By Aimee Green
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — After years of budget cuts, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk says he’s had no choice but to stop prosecuting dozens of illegal acts as crimes.
Among them, most addicts caught with small amounts of drugs such as heroin, cocaine or meth; first- or second-time shoplifters caught stealing anything worth less than $250; suspects who resist arrest, or who run away from police officers; drivers who hit and run, as long as they have insurance when they are caught.
Multnomah County is treating those offenses as violations — similar to being cited with a speeding ticket.
Pay the fine and walk free. There’s no threat of jail time and no probation.
“In a perfect world, you commit a crime, you’d be prosecuted for what it is,” Schrunk said. But, he added, “we don’t have unlimited funds.”
Schrunk says Multnomah County can no longer prosecute some lower-level crimes as misdemeanors or — in the case of residue drug possession — felonies, even though state law classifies them as such. The new policy — implemented in waves over the past few months — has widened the divide between Oregon’s largest county and its neighbors, Clackamas and Washington counties, where prosecutors still aggressively pursue many of the crimes that Multnomah County is decriminalizing.
Some counties — including Washington, Linn and Clatsop — have public-safety levies or timber money that allow prosecutors to pursue every case they think is worthy. For example, a Washington County levy pays for 19 of the 100 positions in the DA’s office. It’s up for renewal this November.
Other counties also struggle to hold offenders accountable.
Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau said his office hasn’t been prosecuting some misdemeanors at all — not even issuing a ticket — for as far back as 20 years. Among those crimes are minor vandalism, failing to appear in court to face misdemeanor charges and punching, slapping or spitting without causing injury, unless it involves domestic or sexual violence or an attack on police.
“The police investigate them, a crime has been committed and we do nothing,” said Beglau, the frustration apparent in his voice. “...This sends a bad message.”
Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner said his budget has been grim for decades.
“We’ve been required to do more and more with less and less,” Gardner said.
By his last count, levies that would beef up the number of police and prosecutors have gone to voters 14 times in the last 20 years.
“They all have gone down,” Gardner said.
Even in Clackamas County, which can afford to pursue many of the misdemeanors Multnomah County is not, prosecutors have eased up on first-time shoplifters who steal less than $1,000 worth of merchandise. They are cited for violations if they immediately agree to plead guilty.
Reductions among Oregon prosecutors mirror a national trend, with prosecutors across the country laying off staff. The down economy has hurt, and violent crime in the United States is down. In Oregon, crime was at a 40-year low in 2009 — although so far in 2010, some crime rates, including car thefts, have been ticking up in Portland.
Struggling DA offices say crime hasn’t dropped enough to compensate for the lack of funding and increased costs.
Some worry that decriminalizing some crimes will embolden offenders to commit more crime. A lack of criminal prosecution also can be disheartening to victims. Schrunk said not fully prosecuting lower-level suspects encourages some residents and businesses to move from the inner core out to quieter neighborhoods or strip malls.
By and large, Schrunk has gotten nods from public defenders and players in the criminal-justice system for cutting where it’s least painful.
Although the budget for the district attorney’s office actually rose by about 5 percent this year, to $25.7 million, personnel costs accounted for most of the gain. The number of full-time deputy district attorney positions has dropped over two years from 85 to 73.
Schrunk says he continues to aggressively prosecute the most serious crimes — murder, rape and armed robbery. His office also protected a host of misdemeanor crimes from the cut, including drunken driving, domestic violence, sexual abuse and weapons crimes.
However Schrunk’s office is relying more on certified law students, who, for example, may end up going head-to-head in misdemeanor drunken-driving trials against some of the most experienced privately retained defense attorneys in the state, including Des Connall and Stephen Houze.
Prosecutor Jeff Howes, who oversees Multnomah County’s misdemeanor trial unit, said his office has written lots of exceptions into the illegal acts that no longer will be pursued as misdemeanors.
“My hope is that word doesn’t get out among the criminals that you can steal anything up to $249 and not be prosecuted for a crime,” Howes said, adding that he will seek criminal convictions under aggravating circumstances or for chronic shoplifters — those who are caught in the act three times in six months.
What’s more, prosecutors will pursue misdemeanor convictions for chronic graffiti scofflaws and anyone already on felony probation or post-prison supervision.
Lane Borg, executive director of Metropolitan Public Defender, says he’s sure prosecutors will find a way around pursuing criminal charges against the offenders they’re particularly concerned about.
“They can pursue cases they want to go after,” Borg said.
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