In the five years that Fairfax County District Court Judge Gallahue spent as a Fairfax County prosecutor, there were only about 20 days that he wasn’t in court. One day he had two jury trials. Gallahue said that the Fairfax County District Court hears 300,000 cases; with only 10 judges, they can hear as many as 30,000 cases a year.
Gallahue was speaking to a group gathered at Sherwood Regional Library for a program titled “Judge & Jury.” It is part of an ongoing series of programs designed for adults. Elizabeth McKay-Hutchison, manager of information services, credits one of the librarians, Pat Van Slyke, with putting the program together.
“This is the first time we’ve done a lot of programming,” McKay-Hutchison said. “We’re looking at the demographics of the community. We know that there are a lot of seniors who are interested in using the library as a community center.”
This past week, they held another session titled “Supreme Decisions.” This program featured Charles Lane, Washington Post reporter, who covers the U.S. Supreme Court. He spoke about the latest news regarding the Court, including the cases before the Court this term and the impact of the new Chief Justice.
Other programs have been scheduled for the upcoming weeks and McKay-Hutchison said that they would evaluate what works, what doesn’t and plan their future programs from there.
AT THE JUDGE & JURY session, Gallahue spoke about his background. He was a Fairfax County prosecutor for five years. From 1977 to 1983, he was in private practice and became a judge with the Fairfax County District Court in 1998.
Gallahue spent most of the session answering questions from the audience. The questions ranged in scope, from people wanting to know how cases are assigned to more specific interest about drunk driving rules.
Gallahue said that prosecutors are assigned cases on a basis of seniority and experience. While Gallahue served as a prosecutor, he was aggressive in getting police officers to bring cases to him.
“If you knew who the serious investigators were, you could get the serious cases,” Gallahue said.
Someone asked how far back on the books lawyers can cite a case. Gallahue said that it’s feasible sometimes to go back to the 1800s, except that the further back you go the more likely it is that the decision has been overturned.
He mentioned a case from the 1830s which is coincidentally called “Gallahue’s Case” (a distant relative); the case has to do with will contests and is still cited.
Gallahue said that the law changes frequently especially when it applies to drunk driving statutes.
“We see more drunk driving cases and trials than any other single area,” he said. “There are some very creative lawyers in Fairfax County — they will pick apart every word and comma in the statute.”
There were questions about whether cameras in police cars help make a case when a drunk driver is stopped; Gallahue said that they are not totally effective as they don’t show the entire scene. Regarding whether or not roadblocks are legal, he said that as long as it is a limited intrusion, they are. The laws change frequently and the duration of a roadblock has to be short. If there is a backup, the officers have to let everybody through and then set up again.
When asked if there was a chance of some of traffic cases being moved to the South County Government Center, he said, “That’s not going to happen. The advantage of the courthouse is that it’s centrally located and you don’t want to vulcanize the court system.”
He later added that they just don’t have enough clerks to staff other locations. Gallahue thought the program was definitely worth it, and said, “I have a special job, but I’m still a person. Judges don’t often get a chance to find out what concerns people have. It’s good for people to see that we are reasonable and that we’re people too.”