Voter: Voyles will keep criminals out of county

My wife and I moved to the city of Maricopa several years ago to enjoy the peace and quiet that a small town offers. Maricopa provided the perfect setting to enjoy time with our extended family. With the city’s growth Maricopa’s horizons were changing regularly.

In June of this year I had the opportunity to listen to and later speak with Lando Voyles, candidate for Pinal County Attorney. He mentioned that criminals know to come to Pinal County to commit their crimes because they know they will get probation if they get caught. I asked for proof, he challenged me to check the records.

At the Florence (Pinal County) Superior Courthouse I obtained a printout of all the drug-related cases since June 2011, (I worked narcotics before retirement). With the use of the public computer at the courthouse I reviewed over 500 drug related cases. I was there for four days and focused only on cases of drug trafficking, possession of drugs for sale and transportation of drugs. I found that over 90 percent of the cases were resolved with a plea bargain.

I can understand a plea bargain if it can save the county the high expense from a trial, if the evidence is light or if the sentence in the plea can be justified. However, it appears our current county attorney is more interested in high “conviction” statistics than getting these criminals off our streets and out of the county.

Obviously criminals would rather be caught here in Pinal County than Maricopa County. Can you blame them? It really makes sense if you are a repeat offender and find obeying the law a difficult task, then you should operate in an area where you know you will get probation if you get convicted.

Dialogue with officers whose jurisdiction crosses over Pinal and Maricopa counties, they will tell you if given the option of where to pull a suspected drug dealer over, they will wait until they enter Maricopa County to assure that the suspect is prosecuted properly. I can’t blame them.