Show Page 2 - Millard County L'SPS Thurs feb 7 1985 Guest Epistle letters The realities of criminal prosecution: one judge’s viewpoint These comments are respectfully submitted in response to the perceptive and well written column of Ms Marge Barton of recent date captioned “Enough is Enough” I think her point is well taken that the 52 to 85 percent of citizens polled who approved the shooting of the four muggers in the New York Goetz were subway by Bernhard actually stating with some outrage that the American people “are fed in with crime up any form” and by implication that they were fed up with the apparent failure of law officers ' judges enforcement and legislators to prevent crime and to more vigorously punish the criminal when caught As with most public issues there are some things to be said by way of balance As a judge I am required to deal and reality with practicality and there are some realities that must be addressed: The first of these is: There la the simply no way to prevent of crimes commission In any significant amount Since Cain killed Abel human beings day after day and year after grim year have been assaulting raping robbing murderthe invading ing and otherwise rights of other human beings This the defensive effort notwithstanding of "honest caring decent “victims” and notwithstanding the 24 hour a day efforts of the limited number of city peace officers that strained county and state budgets can afford The point is made I think with some when we note that popes emphasis and presidents while are shot surrounded by body guards crimes Most are committed in the dark or under furtively either circumstances affording the criminal the least likelihood of detection It is a tribute to law enforcement people that as many crimes are solved and the criminals caught as there are The present state of the art in crime detection embodying as it does the advantages of computer technology and resources has laboratory increased detection in a dramatic way but still crime goes on and it will continue The second reality Is the substantial rights of criminals as they have evolved In US Supreme Court decisions since the There is no space here to elaborate but until recently criminals’ constitutional rights substantially thwarted peace officers’ efforts this particuof larly in the area of suppression evidence because of 4th Amendment sanctions in the area of unreasonable search and seizure The pendulum has now begun to swing back toward more reasonable ground Six years ago I had to release a defendant who had a substantial of amount marijuana in his possession because his 4th Amendment rights had been violated when the officers stopped and searched him without probable cause Today that same defendant would be convicted if officers were acting in good faith The oath of a judge requires him to abide by the rules mandated by the Supreme Court notwithstanding the practicalities in the case and his own lack of agreement with the law The third reality: Jail and prison facilities In all 50 states and In Utah are critically particularly Inadequate to detain and to punish criminals Alaska with her substantial revenues from petroleum production is the only state in the union to now have adequacy For six or eight years prior to the construction of the modern county Millard County jail in Fillmore prisoners were confined in the Juab County jail at substantial expense to Millard Had lPA not subsidized the new structure for some 50 percent of its costs it is unlikely we would have the adequacy of the In Iron County we present structure are still using a 55 year old jail that meets not one of the Federal Jail Standards and the more dangerous prisoners are lodged in Washington facilities at substantial County In this to Iron County expense regard many citizens who complain with vigor about "Judges who don’t put enough prisoners in jail” are the same people who object to and vote against bond issues for the construction of new jails The costs of law enforcement including erection and maintenance of prison and jail facilities is the in largest item next to education our State and County budgets Thus the ability of Judges to punish criminals by incarceration is limited The fourth reality is that citizens have an obligation to contribute to law enforcement and In many cases they do not when the opportunity Is afforded: Without attempting to shift blame to suggest that but in attempting the persons too have responsibilities following observations: It was a jury of 12 private citizens a few weeks ago who fixed life as the appropriate imprisonment penalty for a man in Utah County who that same jury had found guilty of having brutally murdered a young There mother and her child probably is not one trial judge in the state who would not have fixed the penalty at death The lack of citizen response is seen in a case in New York where neighbors stood by when a young woman named Kitty Genovese was screaming for help while she was being stabbed to death by a man in full view of these neighbors They gave no help This type of thing is with chilling regularity repeated in America somewhere virtually every week Further to citizen involvement: the a offended is public by procedure in Utah courts whereby a Judge upon of the prosecuthe recommendation tor and upon the approval of the officer and of the Investigating victim taken in open court may accept the defendant's plea of guilty included crime This to a lesser called has been process “plea bargaining” by the news media and that designation is the worst part of because it implies the procedure that a criminal for some imagined can “buy” himself a consideration lesser penalty A judge will not approve such a reduction unless he is convinced that the evidence is not strong enough to convict on the basic charge It is a useful tool in criminal administration and should not have the negative connotation Juries do the same thing day after In without criticism day any receiving verdicts from juries I note that in at least a third of the cases juries have found defendants guilty of a lesser included offense simply because that is where the evidence puts it To the extent that motion picture academy awards for films and actors express the desires and the approval of the viewing public with regard to subject matter and theme portrayal TO THE the public have another responsibility we are shirking: “The Godfather” a film given five the Academy Awards portraying lives of a large Italian family group asked us to favor the warm filial of that family with relationships only slight reference to the fact that this family dynasty accumulated its riches from the lawless control of dope murder for hire prostitution and related evils racketeering Later Paul Newman and Robert Redford two of America’s most talented and attractive young men the lives of Butch glamorized Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to the point we almost forget that Cassidy Kid Sundance were and the murderers and train robbers was "The Their next offering Sting” in which they again charmed us while they and entertained of another swindled gangster $500000 In short it seems that we either let or encourage Hollywood’s of crime and violence for us while our young people are calling our police "pigs” and "fuzz” Do any of you folks out there feel any this to help change obligation charade? laws "our Ms Barton writes so that should be strengthened any crime anyone who commits should be made aware etc” We now have more laws than we need strengthened and otherwise and our are now in session legislators passing other laws some of which we surely will not need Laws do not prevent or curb crime Enforcement of laws curbs crime and it should be the responsibility of each of us to join in that effort A major element in Utah’s law failures enforcement which is of substantial disquiet to the public is the syndrome of keeping men alive who have been sentenced to death for many years while endless appeals are taken On this point the trial judges who think of themselves as operating in the trenches in trying and the the cases sentencing defendants are substanpromptly tially critical of the delays in the appellate courts of which there are two the State Supreme Court which and the deals with direct appeals Federal District Court in which collateral actions of habeas corpus are brought The end result is for lawyers to be able to “bounce back and forth” between two these It is the writer’s courts endlessly view that this procedure has made capital punishment into something of a joke unfunny though it may be Certainly something must and can be done to limit these appeals The observations I have set forth here are not designed to shift blame because indeed each one of us legislators peace officers - are all and citizens striving to reach the same result a freer and more secure quality of life and none of us are totally successful This response is to argue for a fairer point of view Ms Barton - you may have more right to use a gun on someone who is making you into a crime victim than you realize Let me visit with you on this point some day Judge Christian Ronnow (Fourth Circuit Court) EDITOR then we Thanks to Stella Day to My friends and I were shocked to the t see such a small funeral of one of our most illustrious citizens Surely there were far more people who felt gratitude to Stella Day for her lifelong efforts to better this community than were able to I know the attend the funeral was snowy and many weather not thought about the family but nearly enough people came to show their respect for her to her family Some say “but her generation has all gone” True except that Stella was everyone’s generation She was Community Improvement Chairman of the Fine Arts this very year She from active had not withdrawn community life With the thousands of hours she put into this town many of them "when she didn’t feel well” or heart break "was busy” makes my made the to think we couldn’t have extra effort in her behalf should be A few observations One it attention brought to our would be nice if we as a community and make of citizens could find time more effort to show appreciation for Two every one our does count especially if you leave an empty seat from PresiA personal telegram dent and Mrs Reagan and a letter from Governor and Mrs Bangerter their great were read expressing and their respect for her work I join them sympathy to the family in paying tribute to a great lady Thanks Stella An appreciative dtlzen Media treatment of vigilante unfortunate is It is dismaying to follow the media treatment of Bernhard H Goetz and his unfortunate experience in a New York subway It now appears that the citizens of America are afforded the in and protections same rights Mayor Koch’s and Governor New York that may be expected Mr on the tarmacs of Teheran Goetz effectively resisted the demands and threats of four thugs In so doing he has been branded a “subway vigilante" by the media and tracked down as a "criminal” with the full force and resources of the law by Messrs Koch and Cuomo for his survival efforts If Mr Goetz can so loosely be a "vigilante” we must termed assume that all thugs preying upon in are York New Americans in the eyes of New “privateers" the However York authorities privateers of the Spanish Maine did not enjoy full faith and protection from the monarchs of their time in forth They always ventured pursuit of booty at their own risk even though commissioned to do so with a royalty contract Were “New A1 Smith” York’s Happy Warrior around today his theme song would have to be changed to read Around Westside Mugged New York” ME Townsley Fillmore Ut Keep up the good work To Sharon Western Hinckley Correspondent just had to write when saw in the January 3 issue of the Chronicle Progress that you have been getting anonymous letters complaining about the kind of news that gets into your articles et me say first don’t change! We get copies of all the dailies and weeklies around the stale in my office Information Services at Utah State University and must tell you that your articles over the last year inspired me to write a similiar column for our weekly paper the Cache Citizen about my new hometown Paradise have consistently enjoyed your style and outlook on life even though don’t know any of the people you write about It seems to me that anyone criticizing you for including news about your family isn’t doing much to let you know what is going on in hisher famiwanted to let you know that other ly! people have the same problem even though two other women in Paradise help gather news each week (and have is ‘Courage knowing to fear" what been doing so for about four months) NONE of us has EVER gotten a call from someone in the community with a story but we have received plenty of comments about what we have left out and people who didn’t want to see their names in the paper What makes the job rewarding and the reason we continue is that there are also the good' comments especially when we decided to feature a different business in Paradise each week Some weeks it seems like ALL the news is about our families but we keep hoping that more people will get interested in sharing their news as time goes by So if the opinion of someone who has never met you can make a difference please don’t take those negative comments to heart Some people just aren’t happy unless they are trying to make others miserable And know there are lots of people who truly appreciate your news Robin Sterns LSI’ Information Services Iogan Utah not pat0 A sour pickle has a raw cucuber onlyO calories has about 15 but Killing A Business In Ten Easy Steps Don’t advertise! have to offer Just pretend advertise! 2 Don’t 3 spend thinking Don’t advertise! J ust assume 4 5 6 7 8 Tell yourself about promoting everybody knows you just don’t your business everybody what you have lime Overlook Millard County Chronicle Progress USPS ner bus- Publisher Susan cusre- Don't advertise! Forget that you have competition trying to attract your customers away from you Don't advertise! Tell yourself it costs too much to advertise and that you don't get enough out of it advertise! The to knows what you sell Don’t advertise! Convince yourself that you've been in iness so long customers will automatically come to you Don't advertise! Forget that there are new potential tomers who would do business with you if they were minded and urged to do so Don't Wrestler Ed (Strangler) Lewis lost only 33 out of 6200 matches in his career the fact that advertising is an investment in selling — not an expense 9 Don't advertise! Be sure not to provide an adequate advertising budget for your business 10 Don't advertise! Forget that you have to keep reminding that you appreciate customers your established their business Editor Dutson Editorial Marge Barton Managing Editor Mark Amoll at Reporter Fillmore targe Advertising Dennis Ashbrook Evelyn Mallei Deb Greathouse Sales Production Fillmore I Design Office Manager Receivable Accounts Riley Wood Legal Billing Circulation Julie Ward Circulation Commercial Jane advance Subscriptions 00 months year year O 'Comp Printing Beckwith 00 county for 00 out o county for Copy cents Send Address changes to 349 Delta Utah 14634 teles f Clan Dha cf 3400 K4 OWStD 40 N 300 W Delta 75 S Main Fillmore 'Uu‘ I |