COLUMN: Our justice system is failing us

RAINN reports out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, 975 perpetrators will walk free. Out of 1,000 robberies, 980 will not be incarcerated. Out of 1,000 assault and battery crimes, 967 will not be imprisoned.

There are a variety of reasons at every level that lend to those staggering statistics, but one thing remains true.

Around the country and here in Union County, our justice system is failing us.

An incredibly brave mother came forward believing her daughters to have been experiencing sexual abuse from their relative. An officer listened to their horrific stories and the children spoke to specialists at the Star Center in Des Moines where they had to relive the most vile moments of their young lives.

The officer took down a detailed narrative of every single incident they could remember and charged Gregory Clair of Creston with 21 felonies and an aggravated misdemeanor.

I remember the day I read the charging documents. More than 20 charging documents detailing the heinous acts this man committed on these little girls - his own flesh and blood. I was nauseated and angry, and I only had to read it and deal with it for less than a day.

After all that work, after countless people worked to ensure this man would never see the light of day again, our county justice system failed every one of them.

The plea agreement drafted between Union County Attorney Shane O’Toole and Clair’s attorney, Nicholas Bailey, is appalling to say the least. In the agreement, Clair would plead guilty to one charge with everything else being dropped.

The mother and officer sat there as he confessed on the stand in great detail to what he did to a 6-year-old girl.

They had enough corresponding testimony and additional victims to make that case a slam dunk at a jury trial. Gregory Clair would have been sentenced to a life without parole.

Instead, that man will be released in as few as 17 and a half years. The judge, Elisabeth Reynoldson, could have chosen to forgo the plea agreement and given Clair a life sentence. The mother tried for this by reading every single one of the girls’ incidents out loud through tears, but to no avail.

The judge also could have given them the peace of a lifetime no contact/protective order. That also did not happen. There was absolutely no downside to this protective order. If at any time, the girls wanted to drop it, they could have. Now, they will live a life of fear. Now, they will know they suffered for him to essentially receive a slap on the wrist. Now, that officer knows that despite his tireless work to keep a dangerous man off the streets, he will be back on them again.

This isn’t an isolated incident.

In November, as a member of the Multi-Jurisdictional Entry Team (MJET), my husband spent eight hours searching a home and all of its outbuildings. They found numerous guns, a marijuana grow operation and countless drug paraphernalia items.

The owner, Scott Lemon, is unable to own firearms as a defendant of a protective order. It’s black and white. He can’t own guns, yet he had more than a dozen in his possession. The plants were also black and white. Five plants in his residence.

Instead of taking this man to a jury trial where the outstanding evidence would surely convict him, O’Toole offered a plea agreement in which his 26 felonies and two simple misdemeanor charges were reduced to three felony convictions - a maximum of 10 years in prison, though he will probably serve five.

I hear people say, “Why aren’t the police doing something about the drug problem?” But the fact is, they are being counteracted by the actions of our justice system.

In my frustration surrounding the Clair case, I asked my husband how he continues to do his job despite his legitimate charges often being nullified.

He told me he just has to keep going. “I try to get criminals off the streets, but they’re walking out the door before I even start my paperwork,” he said. Instead of blaming our police officers and sheriff’s deputies for the lack of repercussions for our community’s criminals — take a look at our justice system.