Public Burned By Prosecutor’s Errors
Something isn’t right in the world when a criminal is out on the streets right after being found guilty of a felony.
Something is truly warped if that criminal rapes a young girl and everybody in the system shrugs it off or points the finger of blame at the other guy.
Last week’s news of the “get-out-of-jail-free” pass for James Edward Jones was ugly all around. Police say Jones raped a young Spokane girl two days after being released on an eight-day furlough. It sends shudders down the spine.
Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around - most of which goes to Jones himself. But why did deputy prosecutor Kathryn Lee rubber-stamp the furlough without providing the judge a complete criminal history? Why didn’t Judge James Murphy demand more information before granting the furlough? Just what is the criteria for a furlough? Is it truly for family emergencies or do criminals get out to clean out their houses and have a garage sale?
Lee and Prosecutor Jim Sweetser dismiss the day-after criticism by saying, “Hindsight is 20/20.” That’s obvious, but it’s certainly no comfort to the 14-year-old girl, or to all of Spokane’s citizens who rightly expect that career criminals with a long record like Jones has will be in jail after they’re convicted, not preying on new victims.
To his credit, Sweetser did the right thing Thursday and changed his policy on furloughs: Inmates with felony records will no longer get a prosecutor’s OK, thus forcing a hearing on every furlough request. Defense attorneys may complain that poses an undue burden on their clients, or that the system will slow down, but the trade-off is worth it.
As a rule, furloughs should be rare.
This case was only the latest questionable incident at the prosecutor’s office. Twice this year rape cases were dismissed because of speedy trial violations (though one has been reinstated). Earlier this month, the office took deserved heat for abandoning an attempted robbery case against a man with eight felony convictions, despite an eye witness and a store-security videotape of the incident.
Sweetser points to his office’s towering caseload. Twenty murder cases are pending and several murderers have been put away for life already this year. The county’s trial rate was up 30 percent last year and felony filings exceeded all time highs, he says.
Sweetser likened the caseload and the justice system’s handling of it to the output at McDonald’s. They’ll flip 3 million burgers a year, and maybe a few get burned, he says. But the rest of burgers turn out pretty well.
But people aren’t burgers, and that young girl deserves more consideration than a piece of meat. She’s scarred for life, and everybody who had a hand in it should think hard about each and every case that comes their way, no matter how busy they are.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar For the editorial board