CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There was some confusion at Mecklenburg County’s courthouse Monday morning as a long-delayed computer system rolled out.
eCourts, with taxpayers footing its $100 million price tag, has faced hundreds of glitches since first being deployed in Raleigh. Those issues prompted a lot of concern about the rollout in Charlotte.
It was very much a Monday morning for hundreds of people who showed up to deal with traffic tickets at the Mecklenburg County courthouse.
"I came to court this morning and they told me court was canceled," Collins Cornwell said.
Traffic Court is canceled all week because of the eCourts launch but WCNC Charlotte's Michelle Boudin learned the clerk's office didn’t notify hundreds of people.
"I’m actually feeling some type of way," Celeste May told Boudin Monday morning. "If we knew this was gonna happen we could have prepared the people. We’ve taken off work. Have to take care of our families. He told me it might be February before I can get a court date."
eCourts, the new technology meant to digitize and connect the North Carolina courts system, rolled out in Wake and surrounding counties in February. It was delayed in Charlotte because of so many ongoing glitches.
The technology has even prompted a class action lawsuit after people were left in jail when their cases were dismissed but the computer systems did not update.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told Boudin she wants an independent review of the system because there are still major issues on a regular basis.
Freeman says the issues have gone on long enough.
In Mecklenburg County, some inmates weren't initially transported to scheduled court appearances but were later in the day.
"I think there will be a number of things we find about the process on Monday that we feel like we can fix by the time we get to Tuesday," Spencer Merriweather, Mecklenburg County's district attorney, said. "Making sure sheriff's [deputies] have a docket will be one of those things."
Merriweather was expecting issues.
"And I’m sure at this hour, I will find out countless others before we are finished with today’s business," he continued.
The district attorney said his team is doing the best they can to keep courts moving.
"Today is about the Olympian effort of getting started," he said. "There will be more than enough time to look at the challenges, all of the surprises, that will likely be in store for us as the system rolls out completely."
WCNC Charlotte tried to talk to the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, which is in charge of this rollout, but they refused to talk on-camera.
AOC staff, along with employees of Tyler Technologies, the manufacturer of eCourts, were at the courthouse Monday helping with the rollout.
CONTINUING COVERAGE FROM WCNC CHARLOTTE
- October 2023: NC DMV commissioner asking for eCourts system delay
- September 2023: 'I'd rather have the rapture come': Attorneys, government officials unhappy about new online court system
- August 2023: Mecklenburg County to become fifth to test delayed computer system
- May 2023: New lawsuit alleges hundreds of people wrongfully detained in NC
- April 2023: 'Everybody is just frustrated' | Lawmaker closely monitoring troubled court software rollout
- Feb. 2023: 'It's kind of like the rapture' | Concerns ahead of changes at the courts
- March 2023: Amid NC technical issues, Mecklenburg County will wait longer to get new computer system for courts
- April 2023: 'It’s a disaster' | New computer system causing court delays, civil liberties violations
Launch morning live blog
It's launch day in Mecklenburg County for eCourts, a computerized court system intended to make the North Court court system paperless. The system was first deployed in Wake County, where court officials continue to experience outages and issues.
WCNC Charlotte has been closely monitoring the issues and launch of eCourts. Throughout launch day in Charlotte on Monday, this page was updated with the latest reporting and updates from WCNC Charlotte's Michelle Boudin.
11:05 a.m.
The Wake County District Attorney tells WCNC Charlotte that the eCourts transition, replacing a system that's been in place for four decades, represents a "huge lift" for courts that have been dependent on paper. Wake County was one of the four "pilot" counties that began the transition several months ago.
"We are continuing to also have issues with the system, unfortunately," Lorrin Freeman said. "We continue to experience outages when the system goes down. Sometimes you have to take a timeout, maybe even send people home if the system doesn’t come back up and try again the next day."
10:25 a.m.
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office tells WCNC Charlotte their employees came in to work yesterday and the Clerk's Office staff worked all weekend in preparation for today's eCourts launch. "It's here and we're dealing with it," said District Attorney Spencer Merriweather. "We've had a lot of support from AOC (the NC Administrative Office of the Courts) and the state this weekend -- and a lot of good luck emails from colleagues across the state."
10:15 a.m.
The eCourts portal for obtaining court information appears to be up and running, allowing defendants, attorneys and the general public to access court documents.
10:12 a.m.
A defense attorney tells WCNC Charlotte that continuances that used to take 10 seconds to complete are now taking 10 minutes because of paperwork. The attorney says that time adds up throughout the day and will limit the number of cases that can be rescheduled this way.
10:05 a.m.
WCNC Charlotte has learned a key computer system has been down since late last week as part of the cutover to eCourts. It's the system that notifies deputies which inmates need to be transferred to the courthouse for court dates. As a result, those inmates were not transferred and those cases have been delayed until later in the day.
10:00 a.m.
The eCourts launch has pushed back some court dates for traffic offenses. Hundreds of cases are being rescheduled for next year and traffic court is closed all week. The Clerk's Office was supposed to notify people but hundreds were not informed and still showed up expecting to deal with their tickets.
Back story
Officials have sounded alarms about eCourts when it launched, leading state officials to request a delay before Monday's delayed Charlotte launch.
"Certainly there’s a great deal of anxiety," Spencer Merriweather, the Mecklenburg County's district attorney, said.
Reports of glitches led law enforcement agencies to voice their concerns about public safety, plus there have been long lines at courthouses, delayed court hearings, and even allegations of civil rights violations with eCourts.
Law enforcement officials are worried about public safety when it comes to the new system. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said some people have even been arrested twice on the same warrant because the new system hadn't worked with individual county court systems.
"Imagine if we have the wrong information and we get into a conflict," Garry McFadden, the Mecklenburg County sheriff, said. "It's more than paperwork or the system goes down. It's also safety of my deputies."
With a laundry list of problems, including lawsuits against the system’s vendor, Tyler Technologies, the hope is that those issues have been resolved.
On Sunday night, the district attorney's office gathered to prepare for their own “gameday” surrounding the eCourts launch.
"We have trained intensely, but we join other court partners in asking for patience as we all adjust to these technology changes in our justice system," Merriweather posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, Sunday afternoon.
Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.