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+--- Thread: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor (/showthread.php?tid=9513)
Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - Rob Tucker - 11-16-2011
Mitch Roth intends to run for prosecutor in 2012.
Born in Los Angeles in 1964, Roth came to Hawaii in 1983 to attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After graduating, he taught English in Japan before returning to Los Angeles to attend Whittier Law School returning to Hawaii in 1993.
Mitch has 18 years as Deputy Prosecutor starting in Honolulu and then, at the invitation of former prosecutor Jay Kimura, joined the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s office in 1998.
Roth views domestic violence as one of the roots of crime. Among his many efforts in that area, he has served as the interagency coordinator for the Domestic Violence Interagency Team for Hawaii Island, and he was named the Advocate of the Year in 2002 for his dedicated work in domestic violence.
Mitch was the first Community Oriented Prosecutors in the State of Hawaii and is currently one of the nations longest standing Community Prosecutors. As a community-oriented prosecutor, Roth has been instrumental in proactive measures to build community capacity to deal with crime and other social problem including the Department of Health’s I-Files community initiative, the County’s Healing Our Island mini grant project, and the Prosecutor’s Community Empowerment Organization project.
In 2003, he initiated the first successful civil drug nuisance abatement action to remove drug dealers from a downtown Hilo building. He later used the same law to remove a drug dealer in Pahoa. The success of these efforts led the State Legislature to create a drug nuisance abatement team in the State Department of the Attorney General.
In 2005, Roth helped get Pahoa designated as a federal Weed and Seed site, with the mission of weeding out crime and seeding in positive social change. The Pahoa Weed and Seed project has been highlighted in national community policing training for Weed and Seed projects.
Among the many community initiatives and projects that Roth helped establish while in Honolulu were the Community Coalition for Neighborhood Safety & Honolulu’s First Weed and Seed project . He also received the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Award of Excellence.
Since 1996, Roth has been an instructor for the Western Community Policing Institute, and served as board chair. He has been recognized as one of the top instructors in Community Policing, and is frequently invited to present in other states.
Another community focus for Roth is traffic safety. He is the chair of the State of Hawai‘i’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan whose goal is to reduce traffic fatalities. He was also on the Ignition Interlock task force that helped pass the law requiring person convicted of driving under the influence to have an in car breathalyzer installed before driving. He was instrumental in bringing the Shattered Dreams alcohol prevention program to High Schools on the Big Island.
In 2001, Roth was instrumental in starting the Visitors Aloha Society of Hawaii (VASH) on the Big Island. This organization helps visitors who have been victims of crime or other traumatic incidences while on our island. Over the last 10 years he has served as board president and is currently a board member.
Mitch’s commitment to the community of Hawaii Island extends well beyond the legal realm. Among his many activities, Roth has served on the YMCA Corporate Board, Turning Point for Families Board, the Boards for the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Island the State Highway Safety Committee and the Healing our Island grant committee He has served as the PTA president at Waiakeawaena as well as the Cub Master for Pack 65. He is currently on the boards Crime Stoppers, VASH, Citizens Corp., and the State Strategic Safety Highway Plan.
Roth has also received awards from the Rotary for Outstanding and Distinguished Service, Mothers Against Drunk Driving for Outstanding Service, Turning Point for Families’ Advocate of the year, and the Olo Pono Award.
He and his wife, Noriko, have three children (Anne 12, Aaron 14 and Alexandra 17), two enrolled in Hilo public schools and the third, a graduate of Waiakea High, is currently studying at Nanzan University in Japan as an international exchange student through the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
(Submitted by Mitch Roth.)
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - missydog1 - 01-29-2012
Mitch Roth has impressed me in every way. In addition to all of his obvious qualifications, he is easy and unpretentious to talk to, thinks fast, sharply, and flexibly, and has a mind that can see all the angles, including out of the box. I think these are valuable and unusual qualities in our civil service.
Too many people appear to listen, but really they are just waiting out your interruption so that they can go back to saying what they had already decided. Too many people in these positions become nearly automatic in their responses, and have a habit of simply quoting policy. Mitch is different.
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - JerryCarr - 01-29-2012
Is there some reason Mr. Roth can't post for himself? I'm not saying that to be snide, but I would like to address my questions to the candidate, rather than Rob, who posted for him.
My biggest question as someone who has been very concerned about crime on the Big Island and active in Neighborhood Watch is this:
Is Mr. Roth prepared to vigorously prosecute every serious criminal case regardless of the accused's connections, position, or family protestations of hardship, difficult past, etc. I ask this because I have seen plea bargains that I consider to be excessive in both number and leniency. There has been a tendency for circular blaming and finger pointing among the police, the prosecutors, and the judges. I have communicated with all three, and the circle goes something like this: The police blame the prosecutors for not making a good case or not being aggressive enough. The prosecutors blame some unspecified and unsanctioned fault in the evidence provided by the police. The judges just shrug and say, "What can I do with this?" while refusing to exercise their right to reject the plea bargains that result from this mess as against the interest of justice.
So Mr. Roth, are you ready to break the cycle? All that stuff about domestic violence, drug nuissance, and traffic safety is nice, but what about high ranking Fire Department officers (and others) who kill innocent people while DUI, leave the scene, lie about it, blame someone else, and then get to serve a very light sentence on weekends? What about that?
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - Rob Tucker - 01-29-2012
I talked to Mitch the other day and told him I would be setting up a forum for the election year this next week.... so he may be awaiting notice from me.
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - robguz - 01-31-2012
My only question for him is if there is a case in which someone with a 4th DUI slams into and kills a person, drags the body a block, then drives home drunk with the moped under his van, will he refuse to plea bargain on such a slam dunk case and instead try to get the most severe sentence possible? If so, he's got my vote. Will he also follow the will of the voters and make prosecution of marijuana only charges the lowest priority and refuse to prosecute for simple possession?
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - Mitch Roth - 01-31-2012
Aloha Mr. Carr,
Thank you for your question regarding my being prepared to vigorously prosecute every serious criminal case regardless of the accused's connections, position, or family protestations of hardship, difficult past, etc. The simple answer is YES. I do not believe that a criminal's connections should allow one an out of criminal prosecution.
However, a simple yes is the easy answer. The more complete answer requires a discussion about the burden of proof and plea bargains. In every criminal case the State (Prosecutor) has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. All prosecutors have an ethical duty not to charge cases that they do not believe can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a national burden and not a local one. The burden for the police to make an arrest is probable cause, a lesser standard than beyond a reasonable doubt. There are many reasons a case sent to our office may not meet the higher burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and thus do not get charged.
This being said, I have been one of the more aggressive deputies in our office when it comes to charging cases. On more than one occasion I have been told, "You charge it, you try it." In one those, you charge it you try it cases, the Defendant received a consecutive sentence of 130 years. I have also actively reviewed cases declined by other deputies and charged those cases.
Will I allow plea bargains? YES , But why?
Our office receives thousands of cases every year. We have 2 Circuit Court Judges in Hilo, 2 District Court Judges and 2 Family Court Judges in Hilo. In Kona we have less. These judges hear Civil and Criminal Cases. A single jury trial can last a week or several months. Currently there is a civil trial going on that may last a couple more months. Doing the math you can see that the system cannot handle a trial in every case. For this single reason plea bargains are a necessary evil.
Another reason for plea bargains is that our prisons are overcrowded. Every time we put a prisoner in a prisoner comes out on the other end. Thus we have to be smart about who we put in prison.
In another post, there was a reference to a recent case I handled where a moped rider was dragged by a drunk driver. The poster mistakenly stated the driver had 3 previous convictions for DUI. In fact the driver did not have any previous convictions. That Defendant was sentenced to a 10 year prison term.
There are several other reasons for plea bargains that go beyond the clutter in the system. These include to honor the wishes of victims and their families, to protect victims, justice itself, etc.
Crime is generally a symptom of other issues. Too often we approach crime issues by looking to courts, prosecutors and police as the only solution. I often tell people that if your only tool is a hammer, all your problems are nails. I applaud you in getting involved with neighborhood watch, time and time again I have seen community groups like yours as the most effective law enforcement tool in solving community problems.
Thank you for your questions.
With Aloha,
Mitch Roth
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - JerryCarr - 02-02-2012
Thank you, Mr. Roth, for responding, but I would ask the favor of some further clarification:
I understand that there are circumstances where plea bargains are in the interest of justice, and I did not mean to imply that they are always a bad idea. I do believe, however, that there have been too many with lenient sentences in Hawaii County, some in particularly noteworthy cases.
While you did provide what was, to me, clarification for the case quoted by Punawebber robguz, you did not address my example of the fire captain who killed while DUI, left the scene, lied about it, and got to serve a very lenient sentence on weekends. Please give us your point of view on this particular case.
In your response you say: "Another reason for plea bargains is that our prisons are overcrowded."
Well the folks who run private prisons in Arizona and elsewhere will gladly add beds to continue to handle our overflow. So overcrowding doesn't really impress me as a justification for plea bargains. For better or worse, the State has chosen to handle it on the mainland. Funding is more of an issue than space, but people who belong in prison need to be there, and we have to foot the bill, whether it's here or elsewhere.
You also mention the "congestion" in the Courts as another reason for plea bargains. The County Prosecutor is an elected official. As an elected official, it is part of the job to establish good working relationships with other elected officials who are in a position to expand the number of judges/courts. I suggest that you begin this process now by proposing concrete measures that would reduce the congestion.
Accountability for judges and the police is also an issue, but I don't expect you to deal with that on your own . . . at least not at this stage of things.
Again, thanks for responding. I await your reply to my follow-up.
Respectfully,
Jerry
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - punaticbychoice - 02-02-2012
Good Jerry, thank you.
Answers needed.
In advance, thank you Mitch.
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - Mitch Roth - 02-03-2012
Aloha Jerry,
Thank you again for your questions. They bring up some excellent points.
Just prior to being admitted to the Hawaii Bar, I was working at the Honolulu Prosecutors in the Legislative Unit. One of my jobs was to track legislative bills and to monitor how we, as law enforcement were doing. What I noticed was that Law Enforcement was successful at the legislature about 25 percent of any hearing. Most bills go through several hearings before they become law and can be held or die at any one hearing. During this time there was a bill being submitted that would make all Class A felony offenders eligible for probation. What did this mean? Class A Felonies are the most serious felonies below murder in the State. They included Robbery with a Deadly instrument, Rape with Force, Kidnapping, and Child Pornography. It also included some drug offenses, but at that time they were already eligible for probation. Why would they make these crimes eligible for probation? To me it was a lack of common sense, however, the official reason was a lack of prison space.
At that time I helped found a group called the Community Coalition for Neighborhood Safety (CCFNS). This group was comprised of community and neighborhood watch citizens. We created a petition and brought it to our state legislators. The petition, for the most part, said: "We the concerned citizens of the State of Hawaii believe that people who: Forcefully Rape our family members, use deadly instruments to steal from our persons, Kidnap and injure our family members or force our children into pornography, should be sent to prison and not be afforded the privilege of probation." The CCFNS got nearly 10,000 people to sign this petition and when the bill came up we went to the legislature with the petition. The bill was successfully killed.
During the first couple of years of its existence, whenever the CCFNS came to the legislature to argue for a law enforcement bill they were successful in their position 100 percent of the time. Remember, law enforcement (police and prosecutors) was successful only about 25 percent of the time.
While the Prosecutor is an elected position, the position has a limited ability to convince other leaders to decide how to spend money. However, you are correct, the prosecutor needs to create good working relationships to expand the number of judges and prison spaces. These relationships extend farther than just the formal leaders. I believe in the statement made by Sir Robert Peel that "The police are the public and the public are the police, with the police being the only members of society that are paid to do what is incumbent upon every citizen." In other words, we are all leaders and we all share the responsibility of convincing our elected officials to expand the number of prison spaces and number of judges.
Do I have some concrete ideas to combat congestion problem? You bet I do. We currently have technology to effectively have "house arrests" with electronic monitoring. While we still need to lock certain people up in prisons, there are many we can lock up in their own homes at their own expense. This expense should include the electronic monitoring devices as well.
As you may be aware, we have recently started requiring people with DUI offenses to install ignition interlock devices (in car breathalysers) in their car. These instruments prevent people from starting their car if they have a certain level of alcohol in their blood system. I am proud to say that I worked on the task force to enact this law. I am also proud to say that it has been working. Last year, its first year in effect, the interlock devices prevented over 4200 alcohol positive starts. Who pays for the devices, the offender.
Other ideas to reduce congestion are to work and support prison reentry programs. Currently we have a revolving door with recidivism rates over 50 percent. That means that more than half of the people we are prosecuting are going back and committing more crimes. One needs to look no further than Puna to find, what I believe to be one of the most successful prison reentry programs around. This program does not hail itself as a prison reentry program, but for all intensive purposes it acts as one. It takes men, most of whom are formerly addicted to drugs and alcohol,and gives them a support system and the ability to help themselves by helping others. This group takes no government funds and does not charge the men who join. I am of course talking about the Men of Pa'a. While they are not successful 100 percent of the time, they have a very low recidivism rate because they police themselves and hold their members accountable.
Another way to reduce the congestion is by focusing resources and improving the communication in the criminal justice system. This includes focusing on the persistent offenders and addressing the roots of crime.
As to the specific case that you mentioned, it is difficult for me to answer that question at this time (a furlough Friday morning at 6:30 a.m.), as I do not have all the facts to either justify why or criticize why the person got the sentence he received. Generally, my feeling is that if you kill someone while driving under the influence, no matter who you are, you should be sentenced to a prison term. In our State, at this time, the law is Negligent Homicide in the the First Degree, a Class B Felony, and carries a possible 10 year prison sentence. Whether 10 years is a long enough sentence is another topic.
I hope this answers some of your concerns.
With Aloha,
Mitch Roth
RE: Mitch Roth running for County Prosecutor - opihikao - 02-03-2012
Thank you for your response to the question Mr. Carr asked regarding the fire captain case. When do you think you will be able to fully address the concern raised?
It would be good to hear what your suggestions and changes would be to ensure harsher penalty when (for example) one drives drunk and kills someone, leaves the scene, lies to police in a negligent homicide/etc. investigation, and serves nowhere near a ten year sentence due to plea agreement. For God's sake, he served time on weekends, kept his job for a while, got a promotion, and got 90 days (which wasn't even fully served)?!?!?!
In my opinion, such a travesty of justice, one of the worst in our County's history. The "vagaries of the law" continue to afford the criminals more rights than the victims. It's as bad as a child molester several years ago (admitted over 100 times per victim; 2 victims) here in our County receiving a one (1) year sentence, and serving 3 months. Just unbelievable!
Thank you for your continued efforts in search of justice for victims of crimes. The obvious lack of stringent laws that protect the public need changing (and/or clarity) in order to afford the Prosecutor's office the tools required to convict criminals onced charged with an offense.
I look forward to hearing your response, and thank you again for your dedication to our community. Count on my support if you enact changes that will not allow criminals to walk among us so easily.