New court system termed 'success'
By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County's new central court system for preliminary hearings was an "unqualified success," said William Sheaffer, court administrator and chief architect of the new system.
"It went as well as we could have hoped," he said.
The court will be held every Tuesday in the Franklin County Courthouse.
Before Tuesday, the county's six district justices held preliminary hearings in criminal cases in their own offices, which are spread throughout the county.
The six are Shirley M. Shatzer in Antrim Township; Larry G. Pentz in Waynesboro, Pa.; Larry K. Meminger and Gary L. Carter, both in Chambersburg; David E. Hawbaker in Mercersburg, Pa., and John Weyman in Pleasant Hall, Pa.
The new system is intended to streamline the flow of criminal cases through the courts, and officials said it will make it easier for attorneys on both sides to schedule court time. It will cut down driving time for state troopers and police officers who attend the hearings and sheriff's deputies who shuttle defendants from the Franklin County Prison in Chambersburg to the district justice offices.
