"Fairness requires the defense be represented early in planning for significant changes," she said.
Greenlee has headed the Defender Association for 20 years. Her 265 lawyers represent 70 percent of Philadelphia criminal defendants, those too poor to hire a private attorney.
In Zone Court, prosecutors, judges, and defendants are now assigned to dedicated courtrooms in the main courthouse based on the neighborhoods in which a crime allegedly took place.
Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and Justice Seamus McCaffery joined with Williams in rolling out the Zone Court plan in November, ending hearings at neighborhood police stations. They said centralizing trials in the highly secure Center City courthouse would reduce witness intimidation and ensure that the same group of prosecutors, judges, and police would see a case through to its end.
Municipal Court President Judge Marsha Neifield testified Monday that Zone Court was "working really well."
Greenlee stopped short of questioning the value of Zone Court, confining her criticism to the process by which it was begun. But, in views shared by others in the defense bar, she also denounced other changes put into place since Williams became district attorney a year ago.
She said she opposed recent changes in how the courts conduct preliminary hearings, the key initial sessions in which Municipal Court judges decide if there is enough evidence to hold defendants for a full trial.
Under rules changes spearheaded by Castille and McCaffery, victims in many property-crime cases need no longer testify at these early hearings. Instead, police take the stand on their behalf, testifying that the victims had reported items stolen.
