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Talk-Line: Charley Boonstra on recent criminal court cases · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Our quarter past the hour. This is Thursday, It's July ten,
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  Speaker 1: the year is twenty twenty five, and it's time for
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  Speaker 1: another informational edition of talk Line here at WIXN Radio.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, I'm Steve Marco. It is time for our
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  Speaker 1: bi monthly look at news and information from your Lee
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  Speaker 1: County State's Attorney's office. Every other month we get the
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  Speaker 1: low down on activity in and around our Lee County
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  Speaker 1: Courthouse and our Lee County area with our state's attorney,
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  Speaker 1: who joins us live for the update at the microphones
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Our good friend Charlie Boonster is with us
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  Speaker 1: today here at wix IN.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, sir, Good morning, thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Well, thank you, sir for joining us. Always a busy
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  Speaker 1: time for our Lee County State's Attorney and we have
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  Speaker 1: some very interesting information to share with you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Our State's attorney is going to talk about connections with
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  Speaker 1: the Illinois Department of Corrections. We're going to get to that.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about county board activity. There's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of that that has kind of been bubbling, so
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  Speaker 1: to speak, here during the summertime, and our state's attorney
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  Speaker 1: is going to update us on those areas a little
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  Speaker 1: bit later on our expanded talk line today here at WIX,
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  Speaker 1: we always start with a look at the current cases
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  Speaker 1: that our state's attorney is following here in our Lee
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  Speaker 1: County area. And so, Charlie, can you give us the
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  Speaker 1: update on exactly what is happening in your office as
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  Speaker 1: far as cases that you can talk about are concern Sure.
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  Speaker 2: We've been making a lot of progress lately. The last
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  Speaker 2: time we spoke, which was I think at the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of May, we've had several cases that we've closed out,
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  Speaker 2: We've set several for trial. Looking forward to resolving a
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  Speaker 2: lot of these cases. Just a couple of note since
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  Speaker 2: the beginning of May. People the State of Illinois versus
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  Speaker 2: Timothy Tate, which is a retail theft case. He received
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  Speaker 2: a year and a half in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
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  Speaker 2: People versus Gary Hazelwood violation order protection and aggravated battery
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  Speaker 2: case received three years in the Department of Corrections. People
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  Speaker 2: versus Denzel Walker in aggravated battery three years in the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Corrections. People versus Sam Jones. It was a
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  Speaker 2: contraband in a penal institution here at the Dixon Correctional
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  Speaker 2: Facility four years in the Department of Corrections. People versus
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  Speaker 2: Riley Reagan aggravated battery received four years in Apartment of Corrections,
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  Speaker 2: and then people versus Jeremiah Healed, which was a possession
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  Speaker 2: of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. He received
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  Speaker 2: seven years in the Department of Corrections. So just a
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  Speaker 2: couple of the cases we've been working on. We filed
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  Speaker 2: just over one hundred and thirty five cases so far
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  Speaker 2: this year. It's a little bit down from where we
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  Speaker 2: were the two previous years, but since twenty twenty two
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  Speaker 2: and moving backwards, it's actually been up. So we've been
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  Speaker 2: moving forward with filing cases closing cases. We've closed around
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  Speaker 2: forty five felony cases since we last spoke at the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of May. Obviously, Petunia Fest just came through as well.
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  Speaker 2: Usually we rack up some cases through there, and as
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  Speaker 2: you saw through Chief Bivens announcement, it was a pretty
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  Speaker 2: quiet Petunia Fest, which was good. I think it was
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  Speaker 2: nice that he got ahead of everything and it was
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  Speaker 2: able to encourage individuals to stay quiet and just enjoy
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  Speaker 2: the festival for what it is. So we have trials
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  Speaker 2: going into December as I said, we've been setting trials
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  Speaker 2: a lot lately, and it's good because it's it's pushing
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  Speaker 2: towards these resolutions that I think the community and victims
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  Speaker 2: of these offenses certainly deserve. So we want to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that we're pushing forward and don't become stagnant.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Right, So again a look at, you know, what
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  Speaker 1: has been accomplished as far as closing out cases, and
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  Speaker 1: it's it's always fascinating, you know, to to take a
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  Speaker 1: look at, you know, kind of the you know, the
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  Speaker 1: way that cases are closed out and as many have
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  Speaker 1: been closed out through the League Counties State's Attorney's office,
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  Speaker 1: you know, as we moved through the year. And this
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  Speaker 1: was just over the last period since our state's attorney
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  Speaker 1: talked to us last and this was just a you know,
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  Speaker 1: before the month this is May June July that we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about, that that amount of cases have been taken
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  Speaker 1: care of.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we tried to make it as a goal to
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  Speaker 2: try to close out around twenty felony cases a month.
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  Speaker 2: Is this Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's
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  Speaker 2: scheduling issues. Sometimes it's just you set out trials and
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  Speaker 2: you have to work through the case. But by no
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  Speaker 2: means do we want to degrade whatever the case may
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  Speaker 2: be and give it for what it's less. We want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that justice is being served and it's
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  Speaker 2: being done in a way that is going to be
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  Speaker 2: positive for the community.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: The justice comes in all shapes and sizes. We talk
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  Speaker 2: about with specialty courts and we talk about when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to just resolutions as we talk through victims. Every
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  Speaker 2: time we have a victim that comes through, we want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that we sit down with them and
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  Speaker 2: we're transparent with them, make sure that they know what
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  Speaker 2: possible penalties are at stake, and make sure that they
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  Speaker 2: know what it is we're looking at. Give them every
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  Speaker 2: opportunity in the world to talk to us about what
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  Speaker 2: they want to see happening.
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  Speaker 1: Now, most of these cases are not in front of
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  Speaker 1: juries though, you know we're talking about you know, most
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  Speaker 1: of these cases you know take you know, I guess
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  Speaker 1: the route, you know, as far as maybe plea bargaining, right, Yeah, So.
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  Speaker 2: There's gonna be a handful of cases that we go
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  Speaker 2: through trials, and there's going to be a handful of
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  Speaker 2: cases that are going to be pre bargaining and some
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  Speaker 2: of those cases too. As we develop the investigation, or
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  Speaker 2: as we develop and get mitigation from defense counsel, or
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  Speaker 2: just new facts that come through, some of them are
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  Speaker 2: going to be dismissed. It is just the nature of
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  Speaker 2: the beast. Like I said, we're here to do justice,
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  Speaker 2: We're not just here to convict. So we need to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we're doing right by all the individuals
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  Speaker 2: involved in the court system and making sure that we
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  Speaker 2: do what the community is requiring us to do.
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  Speaker 1: And it's until proven guilding. There's there's the bottom line.
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  Speaker 1: Really it is. It is the bottom line, and you
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  Speaker 1: have to you know, go by that guide and again
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  Speaker 1: take the cases you know, as they come to you
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  Speaker 1: through the Lee County States Attorney's Office is very interesting.
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  Speaker 1: The kinds of cases though that our State's attorney pointed out,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of aggravated battery, you know, you know, you know,
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  Speaker 1: kind of troubling families things like that.
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  Speaker 2: Correct. So in our office we see a lot of
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  Speaker 2: domestic cases come through, we see a lot of sex
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  Speaker 2: cases come through, a lot of drug cases. But that's
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  Speaker 2: not unique just to Lee County. I mean, that's that's
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  Speaker 2: across the board, right, But these aggravated batteries that we
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  Speaker 2: talk about. Specifically, the cases we talk about today actually
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  Speaker 2: lead into the Illinois Department of Corrections because there's stuff
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  Speaker 2: that happens there with them.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that. You wanted to talk about
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  Speaker 1: that today and they you know the there was a
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  Speaker 1: situation obviously, you know that took place right here in
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  Speaker 1: our own area, right that you had to mitigate, and
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  Speaker 1: you wanted to kind of bring up that connection with
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  Speaker 1: the IDEOC correct.
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  Speaker 2: So IDoc we are required, as Lee Kunty, State's Trains Office,
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  Speaker 2: or any jurisdiction that has a Department of Corrections facility
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  Speaker 2: in it, to prosecute cases that come from IDEOC. Previously,
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  Speaker 2: there have not been as many cases that have been filed.
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of it, from the most part,
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  Speaker 2: is just a matter of perspective and what should be
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  Speaker 2: or should not be filed. And there's nothing wrong or
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  Speaker 2: indifferent about that. But we've formed a good relationship with
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  Speaker 2: the investigators out in the Illinois Department of Corrections since
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  Speaker 2: I took office in twenty nineteen, and then subsequently thereafter
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  Speaker 2: there's been some changes those investigators, but it's always maintained
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  Speaker 2: a good relationship with the Dixon correctional facilit So what
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  Speaker 2: they do is they have their internal investigators that go
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  Speaker 2: through if an incident does occur at the Illinois Department
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  Speaker 2: of Corrections, they refer it to us to prosecute or
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  Speaker 2: if we decline to prosecute, and we'll sit down with
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  Speaker 2: them and go through these case by case and say,
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  Speaker 2: I think this one merits a prosecution, will initiate a prosecution,
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  Speaker 2: or this one there's some administrative sanctions that you've already done.
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  Speaker 2: I think justice has served here. We're not going to
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  Speaker 2: do something with that. So since I took office in
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  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, we have filed a tremendous amount of IDEOC cases,
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  Speaker 2: so much so that they have created a separate Illinois
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  Speaker 2: Department of Corrections court call at the Lee County Courthouse,
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  Speaker 2: which happens once a month because there are so many
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  Speaker 2: cases that we filed, and as we talked about with
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  Speaker 2: the cases that we've closed, it's not just a matter
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  Speaker 2: of slaps on the hand that happen once they come
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  Speaker 2: to our courthouse. We're actually getting people that have since
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  Speaker 2: parolled from the Illinois Department Corrections that show up for
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  Speaker 2: that court date and they actually go back into the
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  Speaker 2: Illinois Department Corrections based on what we're doing on that
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  Speaker 2: court call. It's not the same across the board. Sometimes
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be taking accountability and through convictions that
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  Speaker 2: do occur, and it changes their mandatory supervisor release or
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  Speaker 2: change like parole, or it changes things that give them
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  Speaker 2: privileges while they're in the Department of Corrections too. Like
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  Speaker 2: I said, the gambit of justice is wide. There are
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  Speaker 2: many different ways of looking at justice in that way,
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  Speaker 2: so we work with them. I think we've formed a
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  Speaker 2: really good relationship with them. We try to do as
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  Speaker 2: best we can with the corrections guards that are out there.
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  Speaker 2: They have one of the hardest jobs in the world
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  Speaker 2: being out the Dixon Correctional Facility, dealing with these people
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  Speaker 2: that are coming in there. Some of them are just
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  Speaker 2: conditioned to be a certain way and they have to
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  Speaker 2: deal with that day in and day out. It's a
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  Speaker 2: tough job, and I think the least that I can
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  Speaker 2: do is try to.
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  Speaker 1: Support them all absolutely. It's interesting, you know, the way
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  Speaker 1: I guess that this has morphed. First of all, the
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  Speaker 1: prison and we're talking about the Dixon Prison, the Dixon
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  Speaker 1: Correctional Facility that sits in our community. You know, it
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  Speaker 1: started as kind of a light area, didn't it, Generalie
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  Speaker 1: you you know it, when it came to putting people
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  Speaker 1: into this facility, it was it wasn't the you know,
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  Speaker 1: the hardened criminals. It was more of the lighter cases
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  Speaker 1: that we received in our correctional facility. That's the way
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  Speaker 1: it was originally set up to function as. But it's changed.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there certainly is there that portion of Dixon Correctional
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  Speaker 2: Facility that still has what we'll call it like the
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  Speaker 2: lighter offenses, your your thefts or even driving offenses, aggravated
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  Speaker 2: dui and what have you. Those are some of the
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  Speaker 2: ones that are out there, but they specifically have what's
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  Speaker 2: known as categorically is the X house where you have
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  Speaker 2: some of your more violent offenders and some of them
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  Speaker 2: are just at this point of mentally ill as well.
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  Speaker 2: So that's one of the things that we have to
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  Speaker 2: consider when a case comes across, is do they form
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  Speaker 2: that mental requisite or the men's rea to be able
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  Speaker 2: to actually commit the offense to which they're they're bringing
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  Speaker 2: it to us. So sometimes that's a hurd we have
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  Speaker 2: to get over. We have to look at medical documentation
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  Speaker 2: and any type of notes that they have for that
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  Speaker 2: to see if we can actually prove the case, because again,
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  Speaker 2: we're not trying to just put people on our dockets
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  Speaker 2: and trying to convict for the sake of conviction. We're
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  Speaker 2: trying to make sure we're doing the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it makes your office busier, Charlie, because
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  Speaker 1: we're just one of the few counties. Not all counties
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  Speaker 1: have this situation, you know, their State's Attorney's office, right,
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  Speaker 1: We're one of the few counties that have to deal
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  Speaker 1: with this.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Even if you look at just like the fifteen
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  Speaker 2: Judicial Circuit, you know, Carol Stevenson, Ogle, Joe Davies, none
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  Speaker 2: of them have a correctional facility like IDEOC. So we
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  Speaker 2: are unique just in even that regard, even just in
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  Speaker 2: Northern Illinois.
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  Speaker 1: And it puts I guess a little bit more of
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  Speaker 1: the burden on your office because you have to deal
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  Speaker 1: directly with those cases that come from the IDoc and
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  Speaker 1: from the Diction Correctional Center as with the as you
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  Speaker 1: just mentioned, the other counties don't see that correct yeah,
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  Speaker 1: in their routine.
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  Speaker 2: So we have that and again as we look at it,
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  Speaker 2: we also have a branch of that deals with fugitive
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  Speaker 2: apprehension from IDoc too, So individuals are release on mandatory
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  Speaker 2: supervisor release, they have their own IDEOC has their own
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  Speaker 2: task force that is also with the US Marshall's Office
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  Speaker 2: to apprehend people that have been released on MSR or
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  Speaker 2: manatory service release and then to get them back in
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: because of a prole warrant. So we've been working with
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  Speaker 2: them pretty substantially to try to help them and assist
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  Speaker 2: them in their apprehension of any of these prole violations.
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  Speaker 2: And we probably see them once a week or so.
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  Speaker 1: So the busyness more busyness through the Lee County States
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  Speaker 1: Attorney's Office because of the added guess area that we
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  Speaker 1: have to deal with with the Addiction Correctional Center and
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  Speaker 1: with the DOC and our State's attorney. What did it
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  Speaker 1: talk about that this morning? And I wanted to let
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  Speaker 1: people know, you know, about the additional work that has
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  Speaker 1: to be done. Really it does have to be done
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  Speaker 1: here in our own Lee County area because of that
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  Speaker 1: facility and the work that the Lee County State's Attorney's
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  Speaker 1: Office puts in. Charlie Bootstra is our Lee County States
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  Speaker 1: Attorney joining us for the talk line today. We still
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  Speaker 1: have areas that we want to talk about with our
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  Speaker 1: state's attorney. We're going to do that in the next
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  Speaker 1: half hour, but we're going to take a break for
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: five minutes of news at eight thirty. Next we continue
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: our conversation with our Lee County states Attorney, who has
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: joined us live for our July edition of Our State's
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  Speaker 1: Attorney's Report. Here at AM fourteen sixty and FM ninety
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  Speaker 1: five one are Lee County State's Attorney. Charlie Boonstrap is
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  Speaker 1: at the microphones this morning against her Thanks for spending
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  Speaker 1: the extra time with us.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, thanks for.
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  Speaker 1: Very interesting first portion of the talk line that we
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  Speaker 1: spent talking about the cases that are overseen through the
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  Speaker 1: Lee County State's Attorney's office and the connection with the
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  Speaker 1: Illinois Department of Corrections as far as our local area
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  Speaker 1: is concerned. I thought it was very interesting what State's
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Attorney Boomstrap shared with us in the first half hour
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  Speaker 1: here at FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty WIXM.
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  Speaker 1: But we do have a couple of more subjects that
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: we need to touch base upon, and one has to
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: do with the latest county board. I guess it was
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: a busy county Board area this time around.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the meetings haven't been too busy. What's happening
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  Speaker 2: behind the scenes when it comes to the separate departments
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: and what the County Board oversees has been very busy.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: As you know, the tax season was just here, so
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: my office has been helping out with in terms of
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: assessments and things that come up as legal questions. With
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: those when it comes to home seat exemptions and certain
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: veterans exemptions that come through, we try to help out
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: as best we can. We have a good team in
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Lee County that is able to work through these and
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: parts through the issues that are there, but sometimes there's
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: need another ear to bounce it off of, so we
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: try to do that for them as we can. We're
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: also working on changes to the liquor code, just not
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: necessarily anything drastic, just some cleaning up of some language
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: and bond language. So working with Nancy Peterson and her
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: team on that as well when it comes to the
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: County Board's desire to change some of that. We're also
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: getting hyped up for budget time. It's going to start
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: up this next month. All the department heads were required
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: to send in their budgets and whatever requests that are
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: going to be coming up through Capital and work through
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: that as we get to there. It's the and of July.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I think those will all be broadcast as through Zoom
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: as well if anybody is interested in watching those. We
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: are working on the implementation of the International Building Code.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: We didn't have that codified here in Lee County, so
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: we're working through that. Joe Bay was just hired on
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: to do the building inspections through the Zoning Department, so
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: we're working with them to try to clean up language
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: and get that drafted so that we can get it
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: on the books for the Lee County Board to consider.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: So that's one of the things we're working on. Zoning
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: petitions are a little changed now because we've eliminated the
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Zoning Board of Appeals. The County Board has voted to
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: do so and have just a zoning hearing officer instead
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: of the full board in of itself, so that hearing
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: officer will be a licensed attorney that's going to hear
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: all of the evidence testimony that's presented during a zoning
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: petition if it's a specially used permit or a variance,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: and then make determinations based on what they believe the
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: application of our code is to what they're requesting. Send
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: that along to the County Board for final approval. When
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: it comes to the new Courts Building and what County
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Board has been working on, Amy Johnson's circuit Clerk has
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: been heading this up, but it affects the entire new
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Courts Building is we're looking at a new case management
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: software system that's going to go into effect, and it's
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: going to take probably a year and a half to
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: actually get that rolling, but we're starting up this fall
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: with the implementation of it. It's the Tyler system. It's
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: going to be including probation, the Public Defender's office, my office,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: the circuit clerk's office, and we're all going to be
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: across the same type of system so that it'll be
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: a hub to the circuit clerk's office, so we can
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: pull information as we need to through the circuit clerk's office.
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  Speaker 2: But at least at that way, we're all in the
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: same umbrella and we're able to do this.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Are we separate right now with that situation?
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Correct? So there's different systems that are Okay, we used
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: to be my office used to be in tandem with
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: the circuit clerk's office through this full court, full case system.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: We switched about a year and a half two years
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: ago to what's known as Prosecutor by car Pell or
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: PBK because we were losing any type of support or
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: maintenance for our case management software. Okay, so we switch that,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: and now we're switching again just because of that issue,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: and now will be a uniform across the board. So
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: it's a good change. It's just going to take some time.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: And then as we look at the nuisance decrepit properties
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: that we've talked about before, these properties, there's been some
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: movement with that too. Is as well with the Health
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Department and Zoning department. When it comes to violation notices,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: they're trying to get compliance with the individuals that have
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: these properties, try to get them into compliance with whatever
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: the Health and Safety code may require or the zoning
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: code may require. Sometimes they don't get that compliance, so
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: they issue violations and you start hiting, hitting pocketbooks and
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: getting court involvement too. So they're working through that develop
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: the form to be able to get those violations out
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: if they need to do so. But again, the first
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: thing they want to do is just try to get
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: compliance from the community. And then you know, just as
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: a matter of principle and props to the County Board
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: and what they've done over the last five six years
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: since I become statesttorney, even it has become much more streamlined,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: much more efficient with how county Board is dealing with
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: the issues of the county. And I think that that's
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: something to be commended when it comes to these County
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Board members and what they're doing. So I appreciate it
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: as a department head, I appreciate it as as a
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: citizen in Lee County, and it's really been developing nicely.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Hui well, and so kudo's a little bit to our
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Lee County Board for their efficiency and again getting matters
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: taken care of, and obviously, you know, with the important
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: matters upcoming as far as the budget is concerned, as
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: our state's attorney pointed out, they're going to be busy
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: with that again in the upcoming months ahead as we
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: get started down that process. Real, Charlie, you wanted to
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: talk as we kind of tail out of our talk
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: line today about something that was taking place right after
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I believe our conversation that was held prior and this
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: would have been in the month of May, you were
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: taking you were going to take a trip down to
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Central Illinois for some information and education.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: We actually ended up going to a national conference, So
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: we ended up going to Florida. That's where the conference
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: is at.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, it changes every year, Okay, okay, but.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: It was the al Rise twenty twenty five conference, and
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: a team of Lee County folks went down to Florida
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: for that. And that involves all specialty courts. I mean,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: that's primarily your drug court, but also we have a
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: veteran's Treatment Court, so we went down there to learn
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: more about that as well. It's good to get down
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: there to learn the nation's best practices that are going
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: right now and to get a little bit more of
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: an idea of what the evidence based approaches are when
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: it comes to treatment and intervention. So individuals from Lee
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: County Probation Department, Court Services went down, individuals from Poet
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Defender's Office, my office, judges, we all went down to
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: sit through these conferences and these breakout sessions to understand
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: a little bit more about each of those areas that
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: we're talking about. It's good because then we're all on
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: the same page. We all understand, get the same material.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: We all understand what those evidence based approaches are and
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: how they're developing over the year. It's not just somebody
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: that gets a gut feeling of all we want to
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: do this. It's we're getting stats and understanding what individuals
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: are high risk, high need, and are going to be
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: successful in these programs. And if you're not high risk
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: and high need, you're not going to be successful in
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: these programs. You don't need as much supervision, you don't
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: need this kind of direction. So it's good for us
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: to have that approach, get those refreshers, and to understand
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: how we're going to progress and move our programs forward.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, with the drug courts, with the veterans courts, and
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: for those that aren't familiar with what we're talking about here,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: these are the areas through County Attorney's Office, through the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: counties that offer opportunities for those that want to clean
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: their page, so to speak, and clean their slate, not
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: just you know, you know, we're talking drug court obviously
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: in that area, but veterans as well, but you know,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: can can maybe clean up a few messy areas and
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: get themselves straightened out. This is what that's all about.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Correct and so a big part of this is you're
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: gonna get individuals that are almost on what i'll say,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: their last leg. It's unless you clean it up, you're
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: gonna end up in prison. Unless you clean this up,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: or or you try to take accountability and understand where
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: you're coming from and the decisions you've made leading up
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to this point. There's a really harsh reality at the
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: end of this program for you. So it's it's good
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: in that regard. Sometimes we're getting individuals that we can
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: get early on, and we've seen some some younger participants
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: that have been thriving. There's always bumps in the road,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: but we also see changes too across the board when
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: it comes to like Veteran's Treatment Court, in some of
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: the aspects that they have that are unique to Veteran's
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Treatment Court. A lot of I don't think it's a surprise,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: but a lot of PTSD that comes from it. Yeah,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: there's been overseas or whatever it may be. So it's
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: a unique approach. It's a good approach because we're able
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: to look at the defendant or that person as an
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: individual and try to set up a program that's going
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: to be unique to them, and rather than just trying
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: to lock someone away that's not going to be better
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: from any type of treatment or any type of assistance
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: that we can give them, we get people that are
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: going to come out of this and be better productive
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: citizens in society. So it's almost a selfish thing for
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: us to do so that we can have people that
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: are going to be sure productive community.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, but at the same time, you know, those that
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: may not mean to, you know, do the things that
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: they do. Maybe sometimes it's beyond them, you know, to
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: again clean up their acts, so to speak. But this
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: is a way to do it. And like you said, Charlie,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: it's not always a gimme that this is going to
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: be successful.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Correct And sometimes even when they do graduate, they still
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: end up with a conviction. Based on the criminal history
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: and everything that's happening there, they may end up with
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: a conviction, not just a dismissal of the case and
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: then move on. But these our individuals that are not
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: necessarily just one day deciding to pick up a drug habit,
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's other things that are going on in
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: their lives that lead to this point. Victims of sexual abuse,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: victims of domestic violence or just victims of bad circumstance,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: depending on what's going on. So we try to do
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: as best we can to meet them where they're at.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Is there anything from this particular trip that you took
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: that you know you're going to or are we just
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: going to see you know, things kind of stay where
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: they are right now, or I mean, did you pick
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: up anything?
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Sure, So we did have treatment providers that went with
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: us from the area, and it is a really good
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: insight to have because you get in this mindset and
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: you get stagnant in these tree courts and you think
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: to yourself, I've got it all figured out now, and
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: it's nice to be able to have that multidisciplinary team
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: approach where you're hearing from other individuals, well, I think
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: you're wrong about that, or I think this is a
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: different perspective with it. So you know, one of the
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: things we look at when we're talking about the high
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: risk high needs is you may look at somebody and go, well,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: they're high risk low needs somebody that doesn't need as
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: much supervision or somebody that doesn't need this type of
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: court intensive approach. And for me, it was good to
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: be able to differentiate those kind of four different quadrants
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to look at and understand that, you know, we're going
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to be able to help somebody, We're going to be
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: able to set them on the right path. They just
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: don't need this path and differentiate that. And sometimes even
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: if somebody is high risk kind needs based on the
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: circumstance surrounding their criminal offense, it's just not something that
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: we can put them in there for for a violent
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: offense or something that's going to be kind of disingenuous
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: towards the results for the community.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Interesting trip and interesting results, and we'll see some of
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: this obviously come back and again work in our local entities,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the drug courts, the veterans' courts here in our own
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Lee County area. Our State's Attorney Charlie Boonster with a
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: full report for you today here at w i X,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and we appreciate that, sir, we're out of time. We
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: thank you so very much for joining us well, and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: we will see you, i'm sure in upcoming reports as
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: we continue our updates coming from the Lee County Courthouse.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming in today, sure. Our Lee County State's Attorney,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Charlie Boonshar our talk line guest today here at wi
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: XM