It's been a busy day in one Horry County courtroom. This week, a judge is clearing out cases that have been around for years, hearing one after another in quick succession, to relieve a backlog in the solicitor's office.
There were a hundred cases on the docket Monday. Tuesday, a hundred more, and so on all week.
The goal is to get these old cases off the books, and the state's highest ranking judge plans to do the same thing all over the state.
The courthouse hallway was crowded, Monday. Courtroom 3-A was stuffed with attorneys and defendants.
On the bench, a judge determined to move things along.
"We are going to start moving the backup on these cases over a year old," said Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham.
The solicitor's office calls it March Madness. Judge Cottingham has a more judicious name for it - case management.
It involves pushing hundreds of cases through in a short period of time, by offering defendants a choice.
Go along with a plea deal that's only good until the end of this week or set a solid trial date in April or May.
Cottingham says it works, by focusing clearly on each case.
"They now know that we're going to dispose of it one way or another," Cottingham explained.
The defense attorneys say many of their clients have long wanted to get their day in court, so March Madness is good for them, though it does keep the lawyers busy.
"From the attorneys' point of view, it's time consuming. Many of us will be over here all week," said attorney, Greg McCollum.
McCollum says the intention is good, but the jury is still out over whether March Madness is successful.
Cottingham says there's a backlog of cases because crime keeps going up, while the number of judges remains the same.
He says State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal wants to hire more judges, but the legislature hasn't approved them.
So she wants to use case management all over the state.
"The chief justice is with the cooperation of the solicitors is moving to correct it as best she can with the limited resources that we have," said Cottingham.
Cottingham says he did the same thing in Orangeburg County a few years ago and it really worked.
The docket in Horry County includes 409 cases in Cottingham's courtroom up to Thursday and another hundred at the county jail on Friday.
