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State Attorney Dave Aronberg covers court on Christmas

Posted at 4:48 AM, Dec 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-26 07:39:34-05

Crime makes no exception for Christmas, and it means first appearance court must go on.

There’s one crime in particular that seems to spike over the holidays.

For some families this year, festivities turned to fights.

It's is why at first appearance on Christmas Day many of the cases before the judge where domestic violence crimes.
 
“We’re not surprised that many, if not most of our cases here today, are domestic violence related,” said Palm Beach County’s State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

Aronberg covered first appearances himself so his employees could celebrate Christmas.
 
“Justice never takes a holiday in Palm Beach County,” said Aronberg.

Aronberg said someone who is arrested usually has to see a judge within 24 hours -- hence the Christmas Day court.
 
While there were a handful of other Christmas Eve crimes, Aronberg says it’s unfortunate, but not surprising that many of the cases involved families accused of fighting on Christmas.
 
“It’s the dark side of families getting together with food and alcohol, it's that you have some people who act poorly then commit domestic violence or other crimes," said Aronberg.