LOCAL CRIME 'MIND-BOGGLING,' GRAND JURY FINDS

Members of a Chatham County grand jury who spent three months hearing
presentations from police and prosecutors were frightened at the
extent of the crime they saw close up, they said in a report issued last week.

"As weeks passed, it was mind-boggling to hear about young men,
mostly African-American, involved with gangs, guns and high-speed
auto chases," foreman William P. Franklin Jr. wrote in the report's
cover letter.

"Where there are drugs, there are usually well-armed, mean-spirited
miscreants who have little or no regard for our lives, let alone their own.

"We were frightened by the level of violence and the callous
disregard for life displayed by so many of these young, and the
operative word is young, men we indicted," Franklin wrote.

He said grand jurors were "alarmed" at how well-armed the suspects
were and how ready they were to use their weapons "in furtherance of
drug trafficking and violent behavior."

The grand jury is made up of 23 citizens who sit for three months,
meeting each Wednesday to hear presentations from prosecutors and
police officers seeking indictments in a variety of criminal cases.

At the end of each three-month grand jury term, the jurors file what
is called a term presentment. Few of them in recent years, however,
have been as pointed as the one Franklin sent to Chatham County
Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann.

Franklin, who is a veteran trial attorney, said the grand jurors were
"constantly amazed" by the number of repeat offenders. In part, they
blamed judges' sentences, which the report said were "many times far
too lenient."

"If we learned anything by our service, it is that our criminal
justice system is a revolving door through which a steady stream of
felons pass, only to be returned to the street, where they
immediately pick up where they left off," Franklin's report stated.

'Be selective'

In the same report, Franklin said he was approached by one
unidentified judge "who encouraged me as foreperson to be selective
in our indictments and to weed out the meritless cases that clog the
court docket."

And, Franklin reported, assistant prosecutors at times told grand
jurors "it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a
conviction based upon the available evidence."

"That led us to question why the district attorney's office was
presenting a case in which it felt the chances of obtaining a
conviction were somewhere between slim and none," he wrote.

But the report gave high marks to the "professionalism and
dedication" of the assistant district attorneys and the police
officers who appeared before the grand jury.

Jurors singled out the work of the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics
Team, which "in fact drew applause from us on several occasions. The
sophisticated work performed by the Counter Narcotics Team makes what
we see on 'CSI' and 'Law & Order' look like kid's stuff."

Unparalleled view

Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Chief Michael Berkow said
Saturday that grand jurors gained unique insight into the "day-to-day
work of the criminal justice system."

"I'm glad they saw some good police work," Berkow said after
reviewing the report. "We share some of their observations they made
on violent, armed criminals and recidivism.

"They saw some of the results of our focus - the arrest of violent,
armed criminals."

Berkow said many of the cases the grand jurors heard stemmed from
arrests made several month ago.

"We would concur, there are far too many guns in the wrong hands,"
the police chief said.

Berkow further noted the high level of repeat offenders, saying
police authorities are seeing violent offenders getting what seem to
be very long prison terms, then being released far earlier.

He said the Savannah Impact Program is a direct response to help
those leaving prison to re-adjust to society.

That problem, in fact, might be more related to the state's prison
capacity, and he cited Georgia's "very strong set of laws" and
judges' efforts to enforce them.

"We do seem to see an extreme number of people getting out of prison
and re-offending," Berkow said.

District attorney gratified

District Attorney Spencer Lawton Jr. said he was pleased to see
Franklin's comments.

"I'm particularly impressed with his emphasis on the insidious
influence of drugs and violence in the community," Lawton said. "It's
something we know is a problem, but it is a help to be reminded by
someone like him who has seen the problem close up."

Lawton said he was "particularly pleased" with the supportive
language in the report concerning CNT.

"I agree with him entirely," Lawton said.

He also expressed confidence that problems of drugs and violence in
the community "beginning now" would be more effectively addressed
under new leadership at the police department and within CNT "than at
any time in recent memory."