They want me to be “on camera” as a voice in opposition to what they and Rep. John Tilley call prison “REFORMS.” They were referring to HB 463 – Tilley’s baby that discourages law-breakers from being sent to prison. (Catch & Release).

They had already interviewed Rep. Tilley, a criminal defense lawyer, by the way.

I told FRONTLINE that “REFORM” appeared to be a Tilley’s and media code-word for soft-on-crime; or let’em out early; or never send’em to prison in the first place.
Reform normally means a change to make things better. “A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER,” it seems, depends on one’s perspective:

1. To CRIME-VICTIMS – “REFORM” does not mean let more law-breakers out of prison or weaken our criminal laws. It means make them responsible for their crimes, so they won’t do it again. Protect us from them.
2. To POLICE & PROSECUTORS – “REFORM” means serious consequences for breaking the law and protection for the law-abiding public. It does not mean “hug-a-thug” laws and punishment which seems to reward criminal behavior.
3. To the “PUBLIC” – “REFORM” means passing laws which make them safer, not making their lives and communities less safe and secure.
SO WHAT DO LEGISLATORS & FRONTLINE mean when they say “REFORM?”

Does it mean what our law-abiding and tax-paying citizens think: that government should do everything it can to guarantee the safety & securityof our citizens OR does it mean release more convicted criminals from jail or prison?

IT IS ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE and we know the perspective of FRONTLINE and Rep. John Tilley: “Catch & Release.”
By the way – I told FRONTLINE that I suspect that they already had their story from the Rep. Tilley-Main-Stream-Media perspective and That I would just as soon NOT be a prop in their story. But thanks for asking.

Repeat Offenders continue to drive Lexington’s crime rate.

Just last week 8 criminal cases involving repeat felony offenders made it to our office. That makes 124 of these outlaws that we have prosecuted in just about 100 days 0f 2013. And that’s not the worst part. You see this small number of hoodlums have accumulated 1,779 criminal convictions. That’s an average of 15.3 criminal convictions each. And that’s still not the worst part. In order for them to get a new case, that means even with such terrible criminal records, these thugs were still on the street. These are precisely the criminals who should be in jail or prison. But they’re not.

Heroin Addiction is ensnaring the rich, suburban population across America.

A growing and more dangerous wave of drug addiction is sweeping the country, and in the process ensnaring a new population in the heroin trap and at the same time importing the crime that goes with drug trafficking to the suburbs. The frenzy is fed by people hooked on prescription pills who are finding their drug of choice is in short supply, so heroin their drug of last resort. As these addicts move from the illegal use of legal drugs to the dirty world of dealers, danger, dirty needles and kitchen table chemists police and health officials are finding more overdose deaths and crime. Experts say “when you switch to heroin, the whole game changes. People don’t know what they are getting from batch to batch. Sometimes it’s lethal.”

The number of Drug Overdose Deaths in Lexington is Shocking

In 2012 Lexington saw 14 homicides; 21 traffic fatalities and 63 drug overdose deaths. You heard that right – 63 drug overdose deaths. 22 of those were attributable to heroin. Already in 2013 we have seen 20 drug overdose deaths. 12 of those have been attributed to heroin.

Obviously Lexington is seeing an increase in the distribution of heroin which is leading to a rise in the number of heroin related deaths. Most of this heroin appears to be coming from cities North of us. It also appears that heroin is becoming a substitute for increasingly difficult to obtain prescription pills. All are opiate derivatives.

Our police, as well as other law enforcement agencies are working extremely hard to identify and arrest the predators who sell this dangerous drug in our community.

It is important that when these merchants of misery and death ARE arrested, that they be convicted and punished by sending them to prison. If we don’t, we in the criminal justice system, send a message to these insidious criminals that they have the green light to sell their poison in our city.

Burglary is a personal crime, not JUST a property crime.

Hundreds of thousands of convicted felons will be released from state and federal prisons this year – 67 percent of them will be charged with new crimes.

Most criminologists believe in the power of counseling, therapy and training, or education and jobs to set ex-cons on the right track. Not psychologist Stanton Samenow, author of Straight Talk About Criminals. Continue reading →

Every day we are bombarded with news of violence and property crimes. People are becoming frightened and wonder what our government is doing to deal with the hoodlums who are causing all this concern and fear.

I am reminded of that famous statement:

Those who cannot remember the past,

are condemned to repeat it.

In the 1960’s America’s crime rate soared because we quit sending criminals to prison. Law-abiding citizens were afraid and spoke out, and legislatures responded with tough sentencing laws. It took law enforcement 40 years of putting violent and repeat offenders back into prison to finally bring the crime rate back down. Finally in 2007 Lexington achieved its lowest crime rate in 33 years.

Then our Governor and law-makers heard the shouts of the “soft-on-crime” crowd that “We are incarcerating too many convicted criminals . . . and some meaningful reduction in the prison population . . . would begin to sound the warning that there are limits beyond which the state should NOT go in its efforts to protect the public against crime.”

And they forgot that the law-abiding public is entitled to be protected from those who choose to break the law. Sure enough, they began the early release of prison inmates. They passed criminal-friendly laws designed to keep criminals from being sent to prison in the first place.

They call their criminal-friendly laws being “smart-on-crime.” That new plan, like the plan in was essentially to quit sending so many convicted criminals to prison.

So our question is: Why must our leaders and elected law-makers continue to repeat the mistakes of our past?

Continue reading →

Criminal Defense Lawyers are pushing to release more of their clients from prison. That’s their job. But the Legislature’s job is to look out for all citizens, not just the criminals.

Let’s see, Rep. John Tilley from Hopkinsville is a criminal defense lawyer. Former Senator, now Circuit Judge, Tom Jensen was a criminal defense lawyer. They both served as the Chairs of their respective Judiciary Committees in Frankfort and co-authored the “Catch & Release, criminal friendly” experiment with the safety and security of our citizens called House Bill 463.

And recently yet another criminal defense lawyer, who is a lobbyist for lots of other criminal defense lawyers, wrote an article for the Lexington newspaper in hopes of influencing folks. In it he complains that there are STILL too many of their clients, convicted criminals, in prison. Keeping his convicted clients in prison is costing too much he says.

Then the lobbyist for the criminal defense lawyers goes on to make some suggestions about how the Legislature should help them keep even more of their clients out of prison.

Check out this latest criminal defense attorneys’ wish list:

Wish # 1. The Criminal defense lawyers don’t want so many violent criminals to be called “violent criminals” because they have to stay in prison longer.

Ray the D.A’s comment: So, I guess they don’t want a rape, or a murder, or an assault, or an armed robbery to be called “violent.” Is that what they are suggesting? Why don’t they just ask a victim of one of those crimes if they thought it was violent.

Wish # 2. Criminal defense lawyers don’t want Repeat Felony Offenders to have to serve mandatory sentences.

Ray the D.A.’s comment: A small percentage of criminals commit the vast majority of crime. They are called Repeat Felony Offenders. The longer we can keep these thugs in jail or prison the better off our law-abiding, tax-paying citizens will be

Wish # 3. Of course Criminal defense lawyers want to abolish the Death Penalty.

Ray the D.A.’s comment: A recent Louisville Courier-Journal poll revealed that 67% of Kentuckians support the death penalty and only 27% oppose it.

Wish # 4. Criminal defense lawyers want a “cost of living raise” for thieves. As it is, a theft of property worth over $500 is a felony. They want to raise it to $1,000 before it becomes a felony.

Ray the D.A.’s comment: As usual these defense lawyers are only looking out for their clients who are, and will be charged with theft. Why not ask the victims of these hoodlums what they think. They are also called tax-payers and voters.

Wish # 5. Criminal defense lawyers want to de-criminalize failure to pay child support. Because, they say, “if they go to prison their families often go on welfare.

Ray the D.A.’s comment: What a disingenuous croc, and the lobbyist knows it! Criminal defense lawyers know that most of these families are already on welfare, because these dead-beat dads have been given every opportunity to pay and they don’t and won’t.

Our law-abiding and tax-paying citizens expect our government and our elected leaders to do what government is supposed to do. That is to provide for the safety and security of our citizens. Unfortunately, and thanks to criminal-friendly laws, the criminals are winning, and our citizens know it. Whatever happened to criminals suffering consequences for breaking our laws?

Slowly, but surely our citizens are waking up to what our legislature  and criminal defense lawyers have done to us, and they don’t like it. Not one bit.