By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Judge Sean Leuthold has only been on the Crawford County Common Pleas Court bench for three months but he is already making plans to strengthen the county’s judicial system.
Leuthold met with the county commissioners Thursday afternoon to explain the plans he wants to put in place within Common Pleas Court when it comes to the types of probation the court offers. Currently, offenders can be placed on intervention in lieu of conviction, diversion, probation, or Intensive Supervision and Treatment.
“I’m basically restricting the way we are approaching it,” Leuthold said. “Treatment in lieu is something that has been used a great deal over the last few years and has been an abject failure, just a complete waste of time.”
If someone is convicted of a heroin charge, they can avoid a conviction by being placed on intervention for two years. The diversion program works in much the same way.
“All we’ve done is kicked the can down the road,” Leuthold told the commissioners. “I’ve seen it successful with opiate addicts zero times because if a person doesn’t get a conviction the first time out, when they commit a second felony and sometimes a third felony and haven’t been convicted of any of them they still technically are not prison eligible. We are basically giving them one or two free felonies.
Leuthold is looking to mostly do away with the two programs. Rather, the types of people Leuthold expects to place on this program in the future would be young offenders with no record and those who have nothing to do with opiates. He expected only a few offenders would be placed on the intervention program each year.
Offenders can also be put on standard probation through the state’s Adult Parole Authority (APA). Leuthold felt the probation officers are already pushed to the limit as they supervise between 300 and 400 people.
Intensive Supervision and Treatment (ISAT) is another option Leuthold has for offenders. The program, however, is set up to only deal with 15 to 20 people at a time.
The restructuring is opening the way for Leuthold to establish a county probation department. As explained to the commissioners, probation officers in this department would handle people who don’t do well with the standard APA program or who don’t want to be in the ISAT program. Leuthold said offenders involved in this first level of the program would be tested daily, be provided with extra treatment and more supervision, along with faith-based programs.
The second part of the county probation department would supervision what Leuthold calls high-risk probationers, or people that the judge may not want to put on probation but due to Ohio law he has to. He saw such offenders, ones who continuously committed misdemeanors but rarely reached the felony level, when he worked in Municipal Court.
“These are the guys that need to be actually supervised with daily visits, drug testing, all that stuff,” Leuthold said. “If they can get through that, that’s fine. But if they can’t then they can go to prison. Those are the people I don’t trust, I don’t think they should be on probation in the first place and I want to keep an eye on them.”
Leuthold said the different programs would allow for offenders to slide back and forth depending on their needs.
“This will fit just about every single person who I have to put on community control who’s mixed up with opiates. I’ve got something for everybody,” Leuthold told the commissioners. “With this there is no way to slip through the cracks anymore. There is no more I’m going to get put on probation and go off and do my own thing. Every single person who doesn’t go to prison and has to be put on probation will get both the help they deserve but also the supervision that we deserve as the public.”
The judge already has one county employee supervising a few of the offenders but he wants a minimum of two in the potential county probation department.
“That person would basically do whatever I directed them to do when we have the flexibility. If someone wanted to go out of state, that wouldn’t be a problem. If someone wanted faith-based (treatment), that wouldn’t be a problem. If someone needed to be tested once a day, that’s not going to be a problem. If I need someone to go out to search their house, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Leuthold said.
Leuthold does not yet know the cost of implementing a county probation department but he is working on a budget and is looking for grants.
Currently, Leuthold knows of only one county – Knox – that has such a program in place. One APA officer and a county employee have worked in Knox County and brought that knowledge to lend to Leuthold’s project.
Already in the three months Leuthold has been on the bench a change can be seen. The county jail population has decreased by nearly 30 people and probation officers have said it is easier to keep people in line. Leuthold also said law enforcement has reported a reduction in the supply of heroin in county.