YOUNGSTOWN Stories of city jailer make defendant change his tune

The defendant decided to reach a plea agreement, which canceled a jury trial.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jamar A. Jones' gripes about being locked up for loud music lost volume after he heard stories a jailer told about the evils of disruptive noise.
Jones talked as he leaned on the counter at the police department's old city jail Monday. The fifth floor area serves as a stop for county jail inmates due in municipal court and defendants just sentenced and being prepped for transport to the county lockup.
Jones found it "a little bit ludicrous" that loud music -- his "tunes" -- landed him in jail for 20 days. "There's people out there committing crimes who could be taking my space in jail," he lamented.
Patrolman Rodney Lewis, who had jail duty Monday, fiddled with Jones' paperwork then looked at the young man at the counter.
"Jail's going to be an inconvenience to you, huh?" Lewis asked.
"Yeah," Jones said, fishing stuff from his pockets.
"What do you think you did to the people who had to listen to that loud music?" Lewis wondered.
Jones rolled his eyes, but he listened respectfully.
What officer said
The officer launched into a string of loud-music stories that included a sick child (and the sick child's entire family) awakened by booming music from a car stereo. He also mentioned an elderly woman so startled by loud music as she stood on her porch one day that she had a heart attack and died.
"You're right," Jones said, sheepishly.
Still, Jones believed his punishment was harsh, considering the crime.
Lewis then had a story about people in Los Angeles who lose their "whole cars" because of loud music. Plus, he said, they get jail and a $1,000 fine.
To show firsthand knowledge of the city's loud noise ordinance, Lewis reached back to 1968, when he got caught drag-racing downtown with screaming "glasspacks" (loud mufflers).
Jones, 28, couldn't hide his amusement with the 51-year-old officer's glasspacks adventure.
No-contest plea
The Compton Lane man appeared in municipal court Monday and pleaded no contest to his sixth loud music citation, issued June 5. Since two charges were dismissed in a September 2001 plea agreement, he has four convictions.
Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. found Jones guilty and sentenced him to 60 days in jail, suspended 40, and placed him on one year's probation. Jones must pay a $600 fine by Dec. 1 or do 20 days' worth of community service by then.
Jones had been scheduled for a jury trial. His attorney, Samuel G. Amendolara, though, worked out a plea agreement with Anthony J. Farris, assistant prosecutor, who recommended a 20-day jail sentence.
In October 2000, Jones pleaded no contest to a reduced loud music charge and Judge Douglas fined him $100. In September 2001, Municipal Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly rejected a suggestion to consider each of Jones' next four loud music charges a first offense.
Farris then worked out a plea agreement where two of the charges would be dismissed and Jones pleaded no contest to the remaining two. Judge Kobly accepted the plea agreement. She fined Jones $75 on the first conviction. She fined him $500 on his second conviction, gave him 10 days in jail, which she suspended, and placed him on six months' reporting probation.
meade@vindy.com