Pubdate: Thu, 14 Aug 2014
Source: Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
Copyright: 2014 The Plain Dealer
Contact: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/letter-to-editor/
Website: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342
Note: priority given to local letter writers
Author: Jeremy Pelzer

DAVID PEPPER WANTS MORE DRUG DEALERS TO GO TO PRISON: HERE ARE THE
HIGHLIGHTS

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Democratic attorney general candidate David Pepper
on Wednesday backed a proposal that would give judges more leeway to
sentence low-level felons to prison time instead of probation.

Pepper, speaking at Ohio Democratic Party headquarters in Columbus,
urged legislators to roll back a law that requires judges in most
cases to offer probation to non-violent, first offenders charged with
fourth- and fifth-degree felonies.

The Cincinnati attorney was joined Rep. Nick Barborak, the Lisbon
Democrat sponsoring House Bill 251, and local police union president
Jason Pappas.

Here are our takeaways:

1. The bill has stalled in the Ohio House

Barborak introduced HB 251 nearly a year ago, but the measure still
hasn't come to the House floor for a full vote.

Democratic legislation usually doesn't go very far in the
GOP-dominated legislature, but this bill has two House Republican
co-sponsors: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Butler of Oakwood
and Margaret Conditt of Liberty Township.

Barborak said he was "curious" why the bill hasn't moved, though he
said he was confident it would be voted on before the legislative
session ends in December.

2. The legislation comes as Ohio's prison population nears record
high

One possible reason for the legislative holdup is that the state's
prisons chief has warned against sending more people to already
crowded prisons.

The state's prison population is nearing the record high of 51,273,
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Gary Mohr said in
written legislative testimony late last year. Mohr said he couldn't
support the bill unless other ways were found to limit the number of
people put behind bars.

Pepper agreed that prison crowding needs to be addressed, but in other
ways besides forcing judges to sentence low-level felons to probation.

"What I don't want to do is alleviate the jail population by letting
literally dealers off the hook who are selling drugs that are killing
our people," Pepper said.

3. Supporters say changes needed because of Ohio's heroin
epidemic

Pepper said many prosecutors have told him that the law needs to be
changed because drug dealers are gaming the system to avoid prison
time.

Dealers, he said, "know that if they keep under 49 units [of heroin
for] that first-time offense, they're not going to go to prison --
they're simply going to get probation."

Barborak said dealers who are released on probation aren't likely to
stop selling drugs.

"And so, they wind up in prison eventually anyway, but it's only after
they further victimize our communities and after they clog up the
local court systems that they make their way into the state prison
system," he said.
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