Oh the soft hearted thought that criminals just need love and understanding. Meanwhile, less than two weeks after their release, some of the 400 mass release offenders are right back in county jail and headed for the penitentiary.
Meet Austin Jones. DOB, December of 1993. By the time he was 17 Jones was charged with drug possession with intention to distribute and the possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The public defender wanted to charge Jones as a child but the prosecution won on that fight and Jones was charged as an adult. Jones pleads guilty as a youthful offender and gets five and seven years on the two counts. But the juvenile system has him and a few years later his case is dismissed, Jones had been given another chance.
But Jones was earning his living at his trade and doing other crimes during all of this. In June of 2010 he was charged with robbery by force or fear, assault and battery, and first degree burglary. Jones pleads guilty of these crimes as well and sentenced as a youthful offender. Along with the previous crimes these are dismissed a few years later so Jones has a fresh start.
Jones was arrested again a few weeks after his June 2010 arrest and charged with another burglary. Once again his charges were dismissed in 2012 after spending some time with the youthful offender program.
In 2013 Jones was arrested again for selling weed near a school, possession of drug paraphernalia, and failure to pay taxes due the state. Once again Jones gets deferred sentences and community supervision by the local district attorney. He agrees to pay each month on his fines and fees, doesn't, and the sentence is accelerated along with four other charges that have gone nowhere.
In early 2014 Jones is arrested for DUI and speeding but his case is diverted to drug court but not for long as they tossed him out a few months later for non compliance with the program. He pled guilty and was given a year in the county jail, suspended, with the four months time served as his only penalty. By 2016 his suspended sentence was revoked due to his refusal to pay on his fines and fees.
Another early 2014 arrest, DUI and a minor drinking alcohol. Followed by a guilty plea, one year jail sentence with all but four months suspended, followed by a payment plan not followed and years and years of court hearings as the court attempted to squeeze blood out of a stone.
Another early 2015 arrest for driving while impaired on drugs, possession of drugs with intent to distribute, and having an open container of beer. By this time the Tulsa area courts have had their fill of Jones and he earns a six year sentence in prison. Doesn't serve it of course, various programs keep him out of prison.
A few months after this arrest Jones is arrested for DUI and impeding traffic, no doubt passed out on a road somewhere. Same old song and dance, plead guilty, one year jail sentence suspended other than the four months he had already served on other charges, and thousands in fines and fees that will never be paid.
By June of 2015 Jones is arrested again for DUI, driving under suspension, and leaving the scene of an accident.
Jones is arrested again in 2015 for drug possession, once again pleads guilty, getting community sentencing and a payment plan of $50.00 per month. About a year later Jones is behind on his payments and a motion to revoke his suspended sentences is heard.. He gets five years in state prison but is shuttled over to a work camp instead. Years go by, Jones is in and out of court often as the authorities attempt to get their $50.00 per month and fail.
Jones is arrested again in early 2016, possession of drugs again, drug paraphernalia, obstructing an officer, resisting an officer, and public intoxication. Jones pleads guilty once again and serves a short time in work camp with all sentences so far served concurrently. But he is out on supervised probation after agreeing to pay his court costs and fees which he refused to do. He is working through the Drug Court program but refusing to pay the monthly fees lands him back in jail with a revoked sentence but not for long, by November 8th Jones was part of the hundreds of “non violent” prisoners released in the mass relief after agreeing to start paying $50.00 per month starting in June of 2020.
In early 2017 Jones was arrested again for forgery with a check and obtaining merchandise with a forged check. Jones gets another chance after the charges are dismissed with cost and restitution.
In late 2018 Jones is arrested again for endangering others while eluding a police officer and driving on a suspended license. Another guilty plea, another payment plan, with no payments.
And again in late 2018 Jones is arrested for public intoxication and resisting an officer. Once again Jones gets a break and gets things dismissed. But in February Jones is right back in jail for doing the same thing.
In one county alone, Jones racked up 21 arrests between 2010 and 2018 for a total of over 30 arrests that show up on OSCN.net. Almost always using a public defender, not paying bail, not paying the fines and fees despite the amount going down to $25.00 per month.
Jones wasn't sent to prison for weed or property laws, he was a dangerous serial drunk driver that refused the authority of the court to hold him accountable. He racked up at least one hundred years in sentencing with all serving concurrently or being dismissed. His final sentence that was revoked was at last a decent sentence for his crimes, six years, yet that would have amounted to less than a year's prison. Jones spent eleven months in prison between December 2018 and November 2019 and another stretch between June of 2016 and April of 2007.
And did he learn? Released on November 4th 2019 as part of the mass prison release Jones was back in jail facing charges by November 13th of 2019 for possession of drugs and paraphernalia.
Criminals quit committing crimes once the consequences become worse than the rewards. Had Oklahoma dealt with Austin Jones properly in 2010 we would have avoided hundreds of thousands of dollars of prosecutor time, court time, public defender costs, and jail costs. State prison costs are a tiny fraction of the state budget and one that needs to be increased and expanded until criminals learn that crime does not pay.
