There have been many questions in the Copper Corridor regarding the Superior Court’s possible realignment of JP Courts in Pinal County. Let me provide some information.
The Judicial (courts) Branch of government is considering a possible realignment of lower courts in Pinal County. Several weeks ago the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court met individually and separately with each of the five Supervisors. Suffice to say I was NOT very supportive of the Court’s “DRAFT” proposal. I proposed a different alignment of JP Courts if indeed this has to occur. My efforts are to ensure that the Copper Corridor has an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. My “DRAFT” proposal would be to keep all the mining towns (current and former) in one JP District that stretches from Oracle & San Manuel via SR 77 & SR 177 through Superior. To allow convenient access to the JP Courts, my proposal would keep the court in Oracle and another in Superior or Kearny, utilizing a circuit judge.
The Superior Court with its effort to provide additional security would assess which buildings are more amenable to their standard of security.
I reiterate that these are ONLY draft proposals by the court and are only in initial discussions. i would be happy to address the over-crowding issues confronted by the Apache Junction JP Court and leave all other JP Courts as is.
Sincerely,
/s/ Pete Rios
Pinal County BOS Vice Chair Dist. 1