Excuse Court

Got a good reason for violating probation? This judge has heard them all. Welcome to ...

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published June 24, 2007

Judge Daniel Perry looks towards an attorney as he asked for more information on a case during VOP court (violation of probation), on Monday in the Hillsborough County Courthouse Annex.
	[Ken Helle | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Ken Helle | Times] Tammie Sue Holloway is lead away to jail by a court bailiff as Judge Perry told her she used up her last chance as she kept violating her probation.

TAMPA - Excuse Court is under way, and Aretha Jones stood before the judge. She is on probation, but back in jail after testing positive for cocaine.

Jones: "I don't know how to explain this."

Judge: "You might start with the truth."

Jones: "Sex, your honor. That's the honest truth."

Judge: "So you had sex with somebody who was using?"

Jones: "I didn't know it was possible either."

Circuit Judge Daniel Perry sighs. The judicial seal above his bench reads "Veritas et Justitia" -- Truth and Justice.

"I just wish people would tell me the truth."

Mostly, they don't, which is how the court that handles probation violation cases in Hillsborough County earned its tongue-in-cheek nickname.

Defendants aren't in on the joke. Last year, after the court launched in mid February 2006, Perry disposed of 7, 641 probation cases and new misdemeanors that resulted in violations, according to the clerk's office. Of those, 1, 234 violators went to prison. Perry gave plenty of others another shot at probation but promised a trip to prison if they slipped again.

Officially known as a violation of probation, or VOP, court, it is the keystone of a range of initiatives adopted to make Hillsborough's criminal justice system more efficient. Jail officials grew desperate in recent years as their facilities overran capacity due to the state's zero-tolerance policy toward probation violators.

The county had 13, 402 such cases last year, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Perry hears cases for probationers who get arrested for a new misdemeanor or violate on technical reasons such as failing to make a payment, missing an appointment with their probation officer or falling behind on community service hours.

Previously, those cases were heard by the original sentencing judge. That model kept probationers waiting an average of 39 days in jail to get back before a judge. This court cut the wait to 15 days.

That means more available beds, less deputy overtime pay and lower medical and food costs at the jails, said sheriff's Col. David Parrish.

"We're operating under capacity today. It's the first time in my career that we've had enough beds," said Parrish, who has run the jails since 1981.

Heavy caseload

Parrish and courthouse observers credit much of the court's success to Perry, a 14-year judge with a cynical streak and an eye for a lie. He's a one-man band of justice on this latest assignment, asking for names of probationers' drug dealers, hauling in witnesses and checking criminal records from his two computers at the bench.

Each defendant has an attorney, and prosecutors weigh in when asked. But because probationers already have been convicted of their original crime, Perry said the burden of proof for finding them guilty of a violation is much lower. He doesn't accept plea deals.

To make the court work, he must move fast. Of the 60 to 120 cases the judge hears each day, the majority of defendants admit to their violation and get placed back on probation, sent to prison or have their probation terminated all during the same court hearing.

But not before they tell a few tall tales, as evident from a week's worth of excuses earlier this month.

"Why are you testing positive for drugs?" the judge asked each person with a dirty urine screening, about 50 percent of the probationers before him.

"Stupidity," said one man.

"Stressed out," said another.

And more: Celebrating a new baby. Celebrating an engagement. Sitting in a room with people who were smoking marijuana. Worrying about a hospitalized grandmother. Grieving the death of a grandfather, mother or father.

"I don't know, maybe people deal with grief differently," the judge told Aakeir Davis, who tested positive for marijuana, which he said he got at nightclubs and bars. "But I don't know too many people who deal with death by going to nightclubs."

Of the 413 cases Perry heard during a recent week, most defendants were drug users, high school dropouts, unemployed and repeat offenders. One woman violated her probation by stealing $63 worth of deodorant.

Some have more mug shots than yearbook photos, like the woman whose 59th arrest in Hillsborough recently brought her to court.

Once in a while, they offer a legitimate excuse such as getting laid off, caring for a sick child or getting hospitalized. Mental illness is a very real and difficult issue for the court to manage, Perry said. He tries to get those people help. But get a new DUI while on probation for driving under the influence, and incarceration is almost guaranteed.

Perry said he hasn't heard a valid excuse yet for using marijuana or cocaine. Still, Christina Flores tried.

Pregnant and serving probation on a cocaine possession charge, she violated for the third time by getting caught with cocaine and Xanax, the judge read from a probation officer's report. Her public defender, Kathleen Fernandez, said Flores had a prescription for the Xanax.

"How about the cocaine?" Perry asked.

"Obviously there is none," Fernandez said. "She can tell you where she got the cocaine from."

"At this point, I don't care," the judge said.

He sentenced Flores, 24, to two years in state prison and recommended a facility with substance abuse treatment.

Lies a part of the day

Public defenders and defense attorneys do their part, warning probationers not to lie. Fernandez, a veteran lawyer who has worked seven months in the court, said she gives the same speech to each client: Be polite. Speak up. If you told your probation officer one story, tell the judge the same one. Just tell the truth.

Inevitably, clients fib anyway, even after watching defendants before them ordered to prison for doing the same thing.

But Fernandez said she couldn't do her job effectively if she let the endless excuses frustrate her.

Perry, a former public defender, is reluctantly resigned to the disappointment. He acts the part of a stern father in court, finger-wagging, glaring and scolding folks who can't seem to stay on the sunny side of the law.

The judge tells people to fill out five applications a day until they get a job. He tells them to get new friends. He tells them to go home to South Carolina or Colorado or Washington, D.C., so they can have a support system from their families.

Then he braces for the next excuse.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" Perry asked a man who didn't report to probation.

His right hand raised, Ricardo Gonzalez swore he would.

"The whole honest truth," Gonzalez said.

Perry fought back a smile. He's heard that one before.

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.

Excuses excuses

Here are a few recent excuses people gave for their probation violations:

- "I just went through a bad breakup."

- "I was holding it for my cousin."

- "I don't usually go out. I'm usually home with my kids."

- Smoked a cigar at a party that must have been laced with marijuana.

- Tested positive for cocaine but said he only sold it, didn't use it.

- "I thought I could get away with it, but I couldn't."

[Last modified June 23, 2007, 23:01:26]