Sat Nov 07 2009
By JACK PALMER
Do judges in Ohio"s rural counties send certain offenders to prison at a higher rate than judges in larger counties?
The answer -- according to three area common pleas court judges -- is yes. And they make no apologies for it.
"It"s definitely true that convicted offenders in rural areas are sent to prison more than in the metropolitan areas, particularly in drug cases," said Joseph Schmenk of Defiance County.
"I think most judges have a sentencing philosophy which reflects their county"s values and mores," he added. "I don"t think there"s anything wrong with that."
Paulding County Judge J. David Webb echoed Schmenk"s position.
"When you sentence someone, you have to consider community tolerances and lifestyle," said Webb. "If you want to be tolerant and live in a cesspool, fine. But if you want to protect certain community values, sometimes you need to be more strict and send a message."
Webb admitted that smaller-populated counties have an advantage due to sheer numbers.
"The larger counties have a huge volume of serious felony cases," he said. "They only have so many prosecutors and judges, and you can"t try every case. Volume has to be considered- and some cases may get reduced in the plea-bargaining process."
"Numbers have a lot to do with it," concurred Henry County Judge Keith Muehlfeld. "Here in the rural area we can be as tough as we want and still not be a drain on the prison system. But if the larger cities did that, you"d hear the screams all the way from Columbus."
Another factor is that urban areas have a higher tolerance for certain crimes, while in rural areas those same crimes are more likely to shock the community.
"Crimes committed in a small rural area are by their nature more visible," said Muehlfeld. "A robbery or burglary is going to be all over the newspaper, probably more than once. In Toledo it may be in the newspaper, or maybe not."
Like Schmenk and Webb, Muehlfeld doesn"t have a problem with different sentences in different parts of the state.
"A lot of what goes into sentencing reflects our values and what we consider to be serious offenses," stated Muehlfeld. "Here in the rural areas, robbery and burglary are serious crimes. We want people to know they will not be tolerated. One of the responsibilities of being a judge is to keep the public safe."
While death-penalty murder cases are almost nonexistent in Ohio"s rural counties, large-city judges are confronted with them fairly regularly.
As of March 30, there were Ohio prison inmates sentenced to death for convictions of aggravated murder. Hamilton County (Cincinnati) has the most with 38, followed closely by Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) with 31.
After that there"s a significant drop-off to third place Lucas County (Toledo) with 14 and fourth place Franklin County (Columbus) with 12. The remainder of the top 10 counties are Trumbull (Warren), nine; Summit (Akron), nine; Montgomery (Dayton), seven; Mahoning (Youngstown), seven; Lorain (Elyria), seven; and Butler (Hamilton), six.
Of the 88 counties, 49 have no death-row inmates and 17 others have just one. The only death-row inmate in the six-county area (Defiance, Henry, Paulding, Fulton, Putnam and Williams) is Kenneth Richey from Putnam County, convicted in 6.
"It"s a very expensive proposition to take a capital case to trial from start to finish," said Webb. "You"re probably talking as much as $100,000 in counsel fees and expenses."
"Prosecutors often sit down with the victim"s family and explain the realities of going to trial and the possible result," added Muehlfeld. "One reality is that there isn"t much difference from their own healing standpoint between a defendant receiving the death penalty vs. life in prison without the possibility of parole. The way the system is now, the defendant may be on death row for 20 or 25 years before the sentence is carried out."
Schmenk, a former president of the state common pleas judges association, praised the judicial discretion rendered by both rural and large-population county judges.
"I"ve had a lot of contact with other judges," he stated. "I"ve been consistently impressed with the professionalism of fair-minded judges all around the state."
Added Schmenk: "They almost always make a conscientious effort to do the right thing, given the specific facts and circumstances of the cases they handle."
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