danielle
04-09-2003, 05:51 AM
That's case with about 95% of Hinds Circuit cases, 'C-L' study shows
By Gregg Mayer
gmayer@clarionledger.com
and Jimmie Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
In the summer of 1999, police say Jerry Williams and at least one accomplice kicked down the door of a Jackson apartment, robbed three men of $120 and fatally shot one of them, a 30-year-old Guatemalan.
Soon after, Williams and Christopher Barnes were arrested and indicted on capital murder, armed robbery and burglary charges — enough to put them on death row if found guilty.
But both men are walking the streets today.
With little evidence and difficulty getting witnesses to testify, prosecutors had to plea bargain, letting Williams serve three years and Barnes even less.
"Are (criminals) getting the sentences they deserve? The answer is no," said Tony Huffman, a past chairman of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. "There's obviously room for improvement in how we capture criminals, how we prosecute them and how long they serve."
More often than not, defendants, such as Williams and Barnes,come out ahead in the plea bargaining process.
In a review of the Hinds County Circuit Court system from Oct. 1, 2002, through Feb. 9, 2003, The Clarion-Ledger found about 95 percent of all cases ended with plea bargains.
Fourteen cases went to trial. Nine ended in guilty verdicts, three in acquittals and two in mistrials.
At the same time, there were 278 plea bargains. (The total doesn't include dropped prosecutions or cases in which defendants were not prosecuted.)
In those 132 days:
A teenager pleaded guilty to manslaughter but served no jail time.
A man pleaded guilty to murder and served one year.
Murder charges were dropped against two people for lack of witnesses.
A state inmate had a strong-armed robbery charge unrelated to his sentence dismissed because his constitutional rights were violated.
Overall, The Clarion-Ledger found nine cases of people indicted for capital murder, murder or manslaughter who served five years or less — and in some cases, no time — through plea arrangements or dropped prosecutions.
Those most frustrated with the system are often the family members of the victims.
"No one talked to me," said Thad Lee Lindsey, grandfather of homicide victim Michael Lindsey, whose accused killer, Raffiel Thompson, didn't serve any time. "If they were going to drop the charges, somebody should have said something."
Elaine Kelly said she was aware of a seven-year manslaughter plea for her son's killer, Donald Mitchell. Her son, James Clay Flanagan, was murdered in 1997. Today, Mitchell is walking free after getting out early for good behavior.
"I don't think plea bargaining should be allowed if they're indicted for murder. Plea bargaining is wrong," Kelly said.
But experts say there's really no getting around plea bargains. With a staff of 14 in the Hinds County district attorney's office, four Circuit Court judges and swelling numbers of accused, plea bargaining is an essential tool to make sure the system doesn't backlog to a standstill.
"There's no way to funnel all of these cases through the system if they all have to go to trial," said Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter.
Nationally, about 94 percent of felony suspects plead rather than go to trial, according to a 1998 study by the Office of Justice Programs, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice.
"If you didn't have plea bargains, the lesser crimes would never get tried," said Matthew Steffey, a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law. "You'd be too busy with the murders, armed robberies.
"Plea bargaining is essential for the operation of the system."
Generally, pleas are offered for multiple reasons, particularly to expedite a charge. And victims' families are consulted on pleas, such as with the murder plea of Willie Earl Wilson.
"Our family was pleased and happy that he pleaded," said C C Henley, daughter of Jackson stage actress Lydy Becker Caldwell who was murdered by Wilson on Oct. 24.
Wilson, 33, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
But criminals start getting "good" deals when prosecutors worry they won't get a conviction and don't want to tie up resources. It's far easier to get an indictment than verdict, notes Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson, and the last thing prosecutors want is to get stuck with are "dog cases."
For those cases, prosecutors lack evidence, they need to flip a witness to testify against the "trigger man," a mistake has occurred in the system, or prosecutors are worried the defense could put on a strong enough case to get an acquittal.
"There's no simple answer how a case is negotiated," Peterson said.
But those negotiations are invaluable to keep the system moving, Peterson said. Plea bargaining has even been used to help avoid a recent crisis at the jail. In February, the Hinds County jail exceeded its 594-inmate population maximum. At the time, Judge Winston Kidd heard nearly 60 plea bargains, which helped bring the inmate population below the maximum.
It was a temporary fix to a long-term problem. A 2001 study found the system severely overburdened.
"Workload has exceeded staffing at virtually every level of the criminal justice system in Hinds County," wrote National Institute of Corrections consultant Billy Wasson in a 2001 study.
Wasson recommended several changes, including:
Creating a criminal justice coordination council to oversee policy development.
Convening a grand jury monthly.
Having automatic bond hearings for pre-trial detainees who have been unable to make bond.
Such changes would make the system more efficient and less crowded, Wasson told officials in 2001. A better system could translate into less pressure to plead cases out. But to date, none of those changes has been made.
Peterson is working to implement a pre-trial diversion program, aimed at funneling indicted offenders into a program outside jail.
But as long as the system is overwhelmed, it can lead prosecutors to make more deals to keep the process moving. And sometimes results aggravate victim's families.
"This was a ridiculous amount of time for solving one's problems with a gun," said Michelle Hunter, the fiancee of a homicide victim whose accused killer, Mario Taylor, is serving five years for a plea to manslaughter. "(A)nd it sends the wrong message to a community trying to fight crime."
By Gregg Mayer
gmayer@clarionledger.com
and Jimmie Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
In the summer of 1999, police say Jerry Williams and at least one accomplice kicked down the door of a Jackson apartment, robbed three men of $120 and fatally shot one of them, a 30-year-old Guatemalan.
Soon after, Williams and Christopher Barnes were arrested and indicted on capital murder, armed robbery and burglary charges — enough to put them on death row if found guilty.
But both men are walking the streets today.
With little evidence and difficulty getting witnesses to testify, prosecutors had to plea bargain, letting Williams serve three years and Barnes even less.
"Are (criminals) getting the sentences they deserve? The answer is no," said Tony Huffman, a past chairman of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. "There's obviously room for improvement in how we capture criminals, how we prosecute them and how long they serve."
More often than not, defendants, such as Williams and Barnes,come out ahead in the plea bargaining process.
In a review of the Hinds County Circuit Court system from Oct. 1, 2002, through Feb. 9, 2003, The Clarion-Ledger found about 95 percent of all cases ended with plea bargains.
Fourteen cases went to trial. Nine ended in guilty verdicts, three in acquittals and two in mistrials.
At the same time, there were 278 plea bargains. (The total doesn't include dropped prosecutions or cases in which defendants were not prosecuted.)
In those 132 days:
A teenager pleaded guilty to manslaughter but served no jail time.
A man pleaded guilty to murder and served one year.
Murder charges were dropped against two people for lack of witnesses.
A state inmate had a strong-armed robbery charge unrelated to his sentence dismissed because his constitutional rights were violated.
Overall, The Clarion-Ledger found nine cases of people indicted for capital murder, murder or manslaughter who served five years or less — and in some cases, no time — through plea arrangements or dropped prosecutions.
Those most frustrated with the system are often the family members of the victims.
"No one talked to me," said Thad Lee Lindsey, grandfather of homicide victim Michael Lindsey, whose accused killer, Raffiel Thompson, didn't serve any time. "If they were going to drop the charges, somebody should have said something."
Elaine Kelly said she was aware of a seven-year manslaughter plea for her son's killer, Donald Mitchell. Her son, James Clay Flanagan, was murdered in 1997. Today, Mitchell is walking free after getting out early for good behavior.
"I don't think plea bargaining should be allowed if they're indicted for murder. Plea bargaining is wrong," Kelly said.
But experts say there's really no getting around plea bargains. With a staff of 14 in the Hinds County district attorney's office, four Circuit Court judges and swelling numbers of accused, plea bargaining is an essential tool to make sure the system doesn't backlog to a standstill.
"There's no way to funnel all of these cases through the system if they all have to go to trial," said Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter.
Nationally, about 94 percent of felony suspects plead rather than go to trial, according to a 1998 study by the Office of Justice Programs, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice.
"If you didn't have plea bargains, the lesser crimes would never get tried," said Matthew Steffey, a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law. "You'd be too busy with the murders, armed robberies.
"Plea bargaining is essential for the operation of the system."
Generally, pleas are offered for multiple reasons, particularly to expedite a charge. And victims' families are consulted on pleas, such as with the murder plea of Willie Earl Wilson.
"Our family was pleased and happy that he pleaded," said C C Henley, daughter of Jackson stage actress Lydy Becker Caldwell who was murdered by Wilson on Oct. 24.
Wilson, 33, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
But criminals start getting "good" deals when prosecutors worry they won't get a conviction and don't want to tie up resources. It's far easier to get an indictment than verdict, notes Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson, and the last thing prosecutors want is to get stuck with are "dog cases."
For those cases, prosecutors lack evidence, they need to flip a witness to testify against the "trigger man," a mistake has occurred in the system, or prosecutors are worried the defense could put on a strong enough case to get an acquittal.
"There's no simple answer how a case is negotiated," Peterson said.
But those negotiations are invaluable to keep the system moving, Peterson said. Plea bargaining has even been used to help avoid a recent crisis at the jail. In February, the Hinds County jail exceeded its 594-inmate population maximum. At the time, Judge Winston Kidd heard nearly 60 plea bargains, which helped bring the inmate population below the maximum.
It was a temporary fix to a long-term problem. A 2001 study found the system severely overburdened.
"Workload has exceeded staffing at virtually every level of the criminal justice system in Hinds County," wrote National Institute of Corrections consultant Billy Wasson in a 2001 study.
Wasson recommended several changes, including:
Creating a criminal justice coordination council to oversee policy development.
Convening a grand jury monthly.
Having automatic bond hearings for pre-trial detainees who have been unable to make bond.
Such changes would make the system more efficient and less crowded, Wasson told officials in 2001. A better system could translate into less pressure to plead cases out. But to date, none of those changes has been made.
Peterson is working to implement a pre-trial diversion program, aimed at funneling indicted offenders into a program outside jail.
But as long as the system is overwhelmed, it can lead prosecutors to make more deals to keep the process moving. And sometimes results aggravate victim's families.
"This was a ridiculous amount of time for solving one's problems with a gun," said Michelle Hunter, the fiancee of a homicide victim whose accused killer, Mario Taylor, is serving five years for a plea to manslaughter. "(A)nd it sends the wrong message to a community trying to fight crime."