Within the Open World – Justice program funded by the US government, Oskars Kulmanis, a Legal research counsel to the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate (Supreme Court), together with judges of the Riga Regional Court and the Economic Court, participated in an experience exchange visit in the United States. Participants gained valuable experience and information about the US judicial system, expert investigations, the ensuring of fair and efficient criminal proceedings.

At the beginning of the visit, the Latvian delegation heard several reports in the Library of Congress. Anthony John Trenga, a District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, provided an insight into the US court system, the role of judges, and the jurisdiction of federal and state courts. Whereas, Akin Adepoju, an Attorney Advisor in the Defender Services Office of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, gave an insight into the role of the state-funded defence counsel.

The Latvian delegation visited the Supreme Court of Ohio and met with its former judge Eve Stratton.

The Ohio Attorney General's Office, the National Bureau of Criminal Identification and the Grove City Police Department were also visited. At the Attorney General's Office, when discussing the efficiency of criminal proceedings, it was emphasized that a popular form for terminating criminal proceedings is the plea bargaining. This is because, in approximately 95% of cases, an accused person knows how severe the punishment for a criminal offense will be imposed by a court in the event of a finding of guilt. This encourages individuals to agree to a simplified form of proceedings and a correspondingly lower sentence.

In the second largest law firm in the state of Ohio, Bricker Graydon, visitors discussed the understanding of the sources of law in the USA and Latvia and various issues related to civil law, constitutional law and criminal law, including money laundering.

Moreover, the Latvian delegation visited the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and met with Judge Edmund Sargus. It was worthwhile to learn about a source essential to the judge's work – the guidelines for determining punishments, which are applied in every criminal case in order to determine the punishment fairly and in accordance with circumstances of a case. Guidelines tackle each type of criminal offense, sanctions and possible circumstances affecting the punishment. Guidelines include descriptions of types of punishments and their measurement of severity, as well as the criteria that affect the level of punishment, areas, and categories. The guidelines are of recommendatory nature, yet they help judges to set specific and similar sentences in similar cases, to prevent arbitrariness, disproportionately mild or severe sentences.

There was an opportunity to follow court hearings conducted by the judge. One of the cases concerned the movement and possession of more than 1 kg of cocaine by an organized group for the purpose of sale, as well as the use of firearms. The agreement between an accused and a prosecutor was confirmed at the court hearing. In this way, a person waives his/her right to a trial and jury participation, as well as his/her right to appeal the court's decision. This confirms the importance of the guidelines for determining punishments. The other case involved the sentencing of an individual for group mail fraud in the amount of more than $350,000.

The information obtained during the experience exchange visits will be useful for representatives of the Latvian courts in their future work, when examining criminal cases, as well as when participating in working groups for the development of legal policy.

Open World Leadership Center is an international exchange agency in the U.S. Legislative Branch established in 2000. Its headquarters are located in 25 different states. The aim of the centre is to introduce rising leaders of emerging countries to the importance of legislative functions in creating and sustaining democracies. The Open World Leadership Center administers the Open World program, which is one of the most effective U.S. exchange programs. Participants of the exchange programme are introduced to the American democratic governing systems and free market operations.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211