The issue of the steep costs of repeatedly jailing offenders in the midst of a recession went from a simmer to a boil in the courtroom this week.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20101231/NEWS02/712319875
Published December 31, 2010 in the Rutland Herald
Judge slams prosecutor over minimum sentence
By ERIC FRANCIS
CORRESPONDENT
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The issue of the steep costs of repeatedly jailing offenders in the midst of a recession went from a simmer to a boil in the courtroom this week.
A judge reacted angrily to suggestions that it would save the state money to give a low minimum sentence to a Springfield man who was pleading to his third drunk-driving conviction.
“You’re telling me I should let this fellow out on the street because it costs too much to keep him?,” Judge Harold Eaton Jr. asked incredulously from the bench on Tuesday in White River Junction criminal court.
“One of the difficult things about cost-benefit decisions is that we have to admit we are making them,” replied David Cahill, a Windsor County deputy state’s attorney, as he offered up a plea deal that would have given Rodney Holton, 47, of Springfield just a five-day minimum sentence.
Cahill noted that in the world of “Corrections math” which Vermont’s Department of Corrections uses to compute sentences, that did not necessarily mean Holton would automatically be out of jail in under a week. But Eaton repeatedly questioned the message that would be sent to the public.
“Isn’t that well below what this conduct deserves?” Eaton asked, noting that Holton had not only been charged initially with drunk driving but also driving with a suspended license, attempting to elude police, grossly negligent operation, and numerous violations of release conditions and probation.
“Mr. Holton is the type of person who most challenges the criminal justice system,” Cahill said, adding that he felt the public has made it clear that, when it comes to cases where mental health issues are tangled up with substance and alcohol abuse, offenders like Holton “are not the type of people we are willing to incarcerate ad nauseam.”
Cahill told the court that the plea deal — which had a three-year maximum side to it as well — was fundamentally designed to move Holton out of the probation pool and make any future release a case of parole furlough, from which it would be much easier and faster to re-incarcerate him on the underlying sentence if he were to “mess up.”
“If he’s good he gets to stay out, but if he blows numbers (on an alcohol breath test) Corrections gets to take him right back in,” Cahill explained, as Holton looked on from the defense table, “And as I stand here I don’t feel very confident about his ability” to stay out of trouble.
Speaking on Holton’s behalf, his court-appointed public defender Jordana Levine pointed to Holton’s completion of an intense outpatient treatment program just the day before, and she noted that he is scheduled to spend nearly a month in the Brattleboro Retreat before reporting to do his jail time in Springfield.
“Someone with co-occurring issues needs to focus on (controlling) the substance abuse first,” Levine told the court. “His mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorders have played a significant role in his relapses. It’s been incredibly challenging for Mr. Holton to find a balance between his mental health issues and his sobriety.”
Eaton replied, “I’m all right with the structure of this (plea agreement). I’m OK with the delayed reporting to jail (but) this behavior creates a tremendous risk to the public … there are other considerations here.
A message needs to be sent that probation means something because when he starts that car up and drives drunk he is just as big a risk as a person who drives drunk who doesn’t have co-occurring mental disorders. I simply cannot accept this in light of his track record, which is horrendous.”
After Eaton suggested a 30-day minimum, Holton returned after a brief conference with his attorney and indicated he would accept it, telling the judge, “This year without a job I was very depressed and on the verge of losing my truck and my house … but I know where you are coming from. I’m going to work hard at it.”
“You need to get a handle on this before you kill yourself or someone else,” Eaton replied. “I want you very much to be successful in that and I hope you will be.”
The case of Rodney Holton, 47, of Springfield raised the ire of a judge this week after a prosecutor tried to offer a five-day minimum sentence for drunken driving third offense.
Photo: ERIC FRANCIS PHOTO
Judge slams prosecutor over minimum sentence
By ERIC FRANCIS
CORRESPONDENT
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The issue of the steep costs of repeatedly jailing offenders in the midst of a recession went from a simmer to a boil in the courtroom this week.
A judge reacted angrily to suggestions that it would save the state money to give a low minimum sentence to a Springfield man who was pleading to his third drunk-driving conviction.
“You’re telling me I should let this fellow out on the street because it costs too much to keep him?,” Judge Harold Eaton Jr. asked incredulously from the bench on Tuesday in White River Junction criminal court.
“One of the difficult things about cost-benefit decisions is that we have to admit we are making them,” replied David Cahill, a Windsor County deputy state’s attorney, as he offered up a plea deal that would have given Rodney Holton, 47, of Springfield just a five-day minimum sentence.
Cahill noted that in the world of “Corrections math” which Vermont’s Department of Corrections uses to compute sentences, that did not necessarily mean Holton would automatically be out of jail in under a week. But Eaton repeatedly questioned the message that would be sent to the public.
“Isn’t that well below what this conduct deserves?” Eaton asked, noting that Holton had not only been charged initially with drunk driving but also driving with a suspended license, attempting to elude police, grossly negligent operation, and numerous violations of release conditions and probation.
“Mr. Holton is the type of person who most challenges the criminal justice system,” Cahill said, adding that he felt the public has made it clear that, when it comes to cases where mental health issues are tangled up with substance and alcohol abuse, offenders like Holton “are not the type of people we are willing to incarcerate ad nauseam.”
Cahill told the court that the plea deal — which had a three-year maximum side to it as well — was fundamentally designed to move Holton out of the probation pool and make any future release a case of parole furlough, from which it would be much easier and faster to re-incarcerate him on the underlying sentence if he were to “mess up.”
“If he’s good he gets to stay out, but if he blows numbers (on an alcohol breath test) Corrections gets to take him right back in,” Cahill explained, as Holton looked on from the defense table, “And as I stand here I don’t feel very confident about his ability” to stay out of trouble.
Speaking on Holton’s behalf, his court-appointed public defender Jordana Levine pointed to Holton’s completion of an intense outpatient treatment program just the day before, and she noted that he is scheduled to spend nearly a month in the Brattleboro Retreat before reporting to do his jail time in Springfield.
“Someone with co-occurring issues needs to focus on (controlling) the substance abuse first,” Levine told the court. “His mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorders have played a significant role in his relapses. It’s been incredibly challenging for Mr. Holton to find a balance between his mental health issues and his sobriety.”
Eaton replied, “I’m all right with the structure of this (plea agreement). I’m OK with the delayed reporting to jail (but) this behavior creates a tremendous risk to the public … there are other considerations here.
A message needs to be sent that probation means something because when he starts that car up and drives drunk he is just as big a risk as a person who drives drunk who doesn’t have co-occurring mental disorders. I simply cannot accept this in light of his track record, which is horrendous.”
After Eaton suggested a 30-day minimum, Holton returned after a brief conference with his attorney and indicated he would accept it, telling the judge, “This year without a job I was very depressed and on the verge of losing my truck and my house … but I know where you are coming from. I’m going to work hard at it.”
“You need to get a handle on this before you kill yourself or someone else,” Eaton replied. “I want you very much to be successful in that and I hope you will be.”
The case of Rodney Holton, 47, of Springfield raised the ire of a judge this week after a prosecutor tried to offer a five-day minimum sentence for drunken driving third offense.
Photo: ERIC FRANCIS PHOTO
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