Catching fugitives a challenge

By SHANE HOOVER

Repository staff writer

CANTON

Every day, hundreds of accused criminals are free on bond as they wait for trials in Stark County.

Even more defendants have yet to be arrested.

The task of tracking down fugitives has long been an issue for local courts and police. It takes time and resources to serve warrants, and if police don’t try hard enough to find a wanted person, the case can be dismissed.

Cooperation between law enforcement and information-sharing between courts has made it easier to catch fugitives, but local judges, prosecutors and police recognize that it remains a challenge.

The Repository analyzed a snapshot of pending cases – felony cases, along with misdemeanor domestic violence cases – after the shooting death of Zeljka Sekulic in November.

Authorities said her ex-husband, Dragan Sekulic, killed her while he was free on bond after an earlier attack. His release raised questions about how local bonds are set and who is able to get out of jail while awaiting trial.

Of the roughly 700 criminal defendants with pending cases, half were out on bond and another quarter were in jail, the analysis found.

Another quarter – 173 defendants – had yet to be arrested or appear in court.

But that number reflected just some of the criminal defendants wanted by authorities.

The Repository’s initial analysis looked at cases filed in 2014 and 2015. Those were cases that were active in court. But there were hundreds of other cases, no longer on the active docket, in which the defendant had never been arrested. The oldest case dated to 1990.

Of the pre-2014 cases:

389 defendants are at large on 423 cases.

83 percent of the defendants are wanted on a felony.

Three-quarters of those cases are in Canton Municipal Court.

A quarter of the cases are in Massillon Municipal Court.

The 389 defendants are wanted on charges ranging from aggravated burglary, felonious assault and aggravated robbery to drug trafficking, identity theft and passing bad checks and misdemeanor domestic violence. None of them have been arrested or have previously appeared in court on those charges.

“Every case, if it was even one, it would be concerning to me because if that person has been charged with a felony, he needs to be brought to justice,” said Massillon Judge Edward J. Elum.

Like a lot of things in the criminal justice system – jail space, prisoner transport, police staffing – serving warrants comes down to resources.

The responsibility of arresting a wanted person typically falls to the police department that brought the case. Warrants also get entered into a statewide police database, so that if a person is stopped for a traffic violation or arrested in another jurisdiction, the other law enforcement agency knows about the warrant.

Once a warrant is issued, the clock starts ticking.

The statute of limitations on a misdemeanor case is two years. The window to prosecute is six years for many felonies, and 20 years for robbery, burglary, arson and some sex offenses. Murder and aggravated murder don’t have a time limit.

Defendants who are arrested beyond a statute of limitations can seek to dismiss the case. The clock pauses if a defendant purposely avoids prosecution, but police have to show they were diligent in trying to serve the warrant.