COURTS Judge assesses success of amnesty program

They had hoped for more than the 48 cases they handled in four sessions.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Forty-eight people appeared in four municipal court sessions to take advantage of the amnesty program that ended Thursday evening, with half of them showing up in the final session.
On Friday, Judge Terry F. Ivanchak, the court's administrative judge, rated the program as "marginally successful at best," and his colleague, Judge Thomas P. Gysegem rated it as "moderately successful."
The program was offered to people wanted on bench warrants for nonpayment of fines or court costs or failure to appear in court. It applied only to people charged with traffic or nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, and it did not expunge the original offenses with which they were charged.
The evening amnesty court sessions began slowly with 11 defendants showing up Sept. 27, four Sept. 29, and nine Tuesday, but it ballooned to 24 people appearing Thursday for the final session. The oldest cases on which defendants appeared in amnesty court went back to 1992 and 1998.
Limited satisfaction
To the extent that the program helps some defendants, "We find it to be successful," Judge Ivanchak said. "At this point, there's no plan to extend it," he said, adding that there are no plans to repeat it.
For the amnesty program to be repeated, both judges would have to agree to do so, Judge Gysegem said.
Judge Ivanchak said he was surprised at Thursday's large turnout. Some defendants may initially have suspected that the program might be a sting in which they'd be jailed but later realized it wasn't, the judge speculated concerning the low early turnout.
Then, on Thursday, the procrastinators came, he theorized. "It's like people filing on the last day for taxes," he said.
"I had hoped for more cases, but we were happy to get done what we did. We did save the taxpayers some money. We did take care of some people that I think really wanted to get right with us," Judge Gysegem said. "I'm glad that we did it. It was definitely worth doing. It was something that we needed to do."
Those who could have participated in the program but didn't may have been unaware of it, or didn't think they qualified -- or didn't trust the judicial system, he surmised.
Bench warrants
As of Friday, the court had 4,040 outstanding bench warrants, and bench warrants had been issued for $519,599 in fines and court costs still owed to it, according to Margaret Scott, clerk of courts.
The amnesty program had multiple purposes. Participants avoided being arrested and jailed on bench warrants, possibly over a long weekend, until the next court date. The court collected some money owed to it, and the city avoided paying $68 a day to house people arrested on bench warrants in Trumbull County Jail. The amount of money collected was not available Friday.
Another purpose was to protect the public from dangerous motor vehicle pursuits that can result when people facing arrest on bench warrants flee police.
Unless they're resolved in an amnesty court, bench warrants are outstanding for an unlimited time until the defendant is arrested, Judge Ivanchak said.
milliken@vindy.com