Superior Court Opens in Ramona as Quest for Space Finds Daylight

A superior form of justice arrived Monday in Ramona: the opening of the community’s first Superior Court, as the county’s search for new courtrooms spread to the backcountry.

It won’t exactly be a courtroom of convenience, but in a county where there are more judges than courtrooms, it’s better than nothing.

The judge assigned to the courtroom says he will fly to work, weather permitting.

The juries will be selected in El Cajon and taken by bus up California 67 to Ramona.

There is no jury deliberation room, so the judge’s chamber is being remodeled to accommodate jurors. The judge, in turn, will share a room with his court reporter.

There is no courtroom cafeteria or snack bar as in downtown San Diego or Vista, but there is the Foster’s Freeze across the street.

There is an up side to all this. The courtroom has windows for fresh air and real daylight. That’s an amenity rare at other courtrooms in the county.

The Ramona courtroom, attached to the El Cajon Municipal Judicial District, only is used on Friday mornings, usually for traffic and small claims matters.

Municipal Court on Loan

Michael Greer, presiding judge of San Diego County’s Superior Court, said he asked Municipal Court administrator Fred Lear if he would lend the courtroom to the Superior Court. In exchange, the Superior Court judge would handle municipal cases on Friday, as a sort of quid pro quo.

They agreed and, on Monday, the new Superior Court opened for business. Judge Donald Meloche, usually assigned to El Cajon, offered to take the first month’s duty in Ramona; next month, it will rotate to another judge.

“I haven’t worked in a courtroom that had sun coming in for years,” Meloche said Monday, during a break on a civil case involving a partnership dissolution.

Greer said the courtroom will be limited to civil cases or criminal ones in which the defendant is not in custody. Even though the courtroom is in the same small complex of county offices that houses the sheriff’s substation, there is no security in the courtroom to accommodate in-custody defendants.

Countywide Shortage

Greer said the move to Ramona was necessitated by the shortage of courtrooms countywide. He said Superior Court judges hear cases in, among other places, the federal courthouse, municipal courtrooms in downtown San Diego, a hearing room at the county administrative offices and in the El Cajon City Council chambers.

Part of the San Diego Hotel has been converted to accommodate four courtrooms, and the county is considering proposals to convert parts of either the El Cortez Convention Center or the old Walker Scott department store for more courtrooms.