DA's Office works to stop repeat offenders

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich said the scenario is all too common: property crime offenders very seldom serve their full sentence and often end up as repeat offenders.

Sometimes, those instances of repeat offenders can eventually lead to more serious crimes, including murder.

In the case of Aubrey Shaw , who is now on death row for murder, was arrested numerous times and profiled on FBI Files, but a majority of those crimes were against family members who didn't want to prosecute. Eventually, he killed his step-great aunt and uncle, Bob and Doris Gilbert, in August 2007

Likewise, Tyrone Orange, another Fugitive Files repeat offender, was arrested numerous times before he committed murder, but one victim didn't want to prosecute and another was killed before a trial began. Orange did serve time for receiving stolen property, and his probation term was up a few years before he killed David Boykin.

Rich said the only type of case that criminals are ensured to serve a substantial amount of time in their sentence is on a Class-A felony.

"There is a law in place that says that the Department of Corrections cannot parole someone who's convicted of a Class-A felony until they've served at least 15 years or 85 percent of their sentences," she said.

Rich brandished a stack of parole letters from the Department of Corrections. Many of the letters requested that the convicted be released after only serving a fraction of his or her sentence.

"We can sentence them to 10 years, 15 years, 20 years all day long on property crimes, but they're letting them out as soon as we send them up there," she said.

Rich said, "The probation office is the one that's responsible for placing the hold on someone who's out there on probation and commits a new offense."

The DA's office realized that there was a need for them to call judges and ask them to hold those who commit crimes while out on bond.

"We have a new system in place in the District Attorney's office where the officer calls us and says, 'Look, I'm about to transport someone to metro jail who was out on bond and has now committed a new offense,'" Rich said. "It's up to the judge, it's not up to the district attorney's office whether we can actually keep them with no bond. "

The DA isn't only focusing on adult criminals though. They are doing what they can to help juveniles walking the wrong path. Rich said the Helping Families program tries to get involved before kids get to juvenile court.

"If they've been having problems in school and they're on the verge of dropping out of school, we try to assess their family situation and their family needs and get them help," she said.

Still, according to Rich, the success of the program is limited. Therefore, the office is trying to help juveniles in elementary and middle school who show signs of problems with the Bully Blocker program.

"When we first implemented the bully blocker program, we found a very interesting statistic from Professor Mark Coen from Vanderbilt University. His statistic was each high risk juvenile prevented from adopting a life of crime could save the country between $1.7 million and $2.3 million," Rich said.

Rich and her office said they are doing what they can to stop the revolving door at Mobile County Metro Jail.