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49 °F 5 Day Forecast Saturday, November 29, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 9, 2003 Karrie Miles shows her sons Hunter, 3, left, and Wyatt, 5, the grave of their grandfather at Memory Gardens in Medford. Miles� father, Burke McNulty Thompson, was killed in 2002 by a drunk driver who was sentenced under Measure 11. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Taking the measure of Measure 11 Has the punishment fit the crimes? By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Staring down at her husband’s grave, Penny Thompson clutched his leather wallet and wristwatch in a Ziploc bag. "This was all we got," she said of the items she removed from her husband’s crumpled teal-colored 1967 Mustang after it collided on Highway 238 with a full-sized pickup truck. The pickup’s driver, Edwin Shane Coen, got six years and three months in prison under Measure 11, a 1994 law that sets stiff mandatory sentences for violent crimes. Convicted of manslaughter for the death of Burke McNulty Thompson on Feb. 13, 2002, Coen was imprisoned in July. But although the penalty for manslaughter is stringent by Oregon standards, Coen’s sentence could never be tough enough for Thompson’s family. Advertisement "What is ‘really tough’?" asked Penny Thompson. "What is a life worth? "We’re not the ones who made the sentence, it was the state." Coen was just one of 176 people jailed in 2002 in Jackson County on Measure 11 crimes, a group of offenses that in the past year has spiked locally for reasons police, attorneys and judges can’t explain. "It just feels like everything is swamped, and the serious person-to-person felonies are just more time-consuming for the lawyers," said District Attorney Mark Huddleston. "So it’s clearly stressing the system." Proponents of the tough-on-crime law like to champion the lower violent crime rates that accompanied the legislation, said Phillip Lemman, executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. But after a steady decrease in violent crimes locally and across the state over the past five years, those numbers have jumped back up in Jackson County. Crimes against persons decreased in Jackson County from 2,406 in 1997 to 1,972 in 2001, according to the state’s Law Enforcement Data System. Yet those numbers spiked by 30 percent in the first half of 2002 compared to 2001, leveling off to an approximate 22 percent overall increase, according to LEDS. Statewide, crimes against a person decreased by 3 percent overall in 2002. "We would agree that the frequency of violent persons crimes in recent months has certainly alarmed us," said Detective Colin Fagan of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, which has investigated three high-profile Measure 11 crimes involving multiple suspects in the past week. While total crime dropped by 4 percent across the state in the first half of 2002, Jackson County saw a 10 percent increase. The state hasn’t released final crime numbers for the second half of 2002 nor tallied 2003’s figures. However, preliminary statistics gathered through September by the Jackson County Jail and Medford Police Department show a still higher increase in violent crimes for 2003. The jail reported an approximate 27 percent increase this year in inmates lodged on Measure 11 charges compared to the year before. Medford has three murders so far this year compared to none last year. Rape increased by 30 percent, aggravated assault by 18 percent and robbery by 10 percent. "Robberies are the crime du jour, unfortunately," said Medford police Lt. Mike Moran. Police, prosecutors and judges have pointed to a string of unusual robberies as one of the most highly visible crimes on the increase. Prosecutors have charged 41 people with either first- or second-degree robbery this year, according to records kept by Jackson County Circuit Court. Judges have heard 14 such cases through October. Most convicted robbers received Measure 11 sentences, but using a set of criteria established by Oregon lawmakers, prosecutors did negotiate less prison time in several cases involving defendants — mostly teens — who had no prior violent criminal record. After helping a 19-year-old friend rob the Subway store on Biddle Road last year, 16-year-old Anthony Ray Harrie, of White City, was charged as an adult under Measure 11. While prosecutors negotiated a plea that relieved Harrie of the mandatory prison sentence of five years and 10 months, he still went to prison in July for nearly three years. "(The ‘safety valve’ sentencing) made it so we could still hold people accountable but come up with a sentence that’s maybe more appropriate," said Beth Heckert, chief deputy district attorney for Jackson County. Circuit Court Judge Ray White imposed the shorter sentence according to the Measure 11 robbery safety valve after ruling that no one was injured in the ill-fated attempt. Harrie’s partner, James Aubrey Vincent Jr. of Medford, pleaded guilty last month but awaits his sentence. But while some defendants simply plead guilty to Measure 11, others have nothing to lose in a trial if prosecutors won’t strike a deal. After hearing of the panic Robert Stieber felt as he was waylaid by two young men, a shotgun pointed to his head, jurors in September convicted 19-year- old Thomas John Maya and 17-year-old Austin Hernandez of robbery. Although the Medford teens had no violent crime record, the two received the full sentence under Measure 11, a penalty prosecutor Tim Barnack said is completely justified despite the teens’ ages. "Where does that (robber) in their mind draw the line about what they will and will not do?" Barnack asked. "We have to bind them because they have no boundaries." The boundary between a serious felony and a Measure 11 offense isn’t so clear to many perpetrators, perhaps calling into question whether lengthy prison terms are a deterrent to crime, officials said. "It seems like when you look at these cases individually, there’s not a lot of pre-thought to the crime," Heckert said, adding that the average person nevertheless seems aware of Measure 11. "The people we’re dealing with don’t think about it. That’s their problem," White said. "They’re not thinking, ‘Gee, because of Measure 11, I’m not going to do this,’" he said, adding that many crimes are connected to drugs and alcohol. Three California college students charged with attacking a Callahan’s employee with broken bottles in the course of stealing alcohol from the Ashland restaurant last week may not have considered that their actions reached the level of an armed robbery, said sheriff’s Detective Fagan. "Most people think of a gun, and you take somebody’s money and run, but a robbery could be as simple as (this one at Callahan’s)," Fagan said. "(The theft) could be a stick of gum. It doesn’t have to be a million dollars." Arrested Thursday in La Mirada, Calif., Kyle Anthony Trautman, Darren Rolf Trautman and Michael Robert McCann await extradition to Jackson County. The three will join about 60 other Measure 11 offenders in the Jackson County Jail awaiting court appearances. Lacking clear answers, officials tend to chalk up the unexpected spike in crime to the economy’s downturn, higher population or more police on the streets. Yet, unemployment rates, which experts tend to link with crime rates, were a full 1 percent lower in Jackson County than the rest of the state as of September, consistent with previous years. "I would say the economy hasn’t played a role in the cases I have investigated," Fagan said. "These are interpersonal conflicts, and you can’t predict when these are going to happen." While about 350,000 more people were living in Jackson County in 2000 than in 1990, the population that typically generates the most crime — the teens through 20s age range, according to police — decreased in number, according to U.S. census data. Higher crime statistics could also be the result of more police officers on the streets. However, police agencies in Jackson County say they haven’t added any officers in years because of tight budgets. Moreover, officers can’t target violent crimes as they can for offenses such as driving under the influence of intoxicants. "(Violent crimes) are usually crimes of opportunity that we’re forced to be more reactive to than proactive," said Moran, whose job for more than five years included studying Medford crime trends. "I would always look for explanations to spikes and drops, and sometimes, they’re inexplicable." But one thing is clear, Measure 11 is keeping otherwise repeat offenders in prison longer. Most don’t show up in Jackson County committing the same crime again, officials said. Jackson County has sent 222 convicted Measure 11 offenders to state prison since 1996 at a cost of $70 per prisoner per day, according to the state Department of Corrections. But the cost is well worth it to the public, officials said, as indicated by the continued support for the tough-on-crime law. Reflecting on the drunken driving crime that claimed his father’s life almost two years ago, Shaun Thompson of Central Point said he remembers thinking Measure 11 was a step in the right direction when he voted on the initiative. But now a victim of one of the state’s most serious crimes, Thompson said he wishes more judges would impose longer sentences than the law requires. "If there’s no stiff penalty, people are just going to keep thinking it’s OK to do it," he said. Shaun’s wife, Dianne, said she doubts whether the state’s mandatory prison sentences will ever put a stop to crime. "Even the sentencing ... it’s not going to necessarily prevent them," she said. "It’s kind of like they’re just going to be in hiding for a while." Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times