DELAYS IN FILING CHARGES LEAD RENO JUDGE TO FREE SUSPECTS

Steve Becker's had enough.

Reno County's administrative judge began last year cutting accused
criminals loose - freeing them from jail and releasing them from bond
obligations, essentially setting them free - because of delays as long
as 18 months in filing charges from the Reno County District
Attorney's office.

The reason? Explanations differ, but a check of court records by The
Hutchinson News shows that a huge increase in felony drug cases has
bogged down the six-attorney DA's office.

Recent tweaks of the system by DA Keith Schroeder have helped, Becker
admitted.

The judge is clear on the issue: He won't let accused criminals sit in
the Reno County Jail without timely charges from Schroeder and his
attorneys.

"The delays that I see from arrests to filings of charges is my
primary motive in setting what I consider to be ridiculously low bonds
in most cases," said Becker, who has two decades on the Reno County
bench.

"I take a fair amount of criticism on this subject, and it's
legitimate. But the reason is this: If these folks aren't released,
they're going to sit in jail an extremely long period of time without
facing charges.

"I don't find that appropriate. Jail is a place to serve a punishment,
not to sit when you haven't been convicted, and in many cases even
charged, with a crime."

The price for Becker's position is obvious - the accused criminals,
most eventually charged by the DA, are back on the street for months
without any obligations to the court, essentially as free as they were
before the initial crime.

And likely to offend again, law enforcement officials
said.

"It's human nature and now you're setting a person free with nothing
against him," said Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson. "It's just
like a kid taking a cookie out of a cookie jar: He's going to do it
again.

"And with the repeat rates that we have with prosecutions and
sentencing, you have to think these people are going to go right back
and do whatever they've done again."

Court records back up Becker's concern. In the past two years,
criminal cases have gone as long as 18 months and six days without
charges - slightly under the two-year maximum statute of limitations
for most crimes under state law.

It's a situation that has come under fire from the bench, law
enforcement and the Reno County defense bar.

Over the past six months, three different defense attorneys have
complained to The News about clients left to sit in jail while their
charges fly under the DA's radar.

The delays reportedly demoralize law enforcement officers, primarily
through the problems they cause eventual prosecutions.

But Schroeder cited spiraling caseload - a record 1,378 cases were
filed in 2001 and 1,291 last year, both more than double the 647 cases
filed in 1987 - and a shortage of staff as the cause.

More specifically, Schroeder blamed a huge increase in drug cases -
frequently slowed by multiple defendants, laborious lab testing and
long court proceedings - for the overload of cases that until December
buried his attorneys.

And drug case totals back that up. Marijuana cases have spiraled
from112 in 1998 to 270 in 2002. Meth cases are doubling annually, to a
total of 164 in 2002.

"We've got more cases, we've got higher numbers of jury trials and
we've got more probation violation hearings," which aren't
statistically tracked, Schroeder said.

"It leaves me having to triage cases, basically. I have to make calls
on what cases must be done first and which have to wait."

Schroeder refused to publicly criticize the level of funding from Reno
County commissioners, who have declined his requests to fund three
additional attorneys to handle case load.

But the DA also is on the record telling commissioners in a public
meeting that they were "jeopardizing public safety" by under-funding
his office.

Henderson agreed with Schroeder's claim, saying that the slow pace of
court cases make convictions tougher to get.

"Those delays aren't a problem for my officers," he said. "We have the
luxury of reports. But if you're talking civilian witnesses, it's a
huge difference. They don't have that to jog their memories."

Schroeder tweaked the filing process last fall, with Assistant DA Ben
Fisher joining Deputy DA Tom Stanton on a full-time drug prosecution
detail.

And Schroeder began requiring law enforcement officers to write their
own probable cause affidavits with reports - a practice in place in
almost all Kansas counties, but new to Reno County.

"He's been shooting for two days with our reports and affidavits," to
get cases filed, Henderson said. "As far as I know, that's helped him."

Becker agreed.

"The situation is getting better," the judge said. "Six months or so
ago, I would have told you it was a problem clearly out of hand. But
in December and January, I've seen a conscious effort to get a handle
on the cases, especially the drug cases.

"Let's hope it continues."