CHARLOTTE, N.C. — WCNC Charlotte is hearing from Mecklenburg County's District Attorney about the rocky transition to e-courts.
It has been a month since the new program launched, moving from paper to online, and the transition has been less than smooth.
District Attorney Spencer Merriweather told WCNC Charlotte that the city has been handling the e-courts rollout the best they can and they're working to keep the courts moving so people in Mecklenburg County can seek justice without delay.
Inside the Mecklenburg County Courthouse, people go through trials and tribulations, and lately, there's been even more distress.
E-courts are meant to digitize and connect all North Carolina courts. The new technology brings the biggest change the system has seen in more than five decades.
But there have been a number of setbacks with the new system, including postponed hearings, bond reduction, error messages, and delays in inmate transfers to the courthouse.
“Right now, there’s a whole lot of delay and a whole lot of uncertainty, because we're all still trying to get used to the system," Merriweather said.
DA Merriweather says he's proud of the way his office has responded to the setbacks, but there's a big caseload in Mecklenburg County and e-courts have made it far from easy.
“Just last night members of my office were conducting first appearance court up until 10 p.m. at night, that has become more and more normal," Merriweather said.
More normal because it takes time for documents to be scanned into the system. It's a process that's impacting everyone.
“The community deserves better, quite frankly it can be difficult to retain staff in the court system including my office, knowing that they’re working under those sorts of pressures. And people charged with a crime deserve better," Merriweather said.
All this after the system rolled out in Wake and surrounding counties back in February, with many glitches. It even prompted a class action lawsuit when people were left in jail after cases were dismissed.
“This is the system that we're going to have for the foreseeable future," Merriweather said. "It’s certainly not perfect. I don’t think you’re going to find a single person across the state who says it's anywhere close to perfect, but we are still struggling to find a way to meet the expectations of the public, and frankly, we haven’t gotten there yet.”
Merriweather said he's hopeful that with time, the vendor of e-courts will be able to make improvements to the system, so things run more smoothly.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.