Sheriff has weaponized rape case for personal, political gain | Former judge
While some "tough on crime" advocates believe the only response to crime is incarceration, my experience as a district judge in Oklahoma County showed me otherwise. Through cooperative efforts by judges, lawyers and community service providers, we have unlocked effective strategies that lower crime and incarceration in Oklahoma County. The proof is in the numbers.
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber reported in March that the monthly average population of the Oklahoma County Detention Center is the lowest it’s been in almost three decades. Gov. Kevin Stitt says our state prison population has also decreased by about 500 people since 2019. All while the FBI reports that crime is declining in Oklahoma.
Despite this success, Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III has levied an attack on judges and the whole network that is driving better outcomes here in our city. He’s claiming to be concerned about public safety but is ignoring the facts in favor of sowing fear and doing a disservice to our community service partners.
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A key strategy to lowering the jail population, which is mostly composed of individuals who are awaiting trial, is a pretrial release program offered by TEEM. TEEM offers supervision, wraparound services, drug testing, and can help someone gain stable housing, access to education and employment opportunities.
There is zero evidence that pretrial release programs increase crime. There is, however, plenty of evidence showing the negative outcomes that occur when people remain in jail while waiting for trial. TEEM’s program is evidence-based and gained support from all sides of the political spectrum and the criminal legal system as a way to safely counter the issue of our historically high rate of incarceration. Since they have been operating in Oklahoma County, both property and violent crime rates have decreased.
I’m not surprised Sheriff Johnson would weaponize the case of Andre Hunter to attack officials who are making a positive difference, but there are a few details he failed to mention. If anyone is to blame for Andre Hunter’s horrific attack — it’s the sheriff. Judge Cindy Truong issued an arrest warrant for Hunter — a full two weeks prior to the reported rape of the Lyft driver — and immediately relayed the warrant to the sheriff’s office. What happened? Sheriff Johnson, wholesale, omitted his part in allowing Hunter to remain at-large. We should be asking why, when the system worked just as it is supposed to, the sheriff neglected to arrest Hunter.
Judge Truong did her part. And since Hunter’s arrest by Del City police, she sentenced him to 27 years in prison for his former crimes. The courts can go a long way toward justice after a crime has been committed, but they cannot arrest people with warrants like the sheriff can and is supposed to do.
The argument that cases like Hunter’s mean that programs like TEEM aren’t safe is false. One example of failure out of literally thousands of success stories is not evidence of systemic failure. In the 20-plus years I’ve known Judge Truong, she has adjudicated thousands of success stories. Sometimes justice calls for being tough, and when it does— she is. At other times, justice calls for treatment, services and help, which ensures successful integration back into the community.
Kenneth Watson is a retired Oklahoma County district judge.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Sheriff remarks on judges wrong; despite Lyft crime, programs like TEEM work
