STUMBO TACKLES SHOCK PROBATION

Draft Of Bill To Limit Jail Release Requested

A candidate for attorney general plans to seek new limits on shock probation
after hearing a complaint about a judge cutting sentences for drug offenders.

State Rep. Greg Stumbo, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, said he
has asked legislative staffers to draft a bill to limit which offenders are
eligible for the special early-release program and require judges to state
specific reasons for granting it. The bill would also create an opportunity for
prosecutors to appeal shock-probation decisions, Stumbo said.

In seeking shock probation, offenders argue that a stint behind bars -- as
little as 30 days on a felony -- has shocked them into changing their behavior.

However, Stumbo said the law should limit shock probation to the kind of people
that, in theory, it is designed to help -- non-violent offenders with otherwise
clean records.

Stumbo said he decided to propose changes after talking with Beattyville Mayor
Charles Beach III, who expressed concerns over a judge who cut sentences for
several people arrested in a drug roundup in Lee County.

After a lengthy undercover investigation by Beattyville police, 49 people were
charged with drug crimes in December 2001. The Herald-Leader featured that
roundup this year in its "Prescription for Pain" series on prescription-drug
abuse in Eastern Kentucky.

As those cases have slowly made their way through the court system, Circuit
Judge William W. Trude Jr. has reduced the recommended sentences that several
people faced as part of their agreement to plead guilty.

In 10 cases, Trude either sentenced defendants to less time than was outlined
in their plea deal with Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Hall, or placed people on
probation although the plea agreement called for sentences of up to five years,
court records show.

Trude also sentenced two women to five years in prison as outlined in their
plea deals, but then gave them shock probation after they had served about 90
days. Neither woman had a prior felony conviction, though each had at least one
previous felony arrest.

The sentences, while within the judge's discretion, frustrated many people in
Lee County who favor stiff penalties in hopes of making a dent in a serious
drug problem.

"I think the majority of Lee County is disappointed," Beach said.

Hall, the prosecutor, has opposed probation or shock probation in cases from
the drug roundup, arguing that such sentences depreciate the seriousness of the
local drug problem.

Stumbo, who has made fighting drugs a central focus of his campaign, said he
disagreed with granting shock probation to people who had agreed to serve a
prison term as part of a plea deal.

"They knew what they were getting," he said.

Trude could not be reached yesterday. He has denied probation and shock
probation in other cases from the 2001 drug roundup.

But he has also been criticized in Estill County this year for granting shock
probation to two men who earlier served prison sentences for robbery. One,
Harold Durham Jr., had several other arrests on his record.

"If ever a defendant was not a candidate for shock probation, it's Durham," the
Citizen Voice & Times newspaper in Irvine said in an editorial.

Trude granted shock probation to Durham, 36, on two drug cases in May. Then the
judge issued an arrest warrant for Durham in July after a probation officer
said he had failed a drug test for marijuana and been charged in Shelby County
with felony theft, according to court records.

Impact Of Changes In Law

The use of shock probation has gone up significantly in recent years, driven in
part by changes in the law that push judges to consider alternatives to prison.
One reason is to keep cells available, because lawmakers also approved tougher
penalties for some crimes and longer sentences for violent offenders.

In the 4,077 shock-probation cases disposed of in fiscal 2002, judges granted
the early release 37 percent of the time, according to the state Administrative
Office of the Courts.

Several prosecutors and judges said shock probation is a legitimate way to help
some people.

It is a "rare exception" when a judge abuses shock probation, said George
Moore, former head of the state commonwealth's attorneys association.

However, Moore said, there are abuses.

The legislature has already barred probation and shock probation in a number of
cases, including some sex offenses and violent crimes and those involving
people convicted of being persistent felons.

"It's already fairly limited," said Circuit Judge Robert McGinnis of Cynthiana.

Most first-time, non-violent offenders are likely to get straight probation, as
opposed to serving at least some jail time before being shock probated, he
said.

Probation Not Easiest

McGinnis said probation is not an easy sentence, despite public perception.
People who are on probation are under supervision and as a result have to stay
clean longer in many instances than people who serve out a jail sentence, he
said.

The public usually only hears about shock probation in high-profile cases.

For instance, Circuit Judge James G. Weddle granted shock probation to a woman
who had pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Fred Capps, a state
prosecutor in southern Kentucky. Patricia Vaughn, the wife of killer Eddie
Vaughn, had served one year and five months of a four-year sentence when Weddle
granted her release in October 2001.

Though prosecutors complained, Weddle agreed with an argument that Vaughn drove
her husband to the prosecutor's house only because of years of abuse.

Stumbo said that if he wins the attorney general's race over Republican nominee
Jack Wood and independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith -- and as a result is
not in the legislature -- House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, has
agreed to sponsor the bill.