Candidates jockeying for the open Hall County State Court bench seat compete at a time of a growing caseload.

Attorneys Michelle Hall and John Breakfield are on the May 24 ballot for the nonpartisan judiciary seat vacated by State Court Judge Charles Wynne.

Breakfield, who recently served as Gainesville Municipal Court solicitor, has established himself as a constitutional conservative. From Supreme Court to State Court, Breakfield said the judges must not legislate from the bench.

“Each case needs to be evaluated, but the law is the law. The law is the purview of the legislature that passes the law,” he said.

For the past six years, Michelle Hall served as Municipal Court judge for Flowery Branch.

In State Court, with Judges Wynne, Larry Baldwin II and B.E. Roberts III, the caseload has increased nearly 60 percent from 2011 to 2014.

The number of cases in State Court dipped to its lowest point in 2011 with 5,784 cases and has since jumped back up to 9,133 cases in 2014.

For ways to tackle the caseload problem, Hall proposed adding more jail plea days for inmates to close out their cases.

“It runs into a situation where defendants are having to stay in jail a lot longer than they may need to before they get the opportunity to address their case with a judge,” Hall said.

While being too quick may mean citizens can’t be heard, Breakfield said going too slow would be justice delayed.

“If elected, I would make sure that I was cognizant of these two things,” Breakfield said, adding that he would encourage more mediation on the civil side to clear up part of the calendar.

For Hall, the key will be having a State Court where all three judges are on the same page to expedite one another’s caseloads. An example of this would be ensuring that indigent defense criteria is the same across the board to ensure equality across the bench.

“If we can all get along well enough to where I can close Judge Baldwin’s cases or I can close Judge Robert’s cases and vice versa, then people aren’t waiting so long for a court date,” Hall said.

Recalling his time with Gainesville Municipal Court, Breakfield said judges and fellow members of the courthouse must hold the mentality of efficiently adjudicating the cases at hand.

“If lawyers, citizens, prosecutors and people that work at the courthouse know that you’re going to be ready to work and you’re going to be prepared, that raises the bar for them to be as well,” Breakfield said.