02-15-2012, 04:53 PM
First full disclosure: I am supporting Mitch for prosecutor. Second, regardless who wins after 31 years as a criminal defense attorney and deputy prosecutor, on 12/1/12 I am done. I have always believed in full disclosure to the public even if some may believe it hurts future working relationships. There far more than 1 or 2 homicides in this county each year and our sparse police resources continue to working cases from past years which are still not ready for prime time.
In our system, as a practical matter, the prosecutor gets one shot only. I am sure that Jeff Ashton (my classmate) wishes he had another shot at Casey Anthony.
When the police department reports traffic fatalities, read the fine print.
Fatalities on private roads are not counted for statistics.
Now think about how many miles of private roads there are in this county.
Those deaths still must be investigated and when appropriate prosecuted.
Two years in jail as a condition of ten years probation for shooting a son outrageous? Yep. And if the entire prosecutor's case relied upon whether a judge would find a confession admissible when it was taken from a defendant while he was in the hospital, heavily sedated and hooked up to a morphine drip? As Paul Harvey would say now you have the rest of the story.
We have a county with the area size of the state of Connecticut patrolled by fewer than 400 officers. Do the math. The numbers do not work and the results are predictable. When our misguided elected officials approved all of these private subdivisions without the necessary infrastructure what happened is exactly what the naysayers said would happen and we have unacceptable levels of property crimes.
Can Mitch fix it? I don't know. I have known him for 15 Years. He will not lie or sugarcoat the problems. He will rally the community to help him of that I am certain. Can he win? He has a shoestring campaign which makes for long odds but if every person who has called him over the last 15 years out of frustration because nobody else would listen shows up at his modest fundraiser and votes,the race will not be close.
In our system, as a practical matter, the prosecutor gets one shot only. I am sure that Jeff Ashton (my classmate) wishes he had another shot at Casey Anthony.
When the police department reports traffic fatalities, read the fine print.
Fatalities on private roads are not counted for statistics.
Now think about how many miles of private roads there are in this county.
Those deaths still must be investigated and when appropriate prosecuted.
Two years in jail as a condition of ten years probation for shooting a son outrageous? Yep. And if the entire prosecutor's case relied upon whether a judge would find a confession admissible when it was taken from a defendant while he was in the hospital, heavily sedated and hooked up to a morphine drip? As Paul Harvey would say now you have the rest of the story.
We have a county with the area size of the state of Connecticut patrolled by fewer than 400 officers. Do the math. The numbers do not work and the results are predictable. When our misguided elected officials approved all of these private subdivisions without the necessary infrastructure what happened is exactly what the naysayers said would happen and we have unacceptable levels of property crimes.
Can Mitch fix it? I don't know. I have known him for 15 Years. He will not lie or sugarcoat the problems. He will rally the community to help him of that I am certain. Can he win? He has a shoestring campaign which makes for long odds but if every person who has called him over the last 15 years out of frustration because nobody else would listen shows up at his modest fundraiser and votes,the race will not be close.