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Drugs, illegal driving, other dumb moves put probationers behind ...... |
Periodically the door opens, and a few inmates enter the courtroom while others return to nearby cells.
They've been arrested for violating probation. Now a judge decides if they get more time behind bars.
· A woman on probation for driving with her license suspended was spotted driving a car -- to the probation office.
· A woman was turned in by her husband after she moved without telling the probation office.
· A man classified as a habitual traffic offender was arrested for driving with a suspended license.
Like other circuit judges in Escambia County, Jan Shackelford holds about 10 sessions per year to deal with violation of probation cases. They involve claims that people committed new crimes, failed drug tests or violated other rules.
Some defendants don't appreciate a good thing. Like the man who got probation after the prosecutor reduced a burglary charge to trespassing. Now he has violated probation.
"He's already had his chance," the assistant state attorney says, and the judge agrees.
Shackelford, a judge for 5½ years, reviews the cases before the hearing. She studies records for prior arrests and sentencing guidelines.
The past is a good predictor of the future. She wants to know, "How many priors do they have?"
That was the case with a man who failed a urine test for illegal drug use.
He has AIDS and is terminally ill, his lawyer says, arguing that he be sent to a drug rehabilitation program.
"Unfortunately," Shackelford says, "I see a number of people in the courtroom who are sick and dying."
She orders the man to serve two years in prison and recommends that he receive drug treatment.
An Air Force veteran violates requirements severely enough that Shackelford sentences him to 30 months in prison. She urges drug treatment, too.
"I really want you to get it together," she tells the man, who is 26.
Many cases move quickly, concluding with a "Good luck" from the judge.
A man convicted of DUI hasn't taken a required class about drunken driving or paid $52 a month for the cost of supervision by probation officers.
Cancer and heart troubles keep him from working, says the man, an Army veteran living on a $410-a-month disability check.
He just pawned his grandmother's engagement ring to get the $320 cost of the DUI class but says he still can't afford the cost of supervision.
The probation officer notes that, despite his health and financial problems, the man smokes cigarettes.
That decides it for Shackelford. She will let him stay free because he is meeting the other terms, but she won't eliminate the cost of supervision as long as he smokes.
"You can decide whether you want to quit or give up $25 or $30 a month of something else," she tells him.
Shackelford also requires some people who already are on probation to attend the sessions and see what happens to violators.
Copyright 1997-2005 the Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola Florida.
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