In the month of June, the Clarke County Attorney’s Office prosecuted one jury trial. The Office attended several depositions. One of the recent frustrating recurring themes has been domestic assault cases which are all too prevalent. These cases seem to follow a sad pattern where the two people living together in a romantic relationship get into violent altercations with each other call law enforcement to the scene. One frustrating aspect is that soon after the violence, the alleged victim romantically reunites with the alleged perpetrator and then the victim actively undermines the prosecution that they themselves initiated. They seem all too willing to obstruct justice and risk prosecution themselves by refusing to cooperate or by committing ridiculously obvious perjury such as recanting the allegations with incredible stories. If the victim has been threatened or intimidated, the victim reluctance would not be surprising. It seems, however, that the failing is not in protecting the alleged victim after the assault. Instead, the parties, at least in recent experience, demonstrate a shocking willingness to defy judicial orders and break the law by violating no-contact orders to spend romantic time together. Another of the many frustrating realities of this cycle of violence is that the physical altercations and injuries tend to escalate in severity. This office recently handled a case that went from yelling, to bruises, to a head split open that had to be stapled shut at the hospital. In that case, as in most of them, the events happened in front of a crying child. If someone is being abused or victimized we need to do everything we can to help them. However, it can become counterproductive to the judicial system and very costly to the tax payers when the public is required to referee a violent romantic relationship that the parties willfully choose to continuously reinstitute. Rather than becoming cynical and accepting of this dysfunctional phenomenon and its cycle of violence, I hope we can make some positive impact and reduce the violence by whatever degree possible.
In terms of May’s workload, 6 Felony cases came in and 5 were disposed. Felony cases are the most serious of criminal cases. The State’s case tracking system reflects total of 81 pending felony cases for Clarke County (an increase by one).
Indictable misdemeanors are misdemeanor crimes that are punishable by more than a year but no more than two years of incarceration. Misdemeanor crimes are categorized as Aggravated, Serious, and Simple. Aggravated Misdemeanors are the most serious misdemeanors and can be punished by up to two years in prison. Serious Misdemeanor crimes are punishable by up to one year in the County Jail. Simple Misdemeanor crimes are punishable by up to 30 days in the county jail. As you can imagine, fines increase with the severity of the crime.
In June, 16 indictable Misdemeanors came in and 15 were disposed. The State’s case tracking system reflects that the pending number remains at 198 cases.
In June, 291 Simple Misdemeanors came in and 310 were disposed. The State’s case tracking system reflects that the number of pending Simple Misdemeanors is now down from 583 to 564.
In June, the Clarke County Attorney’s Office Juvenile Case Load included 30 new Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) cases with 22 disposed. The State’s case tracking system reflects 68 CINA cases.
In June 3 Juvenile Delinquency cases came in and none were disposed. The State’s case tracking system remains steady at 16 Juvenile Delinquency cases.