Douglas Robinson has been arrested so many times in the last two years – 74 times, to be exact – that social service agencies in the area put him on a list of people they wanted to help the next time he was arrested.
That happened Monday, resulting in a maximum 90-day jail sentence on charges of solicitation and possession of illegal drugs. But when one of the agency people called the jail to make sure Robinson was held, he found that Robinson was already free -- released due to overcrowding, much like the other times he was arrested. Hamilton County’s director of pretrial services, Wendy Niehaus, said it’s frustrating, but that she and her staff understand the difficult position Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis is in as jailer. 'The sheriff has to prioritize,' Niehaus said. 'Is it Douglas that he keeps? Or is the person charged with aggravated robbery? That’s the bottom line.'
But when Robinson is released, it doesn’t improve the situation for anyone, she said. 'He’s part of a marginalized population that sucks up resources, just not the right kind,' Niehaus said. Leis closed 800 jail beds in December 2008 because of budget cuts, reducing the space to hold inmates by a third. Voters have twice rejected tax increases to pay for a new jail or a jail expansion. That means lots of people are released simply because there is not room to keep them and others get out early. Last year more than 20,000 inmates were released because of overcrowding, according to an Enquirer analysis.
Earlier this month Hamilton County Municipal Judge Richard Bernat reported that he walked out of the justice center after conducting a series of bond hearings and saw a person he sentenced to spend 90 days in jail on a theft charge less than an hour earlier. The jail was so full that woman was told to come back in March to serve her time.
Robinson’s criminal history dates to spring 2008, when he was kicked out of a homeless shelter after being accused of theft. Records show the 50-year-old Robinson became a chronic problem downtown. He has been arrested 73 times since, on 153 charges, records show. Mostly he’s arrested for panhandling and trespassing, sometimes also with resisting arrest. Robinson was arrested Tuesday on a charge of possession of drugs and tampering with evidence after Cincinnati police officers say they saw him on Pleasant Street with crack cocaine and a pipe to smoke it.
Hamilton County Municipal Judge Ted Berry was so shocked when he saw Robinson’s record Wednesday that he asked if it was a typographical error. It wasn’t a mistake, courtroom staff assured him. Berry set Robinson’s bond at $9,500. The Enquirer used court records to report that Robinson had been arrested 96 times. A review of his jail stays shows he has been arrested 74 times since May 2008.
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Meanwhile, in Maricopa County, Arizona--they have so much money the Sheriff can voluntarily go into the federal (!) immigration law enforcement business; hire $1000 per hour attorneys to sue the County's other elected officials who in turn hire outside counsel to defend the lawsuits. All the while arresting anyone who looks suspicious. American justice is . . . a crazy shitstorm.
Posts
This blawg was valuable while you were commenting about your own situation. Neither your words nor your thoughts have value except as cautionary tales or otherwise relating back to how you lost your license. You really had me at the beginning, but this forum is not interesting and not valuable if it is only your musings. Seriously, you got slapped so hard that you lost your license. You do not have anything to tell me except how you ended up cast down.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:02--You and I are on the same page. Hang with me a bit, if you will notice, I did allude to some of what is happening in my life when I talked about pedestrian cross walks. And part of why I am a Bad Lawyer relates to the issues that interest me. But, you are correct and I do intend to address a number of things that have just happened including pain and humiliation that is happening and being experienced, NOW, and is only ripe to talk about NOW. Let me point out something statistically as it relates to my blawg....there were 267 posts from August through the end of December when I received the notice of the twenty-four month suspension. In the one month since the suspensio there are 134 posts--manic behavior? A manifestation of denial, depression, distraction, all of the above. Are these responses part of the make up of the attorney who became the Bad Laywer? Uh, huh!
ReplyDeleteIn the next couple of weeks I plan to talk about my efforts to return under the glare of my peers and enemies to place of my crimes. I will talk about trying to get my taxes in compliance in the face of years of neglect. I will talk about the Supreme Court's requirements that I publically prostrate myself if I ever have a prayer of reinstatement 23 months hence. All of that's the come. And as I reenter the workplace the musings of this month will have to be streamlined. So if you continue to look in here, some of what you say interested will return in short order.
Thanks for reading.
BL
suisse bancor parente
ReplyDeletejoe parente- you have yet to post your account of how you cheated a disabled person out of tens of thousands of dollars-remember you said you would handle the case personally, and then referred it to brian oconner sr. did you tell oconner that you cheated a limping disabled
person