No one questioned that the man on trial had killed the other man. Within hours of the crime he casually waived his rights and talked with the Union County Sheriffs on video without an attorney present.
Taking notes to report the trial for the newspaper forced me to pay close attention to everything said. I came away with questions I really wanted to ask, not of the attorneys, but of the accused who left court with a sentence of life plus 105 years for the murder and other charges. He insisted on a trial before his peers. He got it. The jury represented a pretty fair demographic of the county for age, race and gender.
I wanted to ask this 27 year-old why he had not taken the plea offered earlier. He left that courtroom Tuesday with the maximum sentence possible for everything. Even if he comes back from the dead, he will still have to serve time.
After seeing the 30 minute video of him talking with the county sheriffs, I wanted to ask him if he had never seen a single episode of “Law and Order” or any of the other crime shows where after the Miranda Rights are read telling the accused, “You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford one, one will be provided for you”, the accused responds, “I want an attorney.”
Attorneys know the system a whole lot better than the accused. From my few months of court watching, an attorney can make a difference from setting bond to getting a client’s point across in court.
Before recessing to determine the verdict, the jury had to be told that the accused had been convicted as a felon and therefore one more charge had to be considered. Did he break the law by having a weapon. Felons may not own or possess any kind of weapon.
The jury took 25 minutes to vote him guilty of three of the charges charges. While they deliberated, the judge held a bench trial on the revocation of the accused’s former terms of probation. At that time the rest of us learned that he had not “a” prior felony but six prior felonies, from theft to assault to having a firearm on school property to selling drugs. It wasn’t his first trip to the county jail. He had gone through this whole system before. He had heard the Miranda Rights read to him dozens of times because besides the crimes for which he was sentenced, he had violated his probation and then his parole numerous times in various ways.
A day of sitting in court quickly demonstrates that 95 percent or more of those accused work out a plea agreement which includes dropping at least one or more of the accompanying charges as part of the agreement. Time and again I have seen the prosecution agree to nolle pros the habitual offender charge. The 27 year old with six prior felonies, had definitely experienced all of that before. And yet, he chose to reject the offer the state made to him regarding the homicide. He insisted it wasn’t as serious as murder one. He insisted he just wanted to talk man to man – and arrived to do so with a gun tucked in his waistband.
The cards were stacked against him from the moment he shot someone with witnesses standing within an arm’s length from him. The cards were stacked against him when the county sheriff’s arrested him a short time later. And he stacked the cards higher by assuming he could just tell his story to the county sheriffs and explain it all away.
I shake my head and wonder, does he not get it? The polite, soft spoken officers’ job mandates that they find out everything they can to make a solid case against him. He gave them a lot of help.
The witnesses speaking for him at the sentencing hearing, insisted, “He is a good man. He has family. Be merciful.” The prosecutors reminded the jury of his many choices the past seven or eight years that have placed him behind bars time and again.I left the court astonished at the display of a wasted life.
The state legal system offers multiple ways to help the accused: first offenders can have their charge dismissed if they report, pay the fines, keep in touch with the probation department, go back to school and get certificates to help them get a job, and/or learn to read and finish their GED.
There are short jail sentences to catch the accused’s attention and longer terms in facilities designed to hopefully teach different choices. We have Anger Management, Teen Challenge, drug court, drug programs, the Alcohol, Chemical Treatment Series and programs such as the WAGE certificate to assist in job preparation – to name a few. Less formal programs and individuals also stand ready to coach, mentor and help.
The opportunities exist. Sadly a few simply don’t “get” what the majority assimilate without conscious thought.
Joan Hershberger is a staff writer for the El Dorado News-Times. She can be reached at joanh@everybody.org