By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The price for violating probation was no longer 84 months for Bart Kegley, but the sentence was not that far off.
Kegley appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Wednesday afternoon for a re-sentencing hearing. Kegley, who pleaded guilty to felony 3 illegal cultivation of marijuana, felony 3 drug possession, and felony 5 drug possession, was sentenced to five years on community control in 2014. Fast forward one year and Kegley returned to court to answer for violating his community control and received 84 months in prison for all three counts, the maximum sentence available.
Defense attorney Adam Stone appealed Judge Sean Leuthold’s decision, however, and the matter was sent to the Third District Court of Appeals. That court reversed Leuthold’s decision and sent the matter back for a re-sentencing.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the defense and prosecution debated the proper sentencing for Kegley’s community control violations.
Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler reviewed the facts of the 2014 case in which a search warrant was served at Kegley’s residence by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office. Kegley, his girlfriend, and three juveniles were in the residence at the time of the search warrant execution. Police discovered nine firearms – a majority of them being loaded – drug paraphernalia, marijuana, and cocaine. Ninety-three marijuana plants were also discovered in a pole barn.
Hoovler’s argument resided not only in the underlying case, but also in the incidents that occurred while Kegley was on community control, which included possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia and testing positive for cocaine and marijuana.
“Prison should be an option. Prison is a just sentence in this case,” Hoovler said. He argued for maximum consecutive sentences to be handed down.
Stone, however, believed any kind of sanctions should be based upon the community control violations, especially since, Stone argued, the prosecution already determined Kegley was not a threat to the community when they put him on probation.
“These folks decided a long time ago,” Stone said, “that Bart Kegley was not a threat to the community.”
He added that Kegley failed to report his drug addiction to the court, but provided evidence to Leuthold that he believed would show a different Kegley. Those documents detailed Kegley’s enrollment into the Maryhaven program.
“Yes, he violated probation one time,” Stone admitted. “There’s nothing here to say he was doing anything but being an addict.”
Hoovler disagreed with Stone’s assessment. “It’s sort of absurd to be limited to the fact that if you get community control, they’re always sentenced to community control,” he said.
Stone, however, believed community control sanctions were exactly what was appropriate for someone going through the rehabilitation process and who had been deemed safe for the community.
Leuthold took both agreements into consideration, but used a post-sentence investigation and police reports from the Crestline and Ontario police departments to add weight to his decision. The judge determined that Kegley had a history of criminal behavior dating back to 1995 when he was charged with criminal damaging after slashing tires in the Wendy’s parking lot near the Richland Mall. The pivotal moment for Leuthold, however, was when Crestline police charged Kelgey with marijuana possession in 2013 and placed him on community control for two years.
That probation period continued into 2014 when Kegley was charged with three new felonies. Though he received community control for the 2014 case and underwent a drug and alcohol assessment, Leuthold said the report showed no apparent substance abuse problems and Kegley denied using in a follow-up meeting.
Leuthold also used the Maryhaven documents provided by Stone to poke holes in Kegley’s claims.
“It appears Mr. Kegley said and did the right things at Maryhaven,” Leuthold said, pointing out the counseling attendance and perfect record.
Leuthold saw red flags in the report, however, especially when drug tests proved inconclusive due to diluted urine and out-of-range creatine, indicators that something “hinky” was going on, the judge said. Out of six tests, one was negative for drugs while the other five displayed out-of-range creatine numbers.
Given one last chance to speak, Stone said he felt the court already made the decision to sentence Kegley to prison, a verdict he believed was premature. He thought the judge did not take into account other sanctions available.
“It was the offense of addiction,” Stone disputed, hinting that Kegley was being punished simply for being an addict.
Kegley was also given a chance to speak, stating that he enrolled in various drug addiction programs while in prison and attended the Alpha 12 Step Recovery Program with Margie Maddox.
“I had water in my system for Maryhaven,” Kegley said in an explanation for why his urine would appear diluted and would provide unusual creatine numbers. “I gained 36 pounds when I quit using, I drank a lot of water. That’s my goal. I don’t want to use.”
Leuthold questioned whether Kegley’s community control should be continued and ultimately decided it should not be.
“I think it’s important to note these crimes (the community control violations) were the exact same behavior of the crime he committed in the first place,” Leuthold said. “I do believe a prison sentence is appropriate in this case.”
Taking into account Kegley’s record, his actions while on community control, the facts in the underlying crimes, and the need to protect the public from future crime, Leuthold sentenced Kegley to a total of 67 months in prison for violating his community control.
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