DALLAS (1080 KRLD)- A rebellion is brewing after a new computer program in the Dallas County District Clerk's office has wiped-out public access to some court records. Defense attorneys say they cannot access material that is vital to cases.
In fact, no new documents have been available online since May 17 when the county switched over to the new Odyssey system. Before then, the county used an older system known as OnBase. Court documents that are a matter of public record were posted on a site that was available to the public, including such matters as indictments, trial witness lists and bond information. While information before May 17 is still available on the OnBase system, there have not been any documents scanned since.
“I can’t see what’s going with cases,” says Amanda Branon, past president of the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. “If I have a potential client come in to meet with me I can’t look up the information that I could look up before to know exactly what they are being charged with and where the case is right now.”
Her frustration is spread across the county with prosecutors having more, but not complete access to records.
In an e-mail to KRLD news Monday, Dallas County District Clerk Felicia Pitre wrote “Currently, our IT Department is verifying security codes on document types. During conversion, there were several documents that should have been sealed but were not when viewed in the Odyssey Case Management System. Upon completion of testing, they will enable the courts portal. I have expressed the urgency of access, however, we have to ensure the integrity of the documents.”
But until that happens, it’s leaving lawyers looking for a work-around to get copies of records, even if it means going to the other side.
“I talk to the prosecutors because they can look up some more information that we have, or I ask the court coordinators to look up. But that’s not fair to them for me to have to ask them to look up information that I was able to look up before.” Branon said.
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