by P.D. Lesko
On Dec. 23, 2021, I was the victim of a hate crime and assaulted. County Prosecutor Eli Savit’s office took until August 2022 to press charges. My assailant was arraigned on Sept. 23, 2022 on charges of assault/assault and battery, and on Oct. 12th at 9 a.m., she was ordered to appear before the Honorable Miriam A. Perry of the 15th District Court for a pre-trial hearing.
The pre-trial hearing is where the lawyers file motions and ask the Court to decide on those motions. In the case of my assailant, her appearance was short: her lawyer listed in court records as Delphia T. Simpson, Chief Public Defender for Washtenaw County, asked the judge for two weeks to go over the evidence with her client. The first question that comes to mind is the obvious one: why was the County’s Chief Public Defender unprepared for the Oct. 12 hearing? In the almost three weeks between when Simpson’s client was arraigned and the pre-trial hearing, Simpson made no time to meet with the woman and go over the evidence of the investigation? In reality, this is not an exception but rather the rule. In part, the Public Defender’s office is swamped with clients in need of representation.
There are 21 public defenders employed by Washtenaw County, and that office has a $3.37 million budget in 2022. There are a lot more public resources spent arresting, charging/prosecuting and incarcerating county residents. The Sheriff’s annual budget in 2022 is $30.9 million. Sheriff Clayton gets another $22 million for corrections and $5 million for emergency services. The Prosecuting Attorney’s office has a budget of $6.873 million. The 22nd District Trial Court’s budget is $8.69 million; the 15th District Court’s budget is $7 million.
Out of the County’s total $124 million in general fund revenue, from property taxes, fees and penalties, elected officials have voted to spend 65 percent of the general fund expenditures ($80.46 million) on police, corrections and courts to incarcerate (primarily) the people of Washtenaw County. According to the U.S Census Bureau, in 2017 U.S. counties spent an average of 19 percent of general fund expenditures on police, corrections and courts.
On the other side of the aisle, Washtenaw County spends 2.7 percent ($3.37 million) of its general fund revenue on defending those accused of crimes, or just $9.91 per capita spending for public defense, versus almost $250 per capita spending on police, corrections and courts.
Back to the public defender who came to my assailant’s hearing unprepared. Imagine for a moment if the woman who had assaulted me had not been granted bond by Magistrate Tamara Garwood on Sept. 23. Imagine if she had been jailed, instead. She would have waited two weeks after her arraignment for her pre-trial hearing and on that date (Oct. 12), watched over closed circuit television from the County Jail as Judge Perry gave the public defender two weeks to meet with her client (my assailant) and the prosecutor to go over the evidence in preparation for a second pre-trial hearing on Oct. 26.
But my white assailant was not jailed. According to data from the County, white men account for the largest percentage (57%) of the County Jail’s inmate population. While in our County around 12 percent of the residents are Black, they make up 39 percent of the Jail’s inmate population, and are nine times more likely than a white or Hispanic person to be arrested and charged with felonies.
Minutes after the pre-trial hearing ended, I got an email from my Victim’s Advocate, Meghan Spangler.
Good morning,
The above-named defendant was present for her pretrial this morning. The defense counsel requested an adjournment to go over discovery with her client and speak to the prosecutor. The next pretrial is set for October 26th, 2022, at 9am, I will update you after that hearing.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Meghan Spangler
Here is a question: (1) How come our Board of Commissioners sit by while the bureaucrats spend over four times the national average as a percent of the County’s general fund revenue on police, corrections and courts to incarcerate the (primarily Black) people of Washtenaw County? It makes me feel like I’m living in 1955 Mississippi, particularly because the largest percentage of the almost 8,000 bookings into our County Jail each year are for driving and traffic violations.
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