Soft on Crime Agenda Hurtling
Through the Legislature
Bills Set to be Heard Next Week
Call your State Rep and State Senator and Say Vote No!
First, nearly all of these bills will be on the 2019 Trump Index, our renamed voting record index that has been published since 2012. This session will be dominated by the soft on crime legislation instead of tax increases.
There are seven main soft on crime bills that are rocketing through the legislature the last few weeks thanks to major lobbying by the ACLU. Some are not so bad if they did only what the bill says they are to do. Others are going to create a creation of San Francisco like conditions in Oklahoma with drug addicts shooting up in the streets, an increase in homelessness, and an increase in crime including violent crime.
HB 1100 changes the distance that a drug dealer can ply his trade from 2000 feet from a school to 500 feet and is in effect only during hours of operation of the school. It cuts prison time from life to not more than ten years for selling drugs on or near a school.
Think about this, seems logical, till you realize that most of the drugs aren't going to be sold during school hours while the kids are inside attending classes. The hour or half hour before school and after school when the kids are coming or going is when they are most likely to have the time and the lack of supervision and this new law says that is okay.
HB 1269 releases convicted criminals if the crime they were convicted of is now a misdemeanor.
We are a nation of laws. If the laws are changed because the people do not support them that wasn't the mood at the time a criminal was convicted. This is an ex post facto law which is unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. If the legislature can ignore making a law void retroactively then they can also make a law apply retroactively and go back on people to arrest and prosecute them for behavior that was legal at the time they committed the acts.
It would also dump thousands of felons out onto the street in a huge flush of the correctional toilet. It ignores the fact that most of the time a prosecutor will bargain down the crime to a lower sentence crime in return for a plea deal to avoid the cost of a trail.
A criminal arrested for distribution of drugs that carries a thirty year sentence is bargained down to simple possession, which is now a misdemeanor and Jose Martinez of Mexico City walks out of state prison and goes back to smuggling drugs into Oklahoma.
HB 2009 reduces sentence on second conviction for non violent and sex offenders. Now re offenders face up to twice the original sentence for their next conviction of rape or molestation, but if this bill passes they will now face one quarter of original sentence for the second offense.
One of the tenants of modern judicial theory is increasing punishment on a sliding scale. Indeed that idea is advocated in HB 2273 which is discussed a few paragraphs below. Re offending on the same charge means that the felon didn't learn his lesson or is intent on preying on the weak despite the consequences. This idea of lowering prison time for second offenders is backwards and it encourages child molesters to re offend. Say a child molester is caught and prosecuted, then while out on bail he is caught again and prosecuted on the second charge, he will serve the sentences concurrently, meaning if he receives 10 years for the first charge, he will be out in 12.5 years.
But of course no criminal serves full time unless it is one of the violent crimes in the list below. Most criminals serve between one third and one fifth of their sentence so that 10 year sentence puts the molester back out on the street in no more than 3 to 3.5 years. Here is the list of 85% crimes. Keep in mind that prosecutors plea these crimes down to lesser charges every single day:
- First-degree murder
- First-degree manslaughter
- Conjoint robbery
- Robbery with a dangerous weapon
- Child prostitution
- Aggravated drug trafficking
HB 2218 Waives fines, costs, and fees if enrolled in work training, school, vo tech. Value of a 40 hour week at minimum wage waived on fees and costs. Two years max on DA supervision $40 per week, if working a job weekend incarceration instead of revocation and prison. Limits deferred sentences to four years and community supervision to one year.
This is not a completely horrible idea if you want to reform the justice system. But that term alone suggests that the system is broken rather than the criminals are broken people that need kept away from society. Probation doesn't work. Parolees show up at the DOC center, wait an hour till they are called, slap down a check for their probation service costs, and leave a few minutes later. The Probation Officer has an hour booked for their visit.... and they cycle them through quickly so the employee is free the rest of the day. Same with the TEEM style supervision, they walk in the door, lay down a check, and leave. If you really wanted to give ex cons a fresh start you would eliminate probation or severely curtail the length, but require the judge that sentenced the man to have the ex con appear in front of him once a month, at night or on a weekend. Have the drug testing done at that time, a short two minute chat with the judge in open court, and the ex con would focus on rebuilding his life.
HB 2273 waters down the parole violation process and provides a graduated scale of punishments, limits the sentence after a parole violation to two years.
This is not a good idea. The ex con needs the pressure not to screw up on his back 100%, swift and sure punishment if he messes up. Limiting the parole process or eliminating it entirely other than one to two years of checking in with the judge would work. No cost other than the drug testing and make that reasonable. Otherwise if a convict is smart and is facing a thirty year sentence, he works his butt off and gets out on parole in ten years, laughs and violates probation immediately, goes back in for two years and is out a free man before his original parole would have expired.
SB 780 Same as 252, including not allowing judges to order ankle bracelet tracking.
As ineffective as it is, ankle monitoring does keep the reformed criminals out of trouble. This is just a fight for resources, the monitoring companies against the non profits that are competing for the limited amount of cash an ex con will have available if he has a job. The monitoring helps victims relax, knowing that they might get a heads up if their attacker cuts off their monitor while out on parole. Do not think that any of these non profit groups are interested in what is good for society or even for the e con's future, they are thinking of their bottom line and directing as much of that ex con's cash into their bank accounts.
SB 252 says that bail cannot be set higher than the person can afford to pay or that might prevent their release. Prisoner must have the ability to pay the bail. If no bail granted the judge must make a finding of clear and convincing evidence that the person is guilty of the crime, It changes the law to saying a specific threat must be present to a specific person instead of recognizing that the criminal is a hazard to all of society at large, changes the law from considering a history of violating court orders to considering only their history of violating protective orders while determining if OR, PTR, or commercial bail is granted, removes the drug or alcohol addiction of the criminal from being considered, and it mandates 48 hours max before seeing a judge.
This is the bill that we have been warning against for weeks. I simply cannot think of another bill in the last ten years that is going to do as much damage to society as this one. Criminals operate in the underground economy, no job, no W-2 gets filed, no tax return is filed. They deal in cash so they can claim poverty and no one will be able to prove otherwise. Few will have a regular job; crime is their 9 to 5 job, or 1:00 am to 6:00am job.
Worse, if no bail is granted, the judge has to rule that there is clear and convincing evidence that the criminal is guilty. A small town is going to know who is out on bail and who is sitting in the jail awaiting trial and the judge just told everyone that he thinks the guy is guilty. No presumption of innocence. Guilty until proven otherwise.
Likewise on the presumption of threat; the Somali Muslim that threw that five year old white child off the third story balcony last week had no victim in mind, he had been coming to the mall for several days looking for someone to murder. Same with the average serial killer, mugger, or home invasion robber or car jacker.
Requiring only protective order violations to be considered ignores the very reason the criminal is in jail; refusing to follow the law. If the criminal has a history of jumping bail, refusing to pay his fines and fees from earlier convictions, or simply isn't showing up for his court dates in the current charges, he has no respect for law. Ditto on alcohol and drug use pre trial. Feeding his habit is probably what got him in jail. Not considering if the guy is an addict is asinine. Seeing a judge quickly is a good idea, the one part of this law that is okay.
But the consequences of bypassing judges, remember these folks are advocating a computer program/algorithm to spit out a score that says if the detainee is a risk or not, and by passing the bondsmen is that dangerous criminals will walk right out the door with no consequences and very little time lost between their arrest and being released.
Meet Samuel Lee Scott
Scott was released from the St. Louise Justice Center on April 9th after a non profit “bail disrupter” group posted $5000 for his bond in a domestic assault case.Within hours of being released, Scott took care of unfinished business by assaulting his 54 year old wife and killing her using severe head trauma. The prosecutors have not yet had the time to file charges but a bond forfeiture motion claims that Scott found the woman and basically beat about the head with the woman dying in the hospital.
Scott had been arrested on April 4th, charged with misdemeanor assault on April 5th, with the judge setting bail at $5000 meaning Scott would have needed $500.00 to get out of jail by hiring a bondsman. After “languishing” in jail for four days the St. Louis Bail Project posted the $5000 bond and by 11 pm the police found the 54 year old woman with severe head injuries in her home. She was beaten so badly that she was unable to say what happened and died a few days later.
For their part, the St. Louis Bail Project claims it was a heartbreaking tragedy but denied any responsibility for the woman's death. The group is part of a national non profit group spreading the message that criminal bail is bad. Scott had a 2003 conviction on drug charges, a 90 day jail sentence in 1998, and a 1997 jail stay of 236 days for drug possession.
Put in the simplest terms, Scott likely wouldn't have bonded out without help from his family and usually the family knows the background and circumstances of the family life and nearly certainly would have wanted Scott to cool off a long longer than five days before bailing him out. Had a bondsman or friend bonded him out they would have most likely seen that he had a place to stay before agreeing to pay the bond. The simple fact is that without this meddling by the non profit, a woman would be alive.
A local case is worse
Meet Andrew Munoz.
On February 5, 2018 Munoz was charged with robbery with a firearm (with some friends) out of Cleveland County. Most likely due to his juvenile record he is seventeen years old yet charged as an adult, unable to post bond and is dismissed on a PTR program (pre trial release program ran by the county). Then on the 29th of May he is arrested again for distribution of weed. For some reason there is a $20,000 bond written on Munoz on October 14th of 2008 yet he is also on a conditional PTR program, perhaps in addition to the PTR program the judge required bond to be posted.
By November of 2008 Munoz is violated for tampering with his ankle monitor and put on lock down with the only exception of going to work with the work hours verified with his PTR supervisor. Two weeks later Munoz misses curfew and is violated again but stays on the ankle monitor at his home it seems. By Thanksgiving Munoz remains on lock down but has lost his job and is approved for applying for work as long as the date and time is approved by his PTR minder. By the 4th of December Munoz violates by smoking weed . He remains at home on this ankle monitor but cuts off the monitor the next day and is on the run. A warrant issued on the same day and the bond ordered forfeited by the bondsman.
By February 10th 2009 the bondsman has Munoz back in jail and the case proceeds in starts and stops, delayed by the public defender. In August of 2009 the case is dismissed by Judge Ring, since he was pleading on the OK county weed case.
The May 29th distribution of weed case wasn't charged until December of 2008. Remember how we say a defendant has to work very hard to go to prison in Oklahoma? This is a prime example. The prosecutors held off on the distribution charges in the hope that the robbery charges would straighten Munoz out. By December Munoz was screwing up so they charged his sorry ass. By August of 2009 Munoz pleads guilty to the distribution of weed charges and he is placed in the young offender program of the DOC and in two months Munoz is in the custody of the DOC, Department of Corrections.
But by May 2009, Munoz is out on an OR bond from the DOC. In August he is given probation on the CF-08-7693 drug along with a warning of a 20 year sentence if he violated his probation based on that case and his juvenile history. By the 25th of August Munoz has agreed to pay $50.00 per month toward his court fines and fees. He makes three payments of $50.00 and in December pays only $40.00, gets another warning of what will happen if he violates again and in January Munoz pays another $50.00 payment.
Two months later a motion is filed to accelerate his sentence as he has refused to pay another dime. Munoz is on the run with a warrant out on him until someone pays his $1202.64 arrears which happens in July. Munoz must have been caught although there is no mention of it, the bondsman was out of the picture as they had done their job getting Munoz to court the previous year.
On the 18th of July Munoz bonds out with professional bail bond but by the 23rd of August Munoz is not appearing at court and a warrant is issued for his arrest, bond forfeited, and his twenty year sentence is accelerated. We have a bondsman on the hook so that very same day Munoz is back in jail but he bonds out a day later with another bondsman only to abscond by the 20th of September of 2011. Bail once again is forfeited and once again the bondsman quickly catches Munoz and returns him to jail. Remember that the bondsman has a co signer, family with property or money on the hook to pay the forfeited bail should Munoz run and not be caught so the family is helping put Munoz back in jail.
By December Munoz has pled guilty to the failure to appear and is once again out on $4000 professional bail bond. But five days later he withdraws that guilty plea. By mid May 2011 Muzon appears to be in DOC custody, in prison serving out his 20 year sentence. On September 27th 2016, five years later or one quarter of the twenty year sentence for distributing weed, Muzon makes a $40.00 payment on his fines and fees so he is out of prison but he pays no further payments until 2017 when the State of Oklahoma intercepts his tax refund and pays around $300.00 on the account.
While all of this was ongoing, on July 9, 2011 Munoz was arrested for aggravated eluding a police officer, failure to stop at a stop light, and a stop sign. Munoz showed that he had learned nothing and considered himself above the law. Munoz bonded using a bondsman on the 10th, failed to appear on August 9that his arraignment. By October 27th the bondmen had found Munoz and returned him to jail. Munoz enters a blind peal by November the 27th 2011 and was bonded out yet again by December 6th.
Within days Munoz withdraws his guilty plea, but by February 22nd 2012 he is back in jail after the bond is revoked by the judge and makes another guilty plea. Five years, to be served concurrently with the distribution of weed charge, and the usual several thousand in court costs and fines. In 2017 his tax refund is intercepted and a hundred dollars is paid on his fines and fees.
We know that Munoz is out around September of 2016 because he made a $40.00 payment but in August 28, 2017 he was arrested for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (stolen) and attempting to elude police officers. The record shows he was out earlier than we thought, in April of 2017 because there was a protective order filed against him, and made final in June of 2017. And on September 5th 2017 two more felonies are filed against Munoz, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading police. Munoz settles quickly, pleading guilty by September 28th.2017 and sentenced to ten years of prison served concurrently with the earlier felonies.
Munoz was arrested again January 16, 2019 in Cleveland County for the low level non violent victimless crime of driving under suspension and no insurance. Once again Munoz shows that he thinks he is above the law. Munoz was released on PR bond (Personal Recognizance) and failed to appear in court on April 2, 2019 l and an April 11th warrant was issued for his arrest for failure to appear is issued. No bondsman on the hook to find him and put him back in jail.
Now meet Tonya Horn and her eight year old daughter Rylee Ewald. They died in their SUV after being hit by Muzon who was fleeing from Okc police while driving a stolen vehicle on the 19th of April, last Friday. Cops tried to stop Munoz near SW 40th and Villa, Munoz slowed down as if going to pull over, then accelerated at a high speed, ran a stop sign, colliding with the 43 year old woman and killing both her and her eight year old child. A 20 second police pursuit on a guy that had done this same thing multiple times before kills two people and injures a third person in the SUV. Munoz remains in the hospital
Munoz had an accomplish in the car, a woman named Alvarez who was arrested and jailed on charges of murder, drug trafficking, possession of drug proceeds, and possession of a firearm while committing a felony. Alvarez appears to be a horrible driver and was sued for money or eviction type matters but didn't have a criminal history.
Why is Doing Away with Bond a Bad Thing?
It isn't just liberals that think the criminal justice system needs reform. Libertarians also get sucked into this liberal agenda without thinking through the consequences. One such libertarian is County Commissioner Marven Goodman out of Logan County who published the following article on his official Facebook page:
Want to really reform our Criminal Justice System?
When can we discuss one of the most costly judicial assumptions of guilt until proven innocent. Costly in both economics terms and those of individual liberty violations. Confinement to ensure appearance of those presumed innocent is the single most egregious abuses of state power.
This is an awesome power to give to any government institution in allowing them to detain those unconvinced of a crime until they agree to "confess" to the state's charges. That requires those being detained as "charged with a non-violent offence" to "take the deal" regardless of actual guilt.
Locking up unconvinced until proven innocent is not only immoral, but from an economic standpoint, it is also the most inefficient use of public funds and depletes county budget resources.
So if I'm charged, please send me a notice telling me when I should show up with legal council. If I fail to show, then the state has an interest in pretrial confinement, but only after the individual charged demonstrated an unwillingness to appear in court.
This action would not be supported by the bail bond lobby"
I know and like Marven but what utter ignorant soft on crime drivel. All state judges already have the power to set anyone free on an OR bond, Own Recognizance bond or ANYONE can post the bond in cash or other securities at the courthouse and get every dime back if acquitted, minus any fees and fines if found guilty. If you are not a flight risk then you will usually get one of these bonds if you ask for it.
If not there are PTR, Pre Trial Release Programs which is what Marven Goodman appears to be unwittingly advocating. Those programs are ran by liberal crooks like Kris Steele, charge up to $10.00 a day plus costs to attend meetings, take drug testing, counseling, or ankle monitoring. Plus you usually have to agree to perform 100 hours of community service OR TEEM/Kris Steele will gladly let you off if you pay TEEM $10.00 per hour, $1000.00 up front.
Why is this bad for society? Lets pretend that Marven is a criminal, say arrested for Outraging Public Decency, and use him as an example. OPD by the way is a catchall charge that is completely unconstitutional but remains because the D.A.s and attorneys use it to save face for the D.A. when ridiculous charges have been filed.
First, if Marven was to refuse to come to court his PTR bond would be revoked and there would be NO ONE to hunt him down and put him back in jail so he shows up to the rescheduled hearing. Criminals go for years without being caught when released on PTR. Second, there is no liability for TEEM, no bond is forfeited, but Marven would owe the bond money, which like 90% of all court fines and fees would go uncollected. Marven might commit more crimes while on the run as he has nothing to lose.
If Marven does get caught two years down the road, perhaps in another state, the county is responsible for going to that state and picking up Marven and driving him back. Figure $5000.00 for two deputies and a car going to California to pick up Marven. And you know what that means, the local D.A. tells the California D.A. to just let him go and hope Marven will be caught closer to Oklahoma some day.
In addition to the $972.00 per case cost to the taxpayers. Right, PTR first has to be approved by Community Services, a county office funded by the tax payers. Last year OKC spent almost two and a half million dollars investigating around 2300 inmates they set free.
Added to that is that Marven now qualifies automatically for a public defense attorney, add a few thousand more to the tax bill for everyone.
And why is it bad for Marven? Because the average criminal bond written is $5000.00 or $500.00 in cost to Marven or his family that bonded him out. In the first month, the second month for certain, Marven has already spent more than $500.00 even if he performs his community service by working it off for the 100 hours. Plus, no one is watching over Marven except for a useless, usually ex con advocate down at TEEM that has 500 other criminals to keep an eye on. Marven's family doesn't care, they have no skin in the game, they will not help capture Marven should he run away. And once Marven runs away he will have extra crimes added to his list of crimes he will be prosecuted for.
Why is this soft on crime no bail good for Marven? Well, it really isn't other than if he wants to stay out of jail and prison till he gets caught he doesn't have to pay a single dime other than anything required to get him released on PTR. All Marven has to do is run away before his check clears or before he walks into the TEEM office to pay any release fee. And if Marven runs away, he knows that if ever caught, all of his crimes will be adjudicated, sometimes over a hundred years of sentences will be served CONCURRENTLY meaning Marven spends no more time in prison for one armed robbery than he would for a half dozen armed robbery charges, three domestic abuse cases, two drug possession with intent to distribute cases, and one outraging public decency case.
That is right, Marven has enormous incentive to run away. Crime doesn't cost Marven more than a few days in county jail.
Now what happens if the bleeding heart liberals and the useful idiots that push no bail systems let Marven slip through their fingers at the courthouse and Marven posts the $500.00 bond? First, most bonds written are for $2000.00, even less on occasions, as the average $5000.00 bond includes plenty of $500,000.00 bonds and $50,000.00 bonds. Marven might walk out after agreeing to pay $200.00 t0 the bondsman.
The bondsman assumes all risks, all costs, to seeing Marven back in court for every single hearing till he is found innocent or guilty. In return for the $200.00 check Marvin has a co signer, usually family, and if the risk is high enough mamma's house or grandma's house is put up for security in case Marven runs away.
If that happened, the co signer would pay the forfeited bond or the house would be sold, the forfeited bond paid,, and the balance of the money minus sale costs would be returned to grandma. A lot of the time the bondsman allows the defendant to make payments or find a co signer within a few days or a week if they think the risk is worth it.
Meanwhile the bondsman keeps a close eye on Marven after collecting as much contact info on his friends and family as possible. Marven gets phone calls the day before his court date and the bondsman is at the hearing so he knows Marven showed up. The process is explained to Marven so he knows what is going to happen as well as the various outcomes that might happen. The bondsman drives by at night and sees if Marven's car is parked at his house.
But if Marven runs away, the bondman goes down to the courthouse in a few weeks and writes a check for the entire amount of the bond. Then he hires a bounty hunter to track Marven down and go get him. That is going to cost several thousand in most cases. Meantime he is leaning on grandma to either repay the forfeited bond or help him find Marven. The entire family is pissed off at Marven as well as any friends of his that know grandma. Marven's ass is going to be caught in a few weeks in about 50% of the cases. If he is caught before one year goes by, the bondsman gets their forfeited bond back and grandma is off the hook.
If Marven successfully evades being stopped in a traffic stop by driving carefully or evades being caught for another crime he can continue committing crimes or just living large. The forfeited bond will be part of about $35,000,000 in forfeited bond that goes into County coffers each year and around $1,000,000 in fees are paid by the bondsmen each year whether Marven runs or behaves.
Criminals rarely get caught on their first crime and they rarely commit just one crime. When caught, released with no bail cost, no attorney cost,, with the ability to pay zero in fines and fees even if convicted by pleading pauper status, or just refusing to pay, the criminal has paid nothing for his crime other than a couple days in jail. For each succeeding crime the sentence just rolls into the next sentence or the one before. I have researched Oklahoma criminals with several hundred years of sentences that served three years in prison after good behavior time credits. Or they get one violent crime that they have to serve 85% and are out in five or ten years. Recall Munoz's twenty and then ten year sentence where he was out in a couple of years.....
That is why we have career criminals. There are few costs for the criminals that know the system. Look forward to a massive, massive, increase in crimes in the coming years.
