Supreme Court Justice Barry Warhit.

An effort spearheaded by a Westchester County Supreme Court judge to resolve some of the city's oldest criminal cases is set to expand once again, after a successful stint in Manhattan.

Launched this January in the Bronx, the Special Term Additional Resource Trial—or START—aims to dispose of all cases in which criminal defendants have been locked up and awaiting trial for more than two years, and it comes amid a wider push by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore's Excellence Initiative to eliminate delays, streamline case management and expedite the process of administering justice.

The effort, led by Supreme Court Justice Barry Warhit, has wrapped up another three months of taming backlog in Manhattan and is expected to expand to another borough this fall, though court officials said they were not yet prepared to announce the jurisdiction.

According to information provided by the Office of Court Administration, a total of 262 cases were resolved in the Bronx from January to March, including 221 guilty pleas and 22 cases that were dismissed on application of the prosecution. In the three months that followed, the courts said 145 cases were resolved as a part of the START initiative in Manhattan.

Warhit, supervising judge for criminal matters in Westchester County, said the aim of the program is to get prosecutors and defense attorneys in the same courtroom to focus the best and most efficient ways to resolve on individual cases. Typically, Warhit said he will conferences the cases of about 20 different defendants on any given day in a bid to dispose of them without a trial.

Senior prosecutors, who have the authority to sign off on plea deals, are always in the room, and discussions take into account the seriousness of the offense, any criminal record that a defendant might have, and the strengths and weaknesses of both the prosecution and defense's case.

“I think both sides in that situation are trying to resolve a case that case be resolved before trial,” Warhit said.

Warhit said his role is to urge both sides to find common ground and to make sure defendants understand the benefits and potential downsides of taking a plea deal, as opposed to going to trial. Sometimes, he will allow defendants to meet privately with family in the courtroom or even briefly adjourn the proceedings to allow the defendants to mull their options overnight.

“By keeping adjournments extremely short, it facilitates dispositions,” he said.

A collaborative effort, the initiative has seen significant buy-in from both prosecutors and defense attorneys, as well as the city Department of Corrections, which has accommodated requests to transport defendants to court on a revised schedule, Warhit said.

“The key is to bring everyone together to focus on the case,” he said.

According to the courts' statistics, only six out of 262 cases went to trial in the Bronx. In Manhattan, 10 defendants are currently on trial in cases that were sent out of the START program. A verdict was reached separately in one trial, and two pleas were taken before other judges after cases were sent to them for trial.

A spokesman said the courts were not prepared to announce what jurisdiction would next receive the START initiative's services, but an move was expected for the fall. Any decisions on the program's expansion are left to Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks.