Up to 90 percent of the felony cases in Marion County could be linked to drug use, according to District Attorney Hal Kittrell.
The chief prosecutor for the 15th Judicial District discussed his agency’s 2016 statistics with the Marion County Board of Supervisors last week and later spoke with The Columbian-Progress, breaking down the numbers.
“Up to 45 percent of our case load involves drugs (directly),” he said. “The property crimes and even the burglaries, which are now classified as violent crimes, are all a part of it. They are, in many cases, the people committing these crimes before they go and get the drugs.”
He said that percentage would be even higher if they added residential burglaries, which are classified as violent crimes, into the property crimes.
“Instead of catching them with drugs on them, we caught them breaking into people’s houses, sheds, cars and more. I think you could take the 45 percent on the 2016 year and add the 20 percent, the 13 percent and even a lot of other crimes and add them up. It could be that 80 to 90 percent of our case load could be attributed to drugs,” Kittrell said.
In previous years combined, drugs accounted directly for 32 percent of crimes.
“We’ve put as many cases before the grand jury this year so far as we did all of last year,” Kittrell said.
In the 15th Judicial District, which includes Marion County, Pearl River County accounts for 43 percent of the cases. Lamar County, at 28 percent and Marion County at 19 percent, along with Pearl River County make up the bulk of the cases, with Lawrence County accounting for 6 percent and Jefferson Davis County at 4 percent.
“Marion County is running right behind the two more populous counties,” Kittrell said. “I have one assistant district attorney in Marion County, who has more caseload than any of my other ADAs at this time. That is subject to the grand juries, but right now, Marion County is certainly in play in terms of the number of cases we have. I have one ADA that does nothing but work Marion County and it is more than a full-time job. Every ADA I have, however, is running fairly close to the same kind of case load. I think it is all tied to the drug situation.”
Within the district from 2007 through 2015, Marion County accounted for 15 percent of the drug cases. In 2016, that number increased to 21 percent, shadowed only by Pearl River County with 43 percent and Lamar County with 30 percent. Jefferson Davis and Lawrence counties accounted for 3 percent apiece.
“The statistics have a lot to do with the diligence of your law enforcement. We don’t get a case by somebody using drugs out there. We get a case by somebody using or selling drugs and getting caught,” Kittrell said. “It may arguably be a good thing that the numbers are higher because that means there is more law enforcement under way and it means we’re catching the guys we wouldn’t otherwise. I think it’s a compliment to law enforcement that they are working the streets as diligent as they are.”
According to Kittell, violent crimes in Marion County have gone down slightly.
“However, property crimes are up,” he said. “My commercial burglaries, grand larcenies, breaking into sheds and auto burglaries are up. Columbia has just had a rash of auto burglaries, but it looks like we’re catching them.”
Kittrell said residents need to be diligent and look out for burglaries and other crimes.
“I am sick and tired of our people being broken into,” he said. “To me, somebody breaking into a house is about as big a violation, short of a personal violation, that you can get. We’re going to do whatever we can to do what we can do with what the law says. I’m tired of my burglars and my auto burglars and grand larceny people. Those people re-offend all the time. I can tell you that from my office’s position, we’re going to ask for more sentencing because now many of them are only carrying 25 percent of their time. I’m going to do everything I can to up the ante and ask for as much time as I can.”
Kittrell said he is unsure of a “fix” for the problem but that having more mental health care would help.
“I can’t go and increase the mental health budget. All I can do is that if I have someone with a burglary, I’m going to do my best to make sure that he doesn’t re-offend,” he said. “I would hope that with the Legislature something is put into place with mental health where they wouldn’t re-offend. However, if they’re going to re-offend, then I’m going to do everything I can to get them off the street.”
