( PUEBLO, Colo.)-- Hundreds of individuals in Pueblo who had warrants out for their arrest, no longer need to worry about going to prison following Pueblo's 10th Judicial District warrant clearance day.
Individuals who had a warrant out for their arrest were told to come to the Dennis Maes Pueblo Judicial Building on Saturday, May 21, to clear their names. Montina Lujan, who came in that morning said she was truly nervous about it, fearing that they would detain her.
However, Lujan was among numerous who thought this might be some type of scam to entice in Pueblo's lawbreakers.
" We heard that from a lot of people who wondered if they're going to get jammed up when they get here. But, no one did and nobody will," stated Pueblo's 10th Judicial District Court Judge, William Alexander.
In spite of the speculation, almost 400 people chose to gamble and on a fresh start in life.
" We truthfully believed there may simply be 20 to 25 people that show up ... But, a substantial crowd has actually shown up ... We have some cases from the late nineties that people have a warrant out for their arrest and they've been attempting to prevent the police for 27 years on a traffic ticket," stated Judge Alexander.
The warrants they were handling were for lower-level criminal charges, so these individuals, who were simply one step away from jail, truly had no factor to be.
" These are folks that have a warrant out for them but haven't gotten in difficulty for anything else ... A lot of people, when they understand they have a warrant, their life's on pause. They have a cloud hanging over their head, basically," stated Alby Singleton, the head of Pueblo's Public Defender's Office.
Pueblo's 10th Judicial District brought in a complete court and legal personnel who worked working tirelessly, on their day of rest, to absolve people of their arrest warrants. This was a process that might've taken people days to solve but on Saturday, took just 30 minutes.
" All of us are public servants. We're here to serve the community… … I think it is far more efficient by doing it on a Saturday ... We can devote today to simply resolving these kinds of cases, these exceptional matters," stated Anthony Marzavas, the 10th Judicial District's assistant district attorney.
After the enormous turnout, Pueblo's judicial staff states they will certainly check out hosting another warrant clearance day in the near future.
" Seeing their faces when they're going out of the court building and they're understanding that they're going to have a chance to move on, it's been terrific," stated Singleton. "I think that everybody here is having a good day in court, which is something that's quite rare."
The authorities numbers from Pueblo's court executive revealed:
- 370 people walked through the doors
- 135 individuals talked to a lawyer and appeared in front of a judge
- 120 cases were set for brand-new court dates and are actively pursuing resolution
- 16 cases, mainly traffic associated, were completely fixed
- 0 arrested made
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