A KGAN CBS 2 investigation, four months in the making, will leave you questioning exactly why and who gets put behind bars.
One Eastern Iowa police chief is speaking out about a problem in our justice system that he says is a risk to public safety, a waste of taxpayer money, and doubles the workload for police officers. Many Marion crime victims say they feel like they are getting nowhere. It is your justice system and CBS 2 shows you how even after police arrest drug dealers, child porn freaks and girlfriend beaters, the charges get dropped. CBS 2 shows you the Scales of Justice and why criminals who many think belong behind bars, are not.
We all have the expectation our neighborhoods are safe for us and for our children. Sheri Weber even says she picked where she was going to move and raise her family based on the amount of children playing outside in the neighborhood. She thought she found the perfect safe place in Marion. The Webers never wanted to live next to a drug dealer. However, that is what they got.
Im a mother of three kids. So if you break the law, then you need to be held accountable for it, says Sheri Weber.
Last Halloween, Marion PD exorcised 3360 Lennon Lane. One year later, police show CBS 2 all of the pot removed from the home, bag after bag, bucket after bucket, bulb after bulb. Police say the marijuana found in the home was grown there and they had plenty of evidence. But the drug dealer arrested in this case still lives in the Webers neighborhood. Despite John Baumans arrest for drug possession, manufacturing and delivery, along with a handful of other drug related charges, like child endangerment, Bauman never went to jail.
Bryan King, never went to jail either. According to police reports, he inappropriately touched a small boy. The little boys family says so too.
He deliberately reached down and touched him in the privates, says the little boys mom, Kendra Gardner
According to the police report it happened at a Marion apartment complex while the boy was staying with his moms sister, his Aunt Kimberly. King was Kimberlys boyfriend at the time.
There is no accidentally touched down there, says Kimberly Vanhorn.
The case was dismissed.
"The only reason why I'm sitting here and talking to you now, honestly, is I feel as though it's my only way to get it out there," says Gardner.
Another man was arrested for child pornography but was never charged.
"That really makes me mad. It really does," says Wayne Harris.
Harris lives near the rental home the accused pedophile used to live.
"Kids were coming over and visiting him all the time and I don't know him from Adam, says Harris.
The mother of the accused tells CBS 2 the charges were dismissed because her son did not have any child pornography. Marion police, however, say yes he did.
It was coupled with this diary that he had or journal, says Chief Harry Daugherty with the Marion Police Department.
Inside the journal, police say the accused wrote down ideas of stalking an elementary school girl on a playground, abducting, raping and killing her.
I dont know why else you would write that down if it is not what you fantasize doing, says Chief Daugherty.
Marion residents who have learned about these cases are outraged.
"I don't understand. Why are we not going after these people? asks Marge Dill.
"Let's just hope they can come up with the county attorneys office can come up with a good reason why. Because in my book, there really is none, says Sheri Weber.
"What's the point of Marion Police to even try?" asks Harris.
It is a frustration the Marion Police Department shares. All the police can do is arrest, and then it is up to the Linn County Attorneys office to file the charge and prosecute.
CBS 2 sat down with the Marion Police Chief along with two of his detectives. Together, we poured over the numbers CBS 2 dug up. We ask what happens to the criminal cases after Marion Police hands them over the Linn County Attorneys office. The numbers surprise Chief Daugherty. He says they do not exactly match what he and his force are experiencing out in the field.
CBS 2 sampled cases from January 1, 2008 through the end of June 2009. During that time the Linn County Attorneys office took a look at 13,830 cases. Of those cases, 10.3 percent were dismissed.
Ten percent, really, that does not look that bad, reflects Chief Daugherty.
In fact, Linn County has a lower dismissal rate than nearby Iowa Counties. Scott County dismissed 23 percent of its cases. Polk County dismissed 23.1 percent. Johnson County: 15.1 percent. But Marion Police say there is a big problem here that the Linn Countys number of ten percent does not reveal.
Chief Harry Daugherty asks if these numbers reflect cases that the Linn County Attorneys office does not file at all. The answer: no. Before the attorneys office can dismiss a case it has to file it.
Here is how it works: police arrest who they truly believe is the bad guy. They charge him or her with a crime. Those charges are sent here to the County Attorneys office and if the charges are never filed then the charges do not exist.
"We are a TV generation. We see sort of how crime works out on TV and the bad guys are caught and there are these great trials. But there is a reality of how the system works," says Aya Gruber.
Aya Gruber is a professor at the University of Iowa. She specializes in criminal law. We went to her to see if failing to file charges is common. She says if the county attorney is not filing cases, it is not against the law. It is his job to use discretion.
"Because if the system were to handle every single offense that the police could possibly arrest somebody on, it would break," explains Gruber.
Harold Denton, the Linn County Attorney says it is kind of a discretionary thing, picking and choosing which cases to file. Harold Denton has worked in the County Attorneys office since Gerald Ford was President. He has been the Linn County Attorney for seven years and he gets paid well to use his discretion. He is the highest paid Linn County employee at $133,364 a year.
"There will be a variety of charges that come in and we will just not file some of the lesser charges that realistically do not have much to do with the case and don't really matter," says Denton.
Marion Police Chief Daugherty disagrees. He says many of them are very serious. The County Attorney himself says it is up to whoever is paying attention to decide whether his office is doing a good job.
Thirty-year-old Jennifer Stevens is definitely paying attention and for a while she was benefiting from Herald Dentons discretion.
"Stevens let us know that she had not been charged and that she felt we made a mistake," says Detective Lance Miller with the Marion Police Department.
Detective Miller says Stevens wanted back everything the Marion Police confiscated from her. In August, Marion PD arrested Stevens for drugs inside her apartment complex. They charged her for possession with intent to deliver within a school zone. Marion PD even sent out a press release. The County Attorneys office, though, did not file the charge. Detective Miller, did not understand. While on hold daily with the County Attorneys office, the phone in his hand began to feel as natural as the gun in his holster. Detective Miller says the attorneys office did not offer an explanation as to why the charges were never filed. Miller knew he had no choice but to press on. His Chief expects him to.
"If that takes multiple phone calls to do then that's what they are getting paid to do and that is what they will do," says Chief Daugherty.
In this case, perseverance paid off. A warrant went out for Jennifer Stevens arrest: the same case, the same charges, the only difference, this time, the County Attorneys office filed. Detective Miller did not have to hand over anymore evidence. In fact, he says, a worker at the county attorneys office told him he did not understand why it had not been filed the first time. Detective Miller admits, it was time out of his day he could have spent working on other cases. Marion Police say this was not the first time tax dollars were wasted and a more serious case was not filed immediately.
Chief Harry Daugherty mentions a domestic abuse victim who he could not protect at all. We dug up the police reports. A victim of domestic abuse, moved to Marion to get away from her ex. Before long though, her abuser began driving back and forth in front of her home, stalking her. The woman had a not contact order against him. But Marion Police could not arrest him.
"I feel like I can't protect that lady here because the County Attorneys office is not going to file," says Chief Daugherty.
Marion Police tells CBS 2 because the original no contact order was issued in a different Eastern Iowa County. The Linn County Attorneys office would not file the violation of the not contact order, even though the crime happened in Harold Dentons own backyard.
Denton admits, he could have filed the charge.
Theoretically it is possible that we could have. But I believe that the best procedure is to go with the magistrate that issued the no contact order in that particular district. They have the file, the underlying facts and the circumstances," says Denton.
Chief Harry Daugherty argues differently. He says, In order to keep this woman safe we wanted to be able to arrest the individual right away and that is why we wanted the Linn County to prosecute so we could do that. We could not arrest this man or keep this woman safe."
So again, CBS 2 asked the County Attorney, does he think the cases he decides not to file are unimportant? Denton answers, "I think that the charges that come down here that need to be filed we file."
Once again the Marion Police Chief, disagrees.
"Again that is the County Attorney's opinion. We have a different opinion on that. We feel they broke the law here in Marion," he says.
And then there are the cases that were filed but dismissed or given a plea bargain that, according to the Marion PD is the equivalent to a slap on the wrist.
They see these kids in our neighborhoods. It is shocking that the Attorneys Office is not locking these bad guys up, says Sheri Weber.
John Bauman, the man arrested for having a large scale growth operation in his home received a deferred judgment.
Chief Daugherty explains to CBS a deferred judgment is like probation. In a few years, if Bauman stays clean the charges will be removed from his record. He explains the speeding ticket you received years ago will stay on your record longer than Baumans drug charges.
Baumans record shows that other than having a large scale growing operation in his home, he does not have a criminal history. But police say if Bauman were prosecuted to the fullest extent, he would get multiple years in prison.
"You can look at a case however you want to frame the issue. And you can say, well this person is out on the street. They were not convicted or were not. On the other hand you can look at it from, here's a young man with no record. Who got a deferred sentencing and wont have a conviction on his record and go on to live a successful life and be rehabilitated," argues Denton.
The prospect still does not sound so promising to Baumans neighbors.
"You just don't need kids getting started on stuff that young," says Marge Dill.
Detective Lance Miller is now changing the way he works in order to get his job done. The child pornography charges may have been dismissed, but Detective Miller found another way to arrest the accused.
"The prosecutor feels that you need to prove that the person in the photo is an actual child," explains Miller.
"It should have been decided by a judge in a court system," argues Kendra Gardner.
Marion PD agrees. And the man arrested but never charged for being a pedophile is behind bars.
"He's not out on the street. I took care of that in another manner," says Miller.
Detective Miller says he had no choice but to find new ways to tackle crime: keep revisiting the same case, so if the County Attorneys office dismisses or refuses to file, hell come back with another charge, again and again.
"They are going to do their job. They may not like the outcome of what the County Attorney does. But that's not something they need to be worried about. They need to do their job. That's what they are getting paid to do and what the people of Marion expect them to do," says Chief Daugherty.
"They need to protect the people out here who are living their lives right and who are obeying the law," says Sheri Weber.
The Marion Police Departments power: to arrest, even if it means arresting the same person over and over.
And Marion PD is not alone in this. According to the Linn County Sheriff and Cedar Rapids Police Chief, this has been an ongoing problem for their departments. The sheriff, Chief Graham with CRPD and Chief Daugherty all sat down with Attorney Harold Denton at the beginning of the year because of these issues.
Since then, the Linn County Sheriff says, at least in his department, there has been in improvement.
"I'm not saying that everything is perfect. But I think we are getting the answers that we need," says Sheriff Brian Gardner.
When Sheriff Gardner refers to answers, he is talking about the information the County Attorneys office needs in order to prosecute. When prosecutors do not have enough evidence the police departments say they want to know. It helps officers build better cases.
Cedar Rapids Police Chief Greg Graham though says, even after meeting with County Attorney, communication is not where it needs to be.
"The last thing I want to hear, and I've said this to the county attorney, is, I don't want to hear excuses as to why cases are dropped or not prosecuted or charges are changed. The one that I never buy and never will buy is, well I just don't think we are going to get a conviction. Tell me why and tell me what we can do to make our case better," says Chief Graham.
Graham agrees with the Marion Police Chief. He says many cases should not be left up to the Linn County Attorneys office to decide. He says that is what a judge is for.Scales of Justice