Oklahoma County criminal cases rarely reach trial

Sunday, March 27th 2005, 11:01 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Of the more than 12,000 felony and misdemeanor criminal charges filed in Oklahoma County District Court during the last judicial session, only 164 cases went to trial, The Oklahoman reported in its Sunday edition.

The newspaper's analysis covered the yearlong judicial session that ended July 1.

Criminal justice experts said more than 90 percent of cases in Oklahoma county courts and courts across the country end with plea bargains, where a defendant makes a deal with prosecutors to avoid trial.

``The reality is: No jurisdiction anywhere is set up such that they could actually go to jury trial with every single case,'' Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said. ``There's just not enough resources, judges, prosecutors and staff to do that.''

Lane figures his $8 million annual budget would have to be about $80 million without plea deals.

Bob Ravitz, an Oklahoma County public defender, also predicted a tenfold increase in his budget.

Plea bargains help save taxpayer dollars, moving people through the justice system, the attorneys claim.

``Every case that you dispose of means that you're not having to subpoena in police officers, which means that a police department is not having to pay overtime,'' Lane said.

Ravitz said the county would have to build five more jails without plea bargaining.

``We'd probably stay five to six years behind on trials,'' Ravitz said. ``That's scary for someone who didn't commit a crime.''

Oklahoma City University School of Law professor Arthur LeFrancois said one reason for the state's high plea-bargain rate could be a highly punitive justice system in Oklahoma.

``When you're accused of a crime in Oklahoma County, you are subject to being incarcerated for a very, very long time because we have very severe criminal sentences,'' he said.

Lane seeks to dispel the negative aura of the plea bargain, acknowledging that the public assumes defendants get off easy when they strike a deal with prosecutors.

``Plea bargains have this nasty sound to them,'' he said. ``What citizens need to realize is that we never compromise on principle. If someone needs to go to prison, they're going to prison.''