The Latest Outrage of Our Criminal Justice System

Since when is a judge's philosophy on the constitutionality of state laws supposed to act as a substitute for a sound judgment in a murder case? In the Washington Post this week: Prosecutors in Prince George's County are seeking to rearrest a suspect who allegedly murdered a man on Feb. 24 and threatened to kill a witness who saw him and another man carry the victim out of an apartment building in Oxon Hill. The 18-year-old suspect was was being held on $1.5 million bond but was released into the custody of his mother by District Court Judge Hassan A. El-Amin.

The judge defended his actions:

[Judge] El-Amin...denounced as "barely constitutional" the state judicial system's method of determining whether and under what conditions defendants are released before trial. The vast majority of defendants are not represented by an attorney at such appearances, he said. [Sean] Sykes [the defendant] had no attorney.

Incredibly, El-Amin did not deem Sykes a flight risk or a danger to the community.

House Bill 581: The Financial Impact

What will be the financial impact of Maryland House Bill 581 if it becomes law? Longer prison sentences have a price tag, those in opposition to the bill have argued. Del. Curtis S. (Curt) Anderson seemed unconvinced by Montgomery County Police Capt. Mitch Cunningham's testimony that Maryland could emulate the cost savings that Virginia made after becoming a "truth-in-sentencing" state, and that the fiscal impact of reducing violent offenders' diminution credits would cost the state somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.6 million by 2012.

Here's what Capt. Cunningham had to say about crime in Maryland:

In 2006 and 2007, Maryland had the third-highest robbery rate in the US
Maryland is the 6th most violent state in the US (according to the Census Bureau)
Maryland had the second-highest murder rate in the US in 2006 and 2007

Compared with Virginia, Maryland has:

almost three times the violent crime
nearly double the murder rate
2.5 times the robbery rate

And despite the price tag, i.e. the fiscal note, associated with prolonging violent offenders' prison sentences, Capt. Cunningham pointed out that those costs will be balanced out with less need for police, reduction in prosecution, and drops in medical and mental health costs. In my own testimony before the HJC yesterday, I asked the committee members whether the cost of dealing with repeat offenders -- arresting them again, indicting them, trying them, and incarcerating them for even longer periods of time would really be any less than simply extending their original sentences in the first place.

"In the end," Capt. Cunningham said, "you see subject matter experts continually come to your committee year after year for stiffer sentencing. Something must be done to make Maryland less violent. Most states with truth in sentencing have less crime than Maryland. Some states that have it have as much if not more. But...we do know that states that went to truth in sentencing saw their crime rates drop.

"I think we all know we need to institute change in Maryland," Capt. Cunningham continued. "What is being done now is not getting the results we all want."

House Bill 581: The Hearing

This may be one of several posts about the hearing.

Yesterday's hearing before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee on House Bill 581, which seeks to limit the amount of diminution credits that violent offenders can attain towards early release was insightful, to say the least. If it's possible to be both emboldened and a little frustrated at the same time, then that was definitely the case with me in Annapolis yesterday.

Del. Benjamin F. Kramer, the bill's sponsor, spoke first -- as is the procedure at these hearings -- to promote the passage of the bill, saying among other things that the dim credits system is deceptive and undermines the idea of truth in sentencing because a judge imposes a sentence, but then neither the judge nor the victim nor the average human being knows just how much of that sentence the offender will serve. These credits are doled out by the corrections system -- without prior notice to their victims -- and do not speak to the issue of whether an inmate is actually ready for freedom. The parole board is supposed to determine that.

Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger spoke next in support of the bill. He was the first to tell the story of what happened to Lindsay Harvey on April 13, 2008. I followed Chief Manger with my testimony. And the committee also received written testimony from Debra Harvey, Lindsay's mother.

I told the committee members that our criminal justice system is supposed to protect innocent people against violent criminals but failed in its duty to protect Lindsay Harvey -- and did so in the worst way possible.

"Diminution credits do not turn violent offenders into law-abiding citizens," I said. "They endanger those of us who are."

Next up was David Mulhausen, a statistical analyst from The Heritage Foundation who argued that truth in sentencing makes incarceration more meaningful and has helped reduce violent crime in other states. This is something that was also argued by Montgomery County Police Capt. Mitch Cunningham and other police personnel and Maryland state prosecutors whose testimony followed Mulhausen's.

John McDonald, the lead prosecutor for Queen Anne's County, said that parole -- not diminution credits -- is supposed to be the carrot that gets inmates to behave better and thus make their case for early release. Diminution credits, he said, are not "good time" credits, they're simply credits -- inmates earn them at pretty much the moment they're incarcerated. They essentially get credit for time they are never going to serve, he said (you may remember that Shawn Henderson's bid for parole in 2004 was rejected, but he was released early anyway because of the diminution credits he had attained during his stay in prison).

Mitch Cunnigham, for his part, spent time debunking defense lawyers' long-held beliefs about violent crime and its causes, saying that poverty and employment as factors don't hold water because Montgomery County, for one, has one of the nation's lowest unemployment rates but has one of its highest crime rates. He compared Montgomery County's crime rate with that of neighboring Fairfax County, Virginia, which have similar per capita incomes but different criminal justice systems. In Virginia, where truth in sentencing is in place, the crime rate has been reduced and many offenders have been "redirected" or given alternative sentencing options, depending on what risk they pose to the community (more on the data Capt. Cunningham compiled in a future post).

None of this, of course, was enough to dissuade those who testified against HB 581. Lori Adler, an attorney representing the Office of the Public Defender, said that violent offenders are already subject to very long sentences (leaving out the fact that none of these offenders actually serve that time, due to sentence suspensions, reconsiderations, and of course, diminution credits). She also challenged the assertion that the system in Virginia has actually reduced crime and believes that state has suffered a huge financial burden, despite Capt. Cunningham's testimony to the contrary.

And of course, there were some members of the HJC, particularly Del. Curtis S. (Curt) Anderson, of Baltimore City, who indicated that concept of truth in sentencing means different things to different people and argued that judges are indeed well aware that violent inmates participate in all of the programs that offer diminution credits.

More to the point, Anderson also indicated that he could not see HB 581 going forward so long as it had such a large fiscal note attached to it (more on that in a future post).

To conclude, I will tell you that I have never felt so emboldened by this cause than I did yesterday. I believe those who gave the expert testimony in support of the bill, including Del. Kramer, made a solid case for its passage, refuting perfectly just about every bit of opposition that came their way. These people did not just assert their support for HB 581 -- they vigorously defended it against every hint of opposition that was thrown their way.

Unfortunately, there is no way to know at this time whether HB 581 will survive the committee process and reach the House floor. But this legislation is clearly worth fighting for, and if it does not get passed or does not receive a favorable review by the committee this year, I have no doubt that we should come back to the Assembly next year and try and get this passed again.

Hearing on House Bill 581 This Tuesday

The Maryland House of Delegates Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing on House Bill 581 is coming up. If you would like to attend or testify, here's all of the information for it:

When: Tuesday, March 10, 1:00 p.m.

Where: House Office Building, 6 Bladen St., Annapolis, Maryland

Testimony requirements for the House:

- You must sign up by 12:30 to testify
- You must submit your written testimony 60 minutes before the hearing (in this case, 12:00 pm)
- You have 3 minutes to speak, plus unlimited time to answer questions
- You must submit 35 copies of your written testimony

Del. Joseph F. Vallario, Jr. is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Dels. Ben Kramer, Don H. Dwyer, Jr., Susan K. McComas, Kirill Reznik, Christopher B. Shank, and Michael D. Smigiel are sponsoring House Bill 581. All except Reznik and Shank serve on the House Judiciary Committee.

Moore Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy

First of all, my apologies... I had posted something about this last week but then pulled it upon hearing that this plea deal had not yet been finalized but was actually being considered by the judge in the case. Justice for Safety regrets this error.

In any event, Anthony Moore has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery in Lindsay Harvey's death in exchange for prosecutors dropping the charges of armed robbery and first-degree felony murder against the 16-year-old.

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 20 years. Judge Paul Weinstein is considering a possible sentence of 5 years, with all but 18 months suspended.

ATTENTION MARYLAND RESIDENTS: It's Crunch Time

Last night, I spoke again before the Gaithersburg City Council about the diminution credits issue that is now on the Maryland General Assembly's agenda. Here is the text from my speech.

Thank you. Back in November, Mayor Katz and the Gaithersburg City Council pledged its support for proposed legislation in the Maryland General Assembly that would limit the amount of good time -- or diminution -- credits that violent offenders in the Maryland prison system could receive towards early release. The call for this legislation was prompted by the murder of Lindsay Harvey, a Grove Park Apartments resident who last spring was shot and killed by a man who had been jailed for other violent crimes but was released from prison almost six years ahead of schedule, thanks in part to these good time credits.

I have some good news to report since last November. First of all, you will be very relieved to know that Shawn Henderson, the man who was charged with killing Lindsay Harvey, was convicted of her murder a few weeks ago and is now facing life in prison without the possibility of parole. I am also pleased to tell you that our proposed legislation regarding the diminution credits has been introduced in both the House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate. Senator Nancy King is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 354, and Delegate Ben Kramer is the lead sponsor of House Bill 581. These bills would make it so that violent offenders can receive no more than 15% of the time off their sentences through diminution credits.

All of this notwithstanding, the issue remains the same. We have a correctional system in Maryland that we believe is far too lenient when it comes to issuing time off for good behavior for violent criminals and does not speak to the issue of whether these inmates are deserving or ready to be let loose into society. Senate Bill 354 and House Bill 581, if passed, would be an important first step towards ensuring that violent offenders serve as much time in prison as is necessary.

The passage of these bills is far from guaranteed. They will face strong opposition in both houses of the General Assembly. Because of this, I am asking you for your help. I would like all of you to please write to your state delegates and senators and urge them to support this legislation and get it passed. Tell them that you want your streets and your neighborhoods to be made as safe as possible and that you support this legislation.

I would also encourage you to visit our blog. That address is justice4safety.blogspot.com.

Time is of the essence here. The hearing on the House Bill is next Tuesday, March 10, and the hearing on the Senate Bill is on Wednesday, March 18.

On behalf of myself and the friends and family of Lindsay Harvey, I thank you all very much for your support.

It should be noted here that the proposed diminution credits legislation is now listed in a brochure describing the City of Gaithersburg's state legislative priorities for 2009. The section on diminution credits reads as follows:

- On April 13, 2008 a Gaithersburg resident was brutally murdered by a suspect who should have still been in jail for previous violent crimes.

- We are seeking passage of a bill that would prevent Maryland's violent offenders from receiving diminution credit (time off sentence for good behavior) for more than 15% of their sentence

- Passage of this bill will not affect a prisoner's ability to be released on parole or restrict a judge's ability to reduce a prisoner's sentence through a reconsideration hearing.

- U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that Maryland is the fifth most violent state in the nation.

The city is planning to send one of its representatives to testify at both hearings in Annapolis.

Remember those dates, everyone. March 10 is the day of the House bill hearing, and March 18 is the Senate hearing. Please WRITE TO YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES IN BOTH HOUSES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY and urge them to support these bills, especially they happen to sit on either of the judiciary committees in the General Assembly. If you do not know who your elected representatives are in the state of Maryland, you can find out by clicking here.

This issue is going to need all the help it can get. Our testimony in Annapolis alone will not get this legislation passed. Our legislators, YOUR legisators, need to hear from YOU!

Diminution Credits Issue Part of a "Three-Pronged" Approach to Fighting Violent Crime in Montgomery County

Another article in yesterday's Gazette mentions the bills recently introduced in the Maryland House and Senate that would cap the number of diminution credits that violent offenders can earn as part of a three-pronged approach to fighting violent crime in Montgomery County and the rest of the state. New policies on dealing with illegal immigrant and juvenile violent offenders are also being pursued in Montgomery County.

Although the article and an accompanying video focus mainly on the illegal immigrant issue -- which has been a high-profile issue in Montgomery County and elsewhere in the Washington area for a while now -- there are a few paragraphs devoted to the diminution credit issue and the bills currently before the General Assembly. The article also mentions how the proposed legislation was prompted by Lindsay Harvey's murder at the hands of convicted felon who had been released from prison early thanks in part to the good time credit system.

Also, for what it's worth now, The Gazette ran a sidebar yesterday that uncovered more details about the death threats Shawn Henderson made last week to his 16-year-old codefendant Anthony Moore just before they were about to be transported to the Montgomery County Courthouse for Henderson's trial.

Moore will be tried in Lindsay's murder next month.