Major criminal cases filed in Freeborn County District Court have increased by 54 percent in past five years, according to a court administration report.

Cases invlolving murder, criminal sexual conduct, first-degree assault, and gross misdemeanor DWI accounted for 429 cases in 2002. That number was 273 in 1997.

The most distinct increase was in gross misdemeanor DWIs, which increased from 65 in 1997 to 126 in 2002.

The number of serious felonies in the last year, in contrast, was zero for the first time since 1997.

Minor criminal cases covering traffic and parking violations also dropped by 17 percent, from 8,014 to 6,656. Major contributors were the number of misdemeanor DWIs decreasing from 278 to 63 and other minor traffic offenses from 5,400 to 4,694.

County Attorney Craig Nelson said the data show the tendency of DWI offenders to repeat their crimes. A person’s second and subsequent DWI violations are automatically subject to a gross misdemeanor charge. In addition, the law was amended last year to apply a felony charge to offenders who have three DWI violations within five years.

This trend has caused serious problems in prosecution and jail operation, according to Nelson.

While misdemeanor charges for Albert Lea residents are handled by the city attorney, gross misdemeanor and felony charges in the whole county are under the jurisdiction of Nelson’s office. &uot;Quite frankly, our office doesn’t have enough time to process them speedily,&uot; Nelson said.

Congestion in the jail has resulted in a backlog in the last few years. The county recently decided to ship long-term inmates to the Meeker County Jail. The jail, more than 100 miles away from Albert Lea, was the nearest facility for the county that has available space, according to County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen. Currently, nine inmates are there. The county pays $50 per inmate per day.

In other data, the number of juvenile cases shrank by 14 percent, from 647 to 558. Nelson pointed out that trend could be the result of diversion programs that get juvenile offenders out of the legal system and send them to education and rehabilitation programs.

Major civil cases, including personal injury, wrongful death, malpractice, harassment and employment surged 53 percent, from 232 to 355.