court but the cases are complicated in how you resolve them.”
Atencio will take into account any number of circumstances when presiding over a case, including socioeconomic and health factors.
“There’s people who can’t afford to pay,” he said. “That’s more problems for them. People get arrested. I’m conscious about their Constitutional rights.”
The judge said offenders will pay back the system—one way or another.
“They still pay the price, whether in fines or community service,” he said.
Atencio said he listens to defendants plead their cases and takes into account special circumstances.
“Some considerations would be if he or she admits they have a drinking problem, whether they blame someone else,” he said. “I had someone tell me after taking two shots and three beers that they could drive.”
Atencio said sometimes he can tell an offender made a simple lapse in judgment or fell victim to wrong place, wrong time circumstances.
“Some have made a mistake,” he said. “I give them the benefit of the doubt.”
The judge looks often to the municipal court’s community outreach program as a means of sentencing an individual.
“We do much more than just fine people and punish them,” he said. “People work off their fines for the city at $7.50 an hour.”
A typical community service assignment involves city beautification, cleaning up trash along a visible, prominent street or a landscaped public park.
Atencio said the municipal court will soon launch its Teen Court program which will feature teenagers serving as juries to their peers as the adolescent offenders appear before the judge.
“We will establish Teen Court to hear their cases and it will involve alternative sentencing,” he said.
Atencio has ensured the court department follows up on collecting court fine costs. During the month of August, the municipal court collected 35 percent, around $7,000 more, than the same one-month span in 2011, under Judge Salazar. However, the court collected less in fines during July 2012 than the same month in 2011.
The record of court fine collection totals is:
• July 2012: $13,039
• July 2011: $16,326
• August 2012: $17,715
• August 2011: $10,660.