Judge Darren Murphy begins presiding over Superior Court 7
Two new courtrooms opened in the Hamilton County Judicial Center on Tuesday. The new courtrooms will be used by Magistrates Chad Hill and Erin Weaver. Magistrates work for and with elected judges to handle a wide variety of cases, both civil and criminal.
“The county continues to grow and continues to have more and more cases filed every year,” Superior Court 5 Judge David Najjar said. “We simply needed more room to handle our burgeoning caseload.”
Murphy
Najjar
Superior Court 7 also opened this month and will be presided over by Judge Darren Murphy. Judge Murphy will hear civil and criminal cases – hence, the need to find new space for the magistrates.
Based on state caseload statistics, Hamilton County still needs more judicial officers. Judge Najjar says the county is high on the list of counties who need additional juridical resources.
“These new courtrooms will allow us to move closer to the actual judicial need dictated by our caseload statistics, but we still need more,” Najjar said. “Only then will we be able to move our cases more quickly and efficiently.”
The two new magistrate courtrooms replace the county’s Information System Services Department, which will eventually move to the basement of the Judicial Center.