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‘If we can save one life, isn’t that a success?'
YOUNGSTOWN
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Many people struggling with drug addiction will at some point have a run-in with the law.
For some here in the Valley, that’s been the first step on the road to recovery.
That’s partly because of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Felony Drug Court, run by Judge John M. Durkin.
People with felony indictments who meet certain criteria can plead into the program and get the charge dismissed upon completion.
“Somebody asked me in the very, very beginning, ‘With the expenditure of your time, with the money, and the involvement of all these different agencies and entities, how are you going to define success?’” said Judge Durkin. “And I said, ‘If we can save one life, isn’t that a success?’”
The program, which has 50 to 65 participants at any given time, requires participants to stay in the program for at least one year and get treatment, a job, a driver’s license and a GED or diploma.
Judge Durkin started the program 18 years ago.
“When we first started, the average age of our participant was 35. Ninety-five percent of the people pleading into the program, and I think 95 percent of the people who were indicted for a felony, the felony drug offense involved cocaine or crack,” he said.
“The average age of our participant has now dropped to 23, and 5 percent of the cases we get now are cocaine or crack. Ninety-five percent of the cases that we get are opiates or heroin,” he said.
Not everyone is eligible for the program, nor can it accommodate all the people who are eligible.
Drug trafficking, sex- and weapons-related offenses are excluded, as well as violent offenses. Prior felony convictions do not exclude someone, nor do crimes such as burglary, as long as the victim consents.
Dealing with addiction- related crimes with treatment when possible, Judge Durkin said, is becoming the standard in Ohio.
“Director Gary Mohr from the [Ohio] Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said that under no circumstance will he build another prison in the state of Ohio while he is director, because to do so would cost billions of dollars, and he would rather have the money sent to local communities to afford opportunities like the drug court,” he said.
“The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is telling judges across the state we don’t want felony four and five offenders in prison. We are overcrowded.”
For someone who doesn’t end up in drug court, the first step in sentencing is usually community control, Judge Durkin said.
“The problem is, if there’s an addiction, especially if it’s an addiction to opiates, community control does not afford, in my opinion, enough intensive supervision and treatment,” he said. “So the likelihood is they’re going to get a probation violation.”
At that point, he said, the next likely step would be a residential facility such as the Community Corrections Association.
Judge Durkin says he’s gotten a lot of support from agencies such as the county sheriff and prosecutor’s offices.
“The dealers, we work on putting them away and obviously we participate with Judge Durkin’s drug court,” Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains said. “I’m a big proponent of drug court.”
Some families who have lost loved ones to overdoses have argued for stiffer sentencing for dealers.
“I think that if you get caught selling drugs, none of this slap-on-the-wrist stuff — five years minimum, the first time. If you get convicted of selling drugs a second time — prison for life,” said Donald LoGiudice of Boardman, whose son, Donny, 28, died April 2 from a heroin overdose.
“They’re murderers,” he said.
Gains said his office has had some success with prosecuting drug dealers in overdose cases.
“The dealer is subjecting themselves to a homicide charge, absolutely,” he said. “If we can prove that you sell drugs to me and I overdose, we’re going to charge you with manslaughter.”
Judge Durkin has been tough on drug offenders, too.
“I’ve sent people to prison ... who have come out and thanked me, because you just plant the seed,” he said. “Sometimes even the failures, as you look at them that moment, aren’t necessarily failures.”