Fact finder: Move cases more quickly

The average time between arraignment and case disposition was 186 days.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County sheriff needs to implement an "early warning system" to let common pleas judges know when too much time is elapsing between milestones in inmates' cases, a fact finder says.
Milestones, as defined by Toledo attorney Vincent M. Nathan, are booking, indictment, arraignment, final disposition, sentencing, order to convey to prison and transport to prison. Nathan is acting as special master, a fact finder, for U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. The judge presided over an inmates' class-action lawsuit 10 months ago and found the jail operation to be unconstitutional, mostly because of overcrowding.
Nathan, in a 22-page report to the judge filed Sunday in Akron federal court, relayed the analysis of a random sampling of 187 felony cases for inmates booked in 2003.
Not all defendants spent the entire time between milestones in jail but, overall, spent a substantial number of days in jail during the course of their cases, according to the report.
Attorney's recommendations
Nathan "strongly recommends" in the report that Sheriff Randall A. Wellington contact the common pleas judges and have them identify targeted time limits between milestones. The sheriff should also notify the clerk of courts when it appears too much time is elapsing between judges' orders to convey inmates to state prisons and his receipt of such orders.
Nathan also recommends that Wellington present the early warning system concept to the criminal justice working group for its comments. The group is trying to come up with solutions for the jail situation.
The sheriff said Tuesday that he hadn't seen the report but would obtain a copy from the county prosecutor and review it.
Likewise, Common Pleas Judge Maureen A. Sweeney had not seen the report and would comment after she reviews it, her office said Tuesday. Judge Sweeney represents the common pleas courts with the criminal justice working group.
What group uncovered
Analysis of cases studied, meanwhile, showed just over 186 days, on average, elapsed between arraignment and disposition. At $68 per day to house an inmate, the cost was calculated at $12,673 for the average length of stay per inmate, according to Nathan's report.
The average span between disposition and sentencing per inmate was 77 days. The cost was $5,232 per inmate.
"In addition to exacerbating crowding, unnecessary lengthy stays in jail are very costly," Nathan said. "If the time between the major decision points can be reduced in the cases of incarcerated defendants, the effect will be to reduce jail overcrowding and to conserve limited financial resources."
Nathan said a significant part of the delay before sentencing likely results from time spent preparing a presentencing report. He said Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction officials have indicated a willingness to consider providing assistance to the county in this area.
The average defendant in the study spent 161.5 days in jail, which cost the county $10,984. When multiplied by the 187 defendants studied, the cost was more than $2 million, the report said.
The data used for the report came from the courts' Web site, not the actual case files, and therefore did not lend itself to analysis of specifically why some cases took longer than others, Nathan said. In order to obtain more information -- for example, the extent to which continuances contribute to delays -- the actual court files would need to be reviewed, he said.
He said such a review would be time consuming and expensive.
The report said 8,408 cases were processed through the jail in 2003. Of those, 4,140 listed a misdemeanor as the highest charge; 3,788 had a felony as the highest charge; and 480 listed "other."
The misdemeanor cases were not sampled for study because it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, and would require a major expenditure of time and money, Nathan said in his report. He said there are problems with data collection in Youngstown Municipal Court for misdemeanor cases, partly because of a change in computer programs.
meade@vindy.com