MERGER SKIRMISH 
The much ballyhooed merger of the Bronx’s Criminal and Supreme Courts has run into trouble, The New York Law Journal reports, due to soaring misdemeanors and an upswing in felony cases. The number of felony cases pending longer that the court system’s six-month standard has increased by almost two-thirds, while misdemeanors have risen by six percent. (Although, dispositions for felonies and misdemeanors are both up by around 15 percent.) Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Judith Harris Kluger blames the fact that only 42 judges are currently assigned to the merged court, compared to 48 when the project began. The transfer of five judges to the Bronx last week has brought that number to 47. Meanwhile, the Law Journal says several judges speaking anonymously have expressed criticism about the merger, calling it inefficient and expensive. Another explanation was offered by Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson, who said that a “low morale” on the part of the judges could be “an unconscious factor.” The stalled judicial pay raise bill and “the onslaught of cases has to be wearing on them,” he said.

"REPUGNANT" VERDICTS 
The Schenectady Daily Gazette reports that Fulton County Judge Richard C. Giardino has dismissed the top count against a man convicted of manslaughter in the stabbing death of Northville resident David T. Lamphear. Edward D. Jones should not have been convicted of first degree assault, Judge Giardino ruled, since when the jury acquitted Jones of first-degree manslaughter it found he hadn’t intended to cause serious physical injury (which first-degree assault conviction also assumes). Before sentencing Jones to 7-1/2-to-15 years in prison (as opposed to the 25 years he would have faced) the judge cited a Court of Appeals decision, which said “the critical concern is that an individual not be convicted for a crime on which the jury has actually found that the defendant did not commit an essential element, whether it be one element or all . . . allowing such a verdict to stand is not merely inconsistent with justice, it is repugnant to it.”

JURORS OUT ANOTHER DAY IN NIXZMARY CASE 
The New York Times reports on jurors’ difficulties in round one of the Nixzmary Brown deliberations, in which the seven-year-old girl’s stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, is being tried for her murder. After jurors deliberated for three days, the Times speculates that perhaps they are weighing the lesser of three charges against Rodriguez, first of second degree manslaughter.

GALLAGHER RESIGNS 
And finally, the Times also reports on the resignation of former Queens City Councilman Dennis P. Gallagher. Gallagher had initially faced a rape charge for his alleged assault of a woman in his Middle Village office, but the indictment was tossed after Queens Supreme Court Justice Sheri S. Roman ruled that prosecutors unfairly peppered the Grand Jury with questions about Gallagher’s home and sex life. Facing the possibility of another indictment, Gallagher chose to accept a plea deal in which he resigned and admitted to sexual assault, a misdemeanor, in return for serving no jail time and not having to register as a sex offender. “On Sunday, July 8, 2007, while I was intoxicated, I intentionally and forcibly touched intimate parts of the complainant and subjected her to sexual contact without her consent,” Mr. Gallagher said during the proceeding in Queens Criminal Court. “My conduct was wrong, and I apologize to the complainant.”