The following are some of my observations that I voiced in an email to a Pima County Deputy County Attorney (Mark Hotchiss) who appears on our behalf in Superior Court for property crimes cases. Aside from the comments I made in my email, I was very impressed by the clarity of communication and the professionalism of the judge. He was very respectful of the defendants, even though they had professed to being guilty. I just hope that defendants realized this and appreciated it too.
I followed this graffiti case (see below) during the sentencing process and after sentencing, since I couldn't be in court to hear the final result. I'm new to going to court as an observer, but it was very eye opening and I would recommend it to everyone who is concerned about crime and creating a better neighborhood and city to live in.
My other valuable experience related to this case was with going to Superior Court to review the court documents that are available to the public. I read documents for a living and enjoy the challenge of putting the pieces together to develop an overview for onlookers. Reviewing court records was no different than my day job and I found it to be very interesting. There were some inconsistencies in the records, so I asked for clarification from the County Attorney.
I'm looking forward to reviewing more records in the future to try and develop a better understanding as to the various reasons we have crime and what we can learn from it in order to determine how to reduce it. I'm also looking forward to sitting in on more court cases and sentencing to see how consistent the processes are among different judges. I hope others will become involved in Justice Watch Tucson with the hopes of improving the overall judicial system and accountability of all involved.
Mark,
Since I hadn't heard back from you regarding the sentencing of Andrew Barton, I went to Superior Court Records office yesterday and found out the case number (CR20121051-001) and sentencing information. It is interesting that this information is available to the public, but we must physically travel to Superior Court and access their internet site with their computers, in order to retrieve this information. This would not be possible for many people and I was just glad I had the time to spend and the curiosity to find out the information.
I see that his sentence was 3 years probation and $6300 of restitution, most to one property owner it appeared. What I wasn't clear on was how many hours of community service. One early document (dated 9/28) stated 100 hours and another hand written one, with a later date, stated 150 hours. That's a big difference. Could you please clarify this for me?
It's interesting that you can read their backgrounds and a risk analysis showing the best guess as to if this will recur. The recurrence risk was medium with this person.
Lois Pawlak
Justice Watch Tucson
(Original notification)
Friday, September 28th (completed in early October)
Sentencing of:
Defendant: Andrew Robert Barton
I followed this graffiti case (see below) during the sentencing process and after sentencing, since I couldn't be in court to hear the final result. I'm new to going to court as an observer, but it was very eye opening and I would recommend it to everyone who is concerned about crime and creating a better neighborhood and city to live in.
My other valuable experience related to this case was with going to Superior Court to review the court documents that are available to the public. I read documents for a living and enjoy the challenge of putting the pieces together to develop an overview for onlookers. Reviewing court records was no different than my day job and I found it to be very interesting. There were some inconsistencies in the records, so I asked for clarification from the County Attorney.
I'm looking forward to reviewing more records in the future to try and develop a better understanding as to the various reasons we have crime and what we can learn from it in order to determine how to reduce it. I'm also looking forward to sitting in on more court cases and sentencing to see how consistent the processes are among different judges. I hope others will become involved in Justice Watch Tucson with the hopes of improving the overall judicial system and accountability of all involved.
Mark,
Since I hadn't heard back from you regarding the sentencing of Andrew Barton, I went to Superior Court Records office yesterday and found out the case number (CR20121051-001) and sentencing information. It is interesting that this information is available to the public, but we must physically travel to Superior Court and access their internet site with their computers, in order to retrieve this information. This would not be possible for many people and I was just glad I had the time to spend and the curiosity to find out the information.
I see that his sentence was 3 years probation and $6300 of restitution, most to one property owner it appeared. What I wasn't clear on was how many hours of community service. One early document (dated 9/28) stated 100 hours and another hand written one, with a later date, stated 150 hours. That's a big difference. Could you please clarify this for me?
It's interesting that you can read their backgrounds and a risk analysis showing the best guess as to if this will recur. The recurrence risk was medium with this person.
I am disappointed to see that the process from time of accusation and sentencing was 6 months (March through Oct. 2012). And I am disappointed that we (the public) recover very little in court costs (admin fees of $45 - would only cover 1 minute of real costs) and lawyer fees (stated as $400)- probably court appointed, and again our tax dollars, which may not have really covered the amount of time spent.
Taxpayers, through our laws and representative, throw money at problems, only to have them recur, probably at a high rate (25-50%?). This person was only 20 years old, but a high school drop out, reinforcing the need for dollars to be spent on education in hopes of raising their ability to participate in the law abiding side of society. He is now a father of a child, who also has a risk of following in these exact footsteps, unfortunately. Mr. Barton himself stated he is a victim of bad parenting and parents with addictions and anger issues. I'm sure this is a theme repeated over and over again in many, many cases.
I thank you for helping to include the public in our judicial processes so we can gain a better understanding of the processes and the challenges. Please keep us informed of graffiti cases and other cases where there has been a large impact on the residents of Tucson. We are in the beginning stages of exploring a Justice Watch program for the City of Tucson for the purpose of trying to increase the involvement by the public. We look forward to participating where we can.
Taxpayers, through our laws and representative, throw money at problems, only to have them recur, probably at a high rate (25-50%?). This person was only 20 years old, but a high school drop out, reinforcing the need for dollars to be spent on education in hopes of raising their ability to participate in the law abiding side of society. He is now a father of a child, who also has a risk of following in these exact footsteps, unfortunately. Mr. Barton himself stated he is a victim of bad parenting and parents with addictions and anger issues. I'm sure this is a theme repeated over and over again in many, many cases.
I thank you for helping to include the public in our judicial processes so we can gain a better understanding of the processes and the challenges. Please keep us informed of graffiti cases and other cases where there has been a large impact on the residents of Tucson. We are in the beginning stages of exploring a Justice Watch program for the City of Tucson for the purpose of trying to increase the involvement by the public. We look forward to participating where we can.
Lois Pawlak
Justice Watch Tucson
(Original notification)
Friday, September 28th (completed in early October)
Sentencing of:
Defendant: Andrew Robert Barton
Time: 9:00am
Where: Superior Court, before the Honorable Judge Richard Nichols, 6th Floor.
Moniker(s): Barton used the monikers “DEMON,” “DMONEY,” and “LOST SOULS” or “LS” when tagging.
Primary Territory: Barton targeted two areas in particular: (1) the Stone Avenue corridor, including areas around Amphi High School and the Tucson Mall and (2) the downtown area, and areas just east and south of downtown, including the Iron Horse neighborhood and Rattlesnake pedestrian bridge.
Very nice summary, Lois.
ReplyDeleteEventually, we will see if PC Superior / PC Juv or PCAO, along with City Court, will help us make upcoming court events more accessible to the public. I envision a comprehensive, neighborhood oriented set of listings of upcoming justice events (incl. several courts and others - e.g. admin. hearings for code violations, probation revocation, pretrial release?). The beauty of this is that we're not only working graffiti offenses, but also a wide range of crime and disorder events that hack off the public no end.
I very much appreciate you accenting rapid justice, comprehensive restitution calculation and minimizing recurrence risk.
It feels like we're making progress.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReply from Mark Hotchkiss on November 4, 2012 is here: http://nsn.soaz.info/files/JWTBartonHotchkiss.pdf.
ReplyDeleteMark,
I really appreciate your response. It helps us all to better understand the challenges everyone has (defendant, prosecutors, citizens). We all look forward to working more with you in the future.
Lois