A surge in homicides in Humboldt County, California, has forced the Superior Court there to request extra funding to handle the unusually high volume of murder cases.

Humboldt Superior Court will receive a $110,000 loan from the California Judicial Council to help pay for 24 homicide cases. Eighteen of them are currently headed to trial.

The county usually averages 11 murders a year. Many of the pending trials are for homicides that occurred in 2014, when Humboldt experienced 16 murders. That was the highest number in the county in at least 30 years.

Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said in 2014 “most of the homicides we’re encountering are related to marijuana and other drugs.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Judicial Council Tosses Humboldt a Life Line (by Maria Dinzeo, Courthouse News Service)

Humboldt’s Violent Year: Lessons from 16 Homicides (by Ryan Burns, Lost Coast Outpost)

Thieves Stealing Water from Schools in Drought-Plagued Humboldt County (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)