COURT WATCHERS KEEP TABS ON CLAY COUNTY DRUG CASES

Group Tries To Hold System Accountable

MANCHESTER, Ky. -- For more than a year, John Becknell has spent
nearly 15 hours every week painstakingly taking notes in the front
row of Clay County courtrooms. He is one of about 70 people who have
volunteered to monitor drug cases that pass through the courts, with
the goal of holding prosecutors and judges accountable in the face of
Clay County's epidemic drug problem.

"We're asking the courts to stand up and be accountable," said
Becknell, 57, retired owner of a commercial refrigeration business.
"I think what we're doing can bring about a lot of change." Becknell
and his "court watchers" track every local drug and alcohol case
through a database and plan to issue periodic reports. The first
report, published in January in the Manchester newspaper, summarized
835 felony and misdemeanor cases during a three-month period the
previous summer. The report made no recommendations or conclusion
about how cases were handled. Becknell said the next report will
analyze why cases are dismissed and how the court system deals with
repeat offenders. And for Becknell, the work is personal. His two
sons' struggles with drugs left him wondering whether prosecutors and
judges in Clay County were doing all they could to get offenders help
or put them in jail. The county's court system last year handled more
cocaine cases than any other Eastern Kentucky county, according to
state court records. "My experience, motivation and passion come from
my family situation," Becknell said. "My family and friends have been
touched by devastation. I don't want to see any more lives
destroyed." "I perceived an attitude in the court system that alcohol
and marijuana cases aren't taken very seriously," he said. "I know
marijuana is a gateway drug." Some police, judges and prosecutors
said the volunteer group, Court Watch of Clay County, has helped
increase the civic-mindedness of citizens. But other prosecutors and
some defense lawyers dismiss the court watchers as vigilantes,
question their tactics and wonder whether they influence jury
decisions by their presence in courtrooms. Pro and con Clay District
Judge Renee Muncy said the added scrutiny prompted her to hold fewer
bench conferences so the court watchers and other members of the
public could follow proceedings more easily. "The public is finally
taking notice of the court system," Muncy said. "It's important for
the public to know what's happening in court." She said she recently
asked Becknell to evaluate her performance on the bench. Stephan
Charles, a Manchester defense lawyer, believes the court watchers'
monitoring of cases can hinder a jury's ability to remain impartial
and unbiased. He recently filed a motion asking Clay Circuit Judge
Cletus Maricle for permission to ask prospective jurors about whether
the program affected their views on drugs and the court system.
Charles was representing a defendant in a drug case who ended up
pleading guilty before trial and was sentenced to three years in a
diversion program. Charles could not be reached for comment. Maricle
said he approved the motion but didn't find that prospective jurors
were predisposed to find drug suspects guilty because of monitoring.
The defendant, Joe Bunch, couldn't be reached for comment. More
jurors? The court watchers include students, business owners, farmers
and retired police officers.

They range in age from 20 to 73. Most have high school educations or
higher. Maricle and Clay Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Gregory said
the work of the court watchers has increased the number of
college-educated and employed people willing to sit on juries.

Fewer are trying to be excused from jury duty, he said. Said Gregory,
"They have set an example of conduct." But Gregory said he has had
difficulty making the court watchers understand why he dismisses some
cases. "It hurts me that sometimes I can't explain to them the
rationale of why something did or didn't happen," Gregory said. He
said he has struggled at times to explain the finer points of rules
about when evidence can and cannot be used and the difficult judgment
calls he has to make about whether to dismiss a case or offer a plea
bargain. Becknell admitted his group has grappled with some court
intricacies, including understanding what is meant by a dismissal
"without prejudice." It means the case can be brought up again with
new evidence. Becknell said he hopes his next report will provide an
analysis of the prosecutor's performance -- showing how many cases
were dismissed and why. "He's said he wants to work with us on this,"
Becknell said of Gregory. "We're not out to make enemies." 'Church
watchers'? Deno Gray, 46, a Manchester shop owner, said the court
watchers have helped the county confront an epidemic. "There is a
desperate need for that in this county," said Gray, who is not a
court watcher because he operates his dry-cleaning business alone.
But Rick Whitehead, a local assistant prosecutor, wrote a satirical
article in the same newspaper that published Becknell's findings,
proposing a program called "church watch." "We would go down to the
church and see who was there and who was not on Sunday morning,"
Whitehead wrote. "We would count who prayed when the preacher did and
who kept their eyes open and looked around." Asked last month about
the group, Whitehead said, "The jury is still out." Whitehead said
the group will be doing a public service only if it educates the
public about how the court system works. "If they explain why certain
things are happening in the courts, I think they'll lose all that
vigilanteism," Whitehead said. "If they don't, then they've enhanced
their vigilanteism." Doug Abner, pastor of Manchester Community
Church, part of a regional anti-drug coalition of some 60 churches,
rejects Whitehead's criti-cism but admits that churches bear some
responsibility for the drug problem.

"We sat behind our stained-glass windows and let a lot happen," said
Abner, who is also a court watcher. "But I think we've instilled some
hope now." Anti-drug rally not enough The idea for court watch grew
out of a May 2004 anti-drug rally in Manchester where an estimated
3,500 people marched in the rain to express their anger and anguish
over the county's drug problem. Becknell was there as a member of
Christians for a Drug-Free Clay County, the church coalition that
organized the event. "The rally was a great thing, but I was
convinced that we needed to confront the problem everywhere it
existed," Becknell said. Becknell met with Operation UNITE, a
federally funded anti-drug task force based in Hazard, and together
they conceived the idea for the court-watch program. At the next
meeting of the church coalition, Becknell asked for volunteers, and
several dozen signed up, including Margaret Davidson. Once a month,
Davidson takes a day off from her family-owned Davidson Insurance
Agency in Manchester to help track cases in district court. "I wanted
to get involved, because I was concerned about what drugs were doing
to our community," said Davidson, whose daughter also comes to court
during her college breaks. "This is the only way to know how the
court system is working." Operation UNITE sponsors the program and
has purchased equipment for the group, including a portable computer,
which contains the database of cases and weekly schedule for each
court watcher. Karen Engle, executive director of Operation UNITE,
said Becknell has helped set up similar programs in other Eastern
Kentucky counties. Based on the Clay County model, court-watch
programs are now operating in Bell, Pulaski, Knox and Martin
counties. Becknell travels around the region with a training manual
and PowerPoint presentation that advises would-be court watchers to
sit in the front of the courtroom, dress professionally, and take
notes on each case directly on a copy of the court docket for
accuracy. Personal toll Becknell said effective courts and treatment
facilities would help drug addicts and abusers beat their problem. "I
don't want to see any more lives destroyed," he said. Becknell's
younger son, Garrard, 30, has an arrest record that includes one
felony and three misdemeanor charges, including an arrest this summer
for possession of a controlled substance and public intoxication. His
trial is set for Nov 7.

Becknell's older son, also named John, 33, is recovering from cocaine
and prescription drug addiction with help from a pastor. He is
married and works as a heating and cooling service technician. He
said he understands his father's involvement in the court-watch
program. "The stuff my family went through got him to where he is
now," the younger John Becknell said. "Sometimes in southeastern
Kentucky, you have good ol' boy clubs, but people are waking up to that now."