Is our juvenile justice system a joke?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tomorrow strouder. You may not recognize the name, not because
you've never heard of his crimes, but because most media
will not release the names of little kids who commit
crimes a little kid. In twenty seventeen, when at age
ten years old, Tomorrow was convicted of two counts of
m one attempted B and E. It had been conveniently

(00:22):
pled down from the actual charge of breaking and entering.
Presiding Judge Elizabeth Gill remanded him to pay twenty five
dollars restitution to the victim, a lesson learned for most
ten year olds, but not for Tomorrow. Just two years later,
at age twelve, he was found guilty of a felony
of the third degree out of a robbery conviction. Age twelve,

(00:46):
Judge gil presided over the case once again, and after
the verdict, ordered Tomorrow to follow the rules of home,
follow the rules of school, and the rules of the community,
something Tomorrow just did not seem to grasp. As part
of his sentencing, Judge Gill had him write a letter
of apology to the victim, continue with counseling, and pay

(01:08):
forty dollars in restitution. Maybe this time, young Tomorrow will
set his sights on being a productive member of our community,
or maybe not. Next up was March of twenty twenty two,
when many were still worried about catching the virus. Oh
tomorrow now fifteen. Well he caught something as well, but
it happened to be another felony. When he was found

(01:30):
in a stolen vehicle. Judge Elizabeth Gill brought down the
gavel and gave him the following tomorrow would be placed
on community supervision. He must comply with the Juvenile Community
Enrichment Services JCEES and commit to the creation of goals
and a success plan. He must sign the plan, follow

(01:53):
the goals of the plan, and be in touch with
someone from JCEES. He also cannot be found guilty of
any new TI charges. A stipulation of his conviction was
he cannot be found guilty of any new charges and
if he did not meet these mandates, well it may
it may result in the imposition of additional community supervision

(02:13):
sanctions and I'm sure no cookies after lunch. At this
point I believe he was put into Franklin County Children's Services,
the Abracus House, I think, and ironically the Clembus City
Schools were ordered to bear the cost of his tuition.
I may be common practice, but certainly was not common
knowledge to me. Just over a year later, in July

(02:35):
of twenty twenty three, a warrant was issued for tomorrow
because he went a wall from this residence. But as
luck would have it, he did turn up just a
few days later. You guessed it in a stolen vehicle.
At least on this one he was legal driving age
at sixteen years old, but that didn't prevent him from
catching another F four felony for receiving stolen property. Judge

(02:58):
Gil having been there for all of his ventures over
the past six years, well, she was going to bring
down the hammer of Lady Justice, but decided to wait
for it. Place him on community supervision, remand him to
comply with the Juvenile Community Enrichment Services once again. You know,
create the goals, follow the golds, keep in contact with

(03:19):
the specialist, all that stuff, and oh, he cannot be
found guilty of any other charges. He cannot be found
guilty of any other charges. And Judge Gill made him
write an apology letter to the victim. And of course
he was the follow of the rules of the group home.
Failure to comply with her demands. Well, it may, it could,

(03:39):
but it probably won't result in any additional community supervision sanctions.
And I would imagine at least no TV for an
hour each night or something else. And this time, this
time she means it. No, really she did, but tomorrow
is just getting started. Just three months after being caught
in his second stolen vehicle, that rascal was up to

(04:01):
it again, because on October seventeen, twenty twenty three, the
dude must have just needed a ride cause, yep, you
guessed it. This sixteen year old thug was picked up
in another stolen vehicle, in charge with having a weapon
as a felon. Sixteen years old, in charge with having
a weapon as a convicted felon, in charge with carrying

(04:22):
concealed of that weapon. Three new felonies to present to
Judge Gil. But old Tamari caught himself a break when
I'll say this slow when the prosecution requested having the
weapons under disability in receiving stolen property charges dismissed in

(04:43):
exchange for a guilty plea on a lesser charge of
carrying a concealed weapon. I admittedly do not know all
the details of the incident. But if the charges were
true on the surface, why the hell are we offering
plea deals on gun charges to a thug not old
enough to even purchase a fire arm and who now
spent almost half of his life terrorizing Columbus. The play

(05:07):
approved by Judge gil and wait for it, his punishment
placed on community supervision. He must comply with the Juvenile
Community at Richmond Services jcees because it's worked so well
to this point. He needs to create goals, sign off
on those goals, follow those goals.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
And check in with them.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And of course he cannot be found guilty of any
new charges or else it may result. It may result
in additional community supervision sanctions and no cookie TV and
I think no phone for one hour each week or
something like that. Now you know, I just made that
cookie part of it up. But would you be surprised
if that wasn't in there. But twenty twenty four brought

(05:46):
a new year for this seventeen year old and with
a new set of charges. In August of last year,
police arrested Tomori and his eighteen year old friend Robert
Green after they tried to carjack a driver gunpoint. They
ran and then opened fire on the victim following them.
Green was immediately put in jail, but Slippery Tomory did

(06:09):
not get charged with his F one aggravated robbery, F
two robbery and F two kidnapping until the next month
when a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was
found shortly thereafter, but to the surprise of police. To
the surprise of police, the arrest warrant had been set
aside by the magistrate working with Judge Gill and you

(06:32):
guessed it, he was allowed to roam the streets of
Columbus once again, that is until January ninth, twenty twenty five.
On that day, officers were dispatched to the area of
Lockbourne Road after a nine one one call was received.
The girl on the line frantically said her boyfriend had
a gun and was threatening to shoot her. Officers arrived

(06:53):
on the scene within minutes and found themselves immediately taking
rounds from an unknown suspect. Foot chase ensued as the
thug Tomorrow continued to attempt to kill four CPD officers,
striking their cruisers, adjacent buildings and sending the community running
for their lives. Due solely to the brave officers that day,

(07:16):
who continued to pursue Tomorrow, he was apprehended after attempting
to murder them, all captured amazingly with no injuries to
any officer or civilians. The judge this time agreed with
prosecutors to keep.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Him in custody for now.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Unfortunately, as outraged as his story has been, it's not
an exception to what has been occurring in the juvenile
courts in Franklin County Tomorrow. Strouter intended that day to
kill as many officers as necessary to aid in his escape.
In the past eight years, he had shown no signs,
shown no regards for life, the community, and the law.

(08:01):
He should never ever have been on the streets that day,
and somebody needs to be held accountable. When does it stop.
Will it have to take an officer losing their life
or yet another civilian killed by these rabid, juvenile thugs
running the streets, or do we have the courage to
speak out against a failed system. It no longer is

(08:24):
acceptable for prosecutors, elected officials, and judges to say they
need to start looking for solutions. Every time the news
reports on the next shooting involving teenagers, that time to
look for solutions was four years ago, remember was when
they are all busied demonizing police. Do not let our

(08:44):
men and women on the front lines down take a stance,
speak out, or we will soon read about the next
judge sentencing these murders in training to writing an apology
letter to officers families.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
On Target is next, Good afternoon, Welcome on Target.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
We're badcasting live from the studios of LPD Firearms Ranging
in Training Facility that's located at nine nine nine Triple
nine Bethel Road.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Big Ed. How are you, sir?

Speaker 3 (09:14):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
You know, we go through these things and take a
deep dive and I commit to doing the facts.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Now.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
I don't know everything about these cases, and you know,
and sometimes you're reading between the lines a little bit.
And I don't know if the judge in this case
was acting on her own or if she's acting within
the parameters of the juvenile system. But whatever the case
may be, it's a failure to the citizens of Columbus
when stuff like this happens, that that is unacceptable. Absolutely,
when four officers put their lives in danger because of

(09:43):
a thug who ten times over shouldn't have even been
on the street, Somebody needs to somebody needs to step
in front of these people and say, explain how this
could occur.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
Well, I'd like to know that myself. But then why
does he have to be out at commit ten crimes
to you? Finally, is he still in?

Speaker 1 (10:00):
By the way, I believe he's still in. He should
be over as an adult. He was seventeen when this happened,
and he turned eighteen I think a few weeks later.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Hi.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, yeah, Oh guys.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
We are the owners of LAPED Firearms Drains and training
facility in our active in law enforcement. But for one
hour on Saturdays, we put together a group of firearm
experts to discuss new products in the market, training tips,
and oftentimes political topics surrounding the Second Amendment. Our commitment
that has always been to bring you facts about our
industry and help listeners and customers safe responsible ownership of firearms.
Today on the show, actually we want to remind everyone

(10:32):
to go to our Facebook page.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
I don't ed are we not up on Facebook?

Speaker 3 (10:35):
We are not on Facebook. We are live on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Live on YouTube. Don't know why that is?

Speaker 3 (10:39):
Let us on again for some reason.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yes, but after the show, after you watch it on YouTube,
go to the Facebook page because we put out there
some links to our friend Spencer Badger.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Remember he was the officer who recently got fired.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Put some links to his videos and if you want
to help, his family's out there on our Facebook page.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
And let's see what else.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
How ironic he was fired because he was pointing out
these thugs on the street and promoting what was really
happening on the streets. Yeah, and here he gets fired
in this young man yep is still out there committing crimes.
Well he'll know it's crazy. He'll probably be let out
on community service again. Yeah, hopefully give with an ankle
monitor this time.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Maybe.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Well that's you're talking big time. I'm talking big time, guys.
We don't have any JC today. We might get to
a little bit news later, but we got a packed show. Actually,
we have a Gun of the Week two we're hoping
to get to, but I'm not sure if we're gonna
get to that either.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
Ed.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
So that's okay. Everybody can see it.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, it's up there.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's a nice looking weapon.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
We also have to thank our good friend Attorney General
Davius for calling in last week. Always insightful and you
know what, we're fortunate to have him as our ag
So thanks again Dave for giving us a call last week.
Shortly though, we're gonna hear from a good friend of ours,
mister Ron O'Brien.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Good friend.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, I think Ron will be able to answer some
of the questions. That's why this keeps happening.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
That is right.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
He's gonna give us some professional insight, not just versus
my just as versus off the top of my head.
He's gonna give us professional insight ed, and that's that's different.
So yes, professional insights on what he thinks is going
on in the Franklin County Juvenile justice system. As he
steps up here, we're going to get to him, Charlie.
And then at twelve thirty, we welcome to the live studios.

(12:16):
A good, longtime friend that never calls her right. I
don't know how I can call her friend if she
doesn't call her right, But that's okay. I will take
that off air, A good.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Friend of our.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
You watch her nightly on ABC six and Fox News,
and her investigative stories are fascinating. I'm always sitting there
watching intently because I know how good of a job
she does. At twelve thirty, we're going to bring on
our friend Lisa Rantla. She's going to join us in
studio talk about her story this week that kind of
prompted all this discussion about juveniles. She did a great story,
interviewed Brian Steele and professor and we're going to get

(12:47):
to her at twelve thirty.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Not going to want to miss that.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Got to thank our sponsor's US Law Shield, great sponsor
of ours, Black Wing Shooting Center, River's Edge Cutlery, Jackson
Egress Windows, and I got to give a shout out today.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Ed.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
I know you didn't get there because the line was
too long, but the new coffee and donut shop always did.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
At our heart's head.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
It's open.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
The coffee and donut shop.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Is opening ring by the way, the power Rings it
is opening our complex here. You gotta stop by and
check it out. Coffee, coin and Mochi shop. The donuts
she brought some over yesterday. It was a mistake because
I ate more donuts yesterday than I should have.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Power rings.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Power rings.

Speaker 6 (13:24):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
On a side note, they did give Dad a cappuccino.
I've never seen the man bounce around so far.

Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah, well, don't let the long line discourage you. Yes,
must mean, there's something good going on over there.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
There you go, guys, We're gonna jump to a break
because on the other side we're gonna get to our
good friend, former Franklin County Prosecutor Ryan O'Brien. We're on
talking broadcasting life from the studios of lapd Fiarms Arrange.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
We'll be back right after the break.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
This is the Juvenile Court System talking heads.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
I was going with the burning down the house. Maybe
we needed to burn it down, that was my thought.
But you're right.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Head every now and then, you're a little witty little
every now and you know.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
Welcome back to on target. I'm your host.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Eric Jointed in the LPEDS too, is at the voice
of Big edg to my right up soon here at
twelve thirty. I'll good for Lisa Rounsell is gonna join us.
But in the meantime, our good friend Rhin O'Brien sitting here.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Besides, how are you, sir.

Speaker 6 (14:13):
Doing great?

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Doing great?

Speaker 7 (14:15):
I had not seen Eric in quite some time until
I ran into him on Monday in the Saint Patrick's
State Parade. He was there and the cruiser controlling some traffic,
and I, of course, as I have for many many
Moons was marching in the parade.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Well I had here. Last time I saw you, Ron,
you were in a kilt. I'm just saying, that's just
what it's on the script.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
No, no, no, and that's not so someone must not
have talked to you.

Speaker 6 (14:39):
I always wear a long top.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Coat because I saw all I could see was from
the cruiser window down, so you know, I guess maybe
I even mistaken the four. But it was a good
seeing you there, always a great event and went off
without without any issues, which is always always good. I
wanted to bring you in today because you are you
know this stuff inside and out, way more than us
sitting back here, and I think we bring the perspective

(15:01):
of just what the public sees and when sometimes something
doesn't feel right or look right, there's something behind the
scenes that's going on that may be within the procedures
and stuff. So we wanted to bring you on and
just get a sense of do you think do you
feel there's something different today in the juvenile Dutchess system
in Franklin County versus four or five years ago. It

(15:22):
just seems like the rate of juvenile crimes just through
the roof and nothing's getting better.

Speaker 7 (15:28):
You know, I'm not sure I would attribute it to
the last four or five years.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Eric.

Speaker 7 (15:32):
Over a period, I would probably guess ten, maybe even
fifteen years. The Juvenile Court, when established a century ago,
was designed to rehabilitate children, and i'd emphasize children, not
young thugs, and that's what it was designed to do,
and that's what it did for many years. But I'd

(15:53):
say in the last ten or fifteen years, it's moved
closer to being, you know, social workers trying to help kids,
rather than imposing what most people would think is an
appropriate penalty for what would be a crime if committed.

Speaker 6 (16:10):
By an adult.

Speaker 7 (16:11):
And at least certainly as we see the number of
cars stolen in our city by the Kia Boys, and
repeatedly they're arrested, repeatedly, they're released, repeatedly, they're arrested, they're
put on probation.

Speaker 6 (16:26):
Nothing is done.

Speaker 7 (16:27):
When they're arrested again in a stolen car or having
stolen the car themselves, you know, something needs to be done.
We had when I was there, and I can't remember
what case precipitated it, but it was a case similar
to the one you're talking about today. We had kind
of like a summit meeting with the Juvenile Court judges, CPD,
the Sheriff's office, our office out at the Police Academy

(16:48):
there on haygu Avenue, and at least you know, we
expressed then, and as I say, this was probably six
years ago, our concern that the court was not properly
handling juveniles. They weren't going to jail when they should,
they weren't staying in jail when they should. And when
I say jail, I mean the juvenile detention center. And

(17:09):
I would add the mindset is shown just by the
change and the name in recent years from juvenile detention
center to a juvenile intervention center. It's no longer juvenile
detention center. And I think that probably is an accurate description.
But I remember one case where a young man had
been arrested on a serious domestic violence case involving a

(17:32):
family member, and they took him down to jail, and
under the rules, they turned around called that family member
he had assaulted to come down and pick him up
because they didn't want to keep him in detention. Now,
and that's somewhat again, is somewhat symptomatic of the kind
of problems that occurred, and over a period of time.

(17:52):
As I say, I think the court moved towards more
focusing on the rehabilitation role. We certainly they have and
certainly they deserve. But it's the repeat offenders that I
think it has been lost on, and people who are
on probation one, two, three, four, five times and commit
a new felony, much as this person that you're describing

(18:14):
on your show today, that nothing ever happens to him.
You know, sometimes they have to shoot someone three times
before something serious happens to him and they get bound
over for trials an adult. And as the police officers
will tell you, the juveniles know how the system works

(18:34):
and that they will not the third time they're arrested
for stealing a car, that nothing will happen to them
that didn't happen to him before. And I think that
sends the wrong message to youngsters, to their parents and
others in the community. They're friends, fellow gang members, many
of them in a gang, and I think that's where

(18:56):
the mindset has evolved to where some real sanctions need
to be imposed. And that was one of the reasons
I started a program focusing on kids that were absent

(19:18):
from school because it seemed like every kid that committed
a murder when they were seventeen, or an arm robbery
or rape when they were seventeen, their first contact with
the Corps was at age twelve, when they were truant.
And so if we could do something about keeping them
in school, getting them in school, that you could get

(19:38):
them on the right path to avoid escalating to the
stolen car, to the burglary, to the robbery, and then
ultimately with an adult carrying a gun and shooting somebody
in an arm robbery of a convenience store. And I
thought the program was well conceived, well worked, and in fact,
I worked very closely with Judge Gill, who was the

(19:59):
lead juvenile judge at the time. I don't believe she
is any longer, but she was committed to that program
for the same reasons. And I don't know where that
is now. But I think for people, particularly gang bangers
and people who have appeared before the court multiple times

(20:20):
on serious offenses, including violence offenses, weapons offenses, that a
different kind of disposition needs to be considerate.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
And I think, I mean, I think everyone would agree
when you're dealing with kids, and I use the term loosely,
but you know, you want the first thing to be,
let's get them on the right path. I mean, there's
many occurrences where they do something as a child and
they get on the right path and become a productive
member of society. It just seems to be ones like
this one that we're talking about today. I mean time

(20:51):
and time. I mean, they were he was very close
to murdering officers, and it just seems to be something
that could have been preventable, and we should all be
doing something to prevent that in the future, or we're
going to have more dead citizens. I mean, how many
of these juveniles have caused citizens' deaths here in the
last couple of years via stolen car accidents or whatever
the case may be.

Speaker 7 (21:11):
At least in this case, I don't think he was
released from custody.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
They filed the aggravated.

Speaker 7 (21:16):
Robbery charges, a warrant was issued and it was never executed,
or they never found him on the warrant and someone,
and at least at this point they can't identify who
or what or how or why someone went to the
court to set aside to warrant and give him a
court date, at which time he did not appear. But
that's where there's a void, as I understand it, where

(21:40):
the prosecutor and the defense attorney and the magistrate all
didn't sign the order that set aside the warrant, so
you can't.

Speaker 6 (21:48):
Trace back why it was why not done.

Speaker 7 (21:50):
I can see how it could have been done and
done properly absent the signing of the documents, given this
young man's record.

Speaker 6 (21:59):
But you know that would be speculation, right right if.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
That was after he committed several crimes already that were
with felony charges, that the system failed and they kept
letting him out he should have ever been out, And
when they get past three and four times, there's no
sense in trying to rehabilitate him anymore. They've got to
be penalized to see that their choices that they made
will keep them behind bars instead of letting him out

(22:26):
to get to the point where he fires guns at officers.

Speaker 7 (22:29):
Now, I think that's what probably ninety five percent of
John Q public thanks. It's just that that's just not
what is being done, and that's all what needs to
be reviewed, and I think I understood it was being
reviewed at least his particular case.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Are you able to sit with us for a little
bit longer. Sure, all right, we're gonna jump to the
bottom of the outer news. When we come back, we're
going to welcome Lisa to the table as well in
the studio live studio, and we have Ryan O'Brien and
Big Ed myself here. We're on Talker broadcasting live from
the studios of lpd fiarm Range. We'll be back after
the news. Welcome back on Target. I'm here's Eric joined today.

(23:10):
We get a full studio today, Edward Sure full studio
joined today in the studio with former Franklin County prosecutor,
all around good guy and and I'm gonna throw this
out there, ron classmate of my father, the sales He
just texted me and said to tell you hi.

Speaker 7 (23:24):
Well, and as you know, I even though I graduated
from high school with your dad, Phil, I look much
younger than him.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Of course that is yes, that's why he left today.
He didn't want to be standing side by side with
you' s either that or he's over at the coffee
shop also. And to my left, it is so good
to have you here, Lisa. Lisa in Fox twenty eight.
I see on TV all the time, you know, a
call or.

Speaker 8 (23:48):
Nothing but thank you for watching.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, I text back.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
I know you text back, but you know, you know,
maybe like, hey, Eric, let's do a story about We
did some stories early on.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Oh yeah, you know.

Speaker 8 (24:00):
But now you guys are great with us.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
You are out there doing these deep dive investigative reporting,
and honestly, every time I see a promo for something
coming up, I'm like, oh, I gotta watch that. I
gotta watch that, because I know you do very well
in getting to the facts and presenting it, and sometimes
I don't know how you do it within the time
constraints that you have. I mean, even on Tuesday, the
story that we're talking about today, I mean, what four
minutes or something like that, or four and a half.

Speaker 8 (24:23):
Minutes, I have to fight for time.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, I mean I can imagine that.

Speaker 8 (24:26):
For time.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
I mean we're fortunate we at least have an hour
and we can talk. And sometimes that's not enough to
evolve this story.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
But to do everything, I'm sure it took you weeks to.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Get to that point. Oh sure, and to consolidate it
and decide what's important or not.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
I mean, that's that's.

Speaker 5 (24:42):
That's it, And it does take time because what I
do is really based on records, and it's records.

Speaker 8 (24:47):
Requests and foyas and which run you sure.

Speaker 7 (24:52):
The juveniles is more difficult than your typical public records requests.

Speaker 5 (24:57):
Correct, And then you know when they come in to
your office, the boys come into your office. You got
all the lawyers that look over what can we give them?

Speaker 8 (25:04):
What can we not?

Speaker 2 (25:05):
So yeah, no, I know, I mean it's tough for you.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Well, the regionally wanted you on today because we and
you might say for those listening, you know why why
is a gun show or Second Amendment show talking about this?
But it does have ramifications because ron like, as we talked,
a lot of these juveniles end up with gun crimes.
How are they getting those guns? That's something that comes
into our world and invariably people that are out there

(25:28):
who aren't gun people, which is fine, absolutely fine. When
you see the proliferation of guns on the street, A
lot of times that reaction is we got to ban guns.
We gotta do something with guns. So in that regards,
it starts to affect us, and we like to get
to the.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Root of it. How are they getting it?

Speaker 1 (25:42):
The sixteen year old isn't coming into led to buy
his gun, so how is that to world. So that's
kind of how we wrap it in. Plus we have
a little eye for the law enforcement stuff. Anyways, I
might throw into eric.

Speaker 7 (25:52):
I did a study and had juveniles and this is
probably two thousand and two thousand and two interviewed after
sure they played guilty, could because they wouldn't talk beforehand
about the source of their weapons if it was a
crime committed with the weapons. And probably eighty five percent
were stolen either from cars home burglaries, or traded for

(26:16):
drugs on the street. And at least the gangs have
access to drugs, and the gangs would get drugs trade
them for guns, and that was how it was happening.
And I assume in the last twenty years that hasn't changed.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Right, And we talk all the time safe responsible gun
owners like we are here. We have to do our
part to make sure those things are secured in the vehicles.
You can't just haphazardly leave it in the glove box
because you're running into the store. That doesn't allow you
to have a gun. That's our responsibility to keep those
off the street because they end up in the hands
of individuals like this, shooting at officers, shooting at civilian

(26:51):
So that's where we like to try to step in
and bring awareness that we need to do better job
in keeping them out of the hands of.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
The bad guys.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
So, Lisa, So this week did a story on Tuesday. Yeah,
interviewed at a number of people. FOP President Brian Steele.
You followed up. I saw it, follow up yesterday. Professors
tell us a little bit about the story.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
Sure, So ironically, I was actually on January ninth, I
was working on some investigations.

Speaker 8 (27:16):
We were short staffed, a.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
Little bit breaking news in South Columbus. Shots fired involving officers,
possible shootout.

Speaker 8 (27:25):
They're like, go, go go.

Speaker 5 (27:27):
So my photographer, my photographer and I we get there
and we get the video of this seventeen year old
being put on the gurney, being put in the ambulance
taking off.

Speaker 8 (27:39):
We're behind the.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Perimeter tape and we're there a while getting all the video,
talking to neighbors, and then the public information officer, Sergeant
Albert for Columbus Police Department, he's briefing us, you know,
every so often, a couple of times in the afternoon,
and that's when he said, you know, this this kid

(28:01):
they've they've identified him. They didn't release the name at
that point, but he did have an extensive criminal record
and everybody was asking, well, how was he out, and uh,
there was the record included aggravated robbery.

Speaker 8 (28:18):
So those are some red flags.

Speaker 5 (28:21):
Then you fast forward to the next day, which is
January tenth. The press conference is held at Columbus Police headquarters,
and there you have Chief Brian Assistant Chief Potts, you
have FOP President Brian Steele, you have Mayor Andrew Ginther,
and they were all they all expressed concerns with Juvenile

(28:43):
Court how this kid was out on the street. And
then you had Lieutenant Steele, FOP president, really demanding to
know who whose case this was, which judge, why, why
this kid was out on the street. So I really
that's when I started really digging in investigating. Okay, we hear,

(29:06):
we hear the criticism of juvenile Court, We've heard it.
I actually did a sit down, an hour long interview.
He was very candid, great interview in twenty twenty two
with then lead Juvenile Court Judge George Leech, who really
kind of explained their philosophies and their strategies. So and
we did that because the criticism has been there even

(29:27):
then that we had to sit down, so we look
into it again. My first approach is going to CPD
getting all the reports that this particular seventeen year old
is listed in, so let's see that. Then I went
to juvenile court, give me all of the court cases,
all of the complaints, all of the AFFI David's.

Speaker 8 (29:49):
But then that wasn't enough.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
I wanted the release orders, so because that wasn't given
into me in.

Speaker 8 (29:55):
The first batch, and so I was really trying.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
To figure out the chain custody, who had the last
chain of custody when he was out, and so what
I was able to really acquire. I have his record
here started at the age of ten. We've got robbery's,
strong armed robberies, we have car thefts, we have going
a wall from court ordered residential programs. He left one

(30:23):
group home and an uber for the next day. He's
accused of then committing another car theft, you know, or
being involved in that.

Speaker 8 (30:34):
So he's been in and out.

Speaker 5 (30:36):
But the last little bit before this shootout with police
in January was this aggravade robbery from August, which he's
alleged to have commit with his co defendant eighteen. This
is my first story that I did in February. An
eighteen year old Robert Green. So they're accused of what

(30:56):
it sounds like seeing a crime of opportunity, South Columbia.
Someone's getting in his car. They jump in, they have
a gun. They try to rob him. They were able
to get.

Speaker 8 (31:08):
The victim's keys and phone.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
They for some reason get out of the car take
off running. The victim then joins victim number two, who
chase them to a speedy mart in South Columbus. Then
surveillance video, according to police, shows the eighteen year old
fires his gun randomly three pm in the afternoon. It
was a Monday through Friday, hit a car in that

(31:35):
parking lot.

Speaker 8 (31:35):
They continue to run. Police are now called.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
They chasing the seventeen year old and eighteen year old
Robert Green down the alley. They catch Robert Green. You
see this on body worn camera. He does not have
a gun at that point. So now the female officer,
kudos to her. She's booking it for like five blocks straight,
chasing the seventeen year old and finally gets them down

(32:00):
on the ground. He's handcuffed and she you could see
in the body worn camera and hear it. He chucked
a gun, so it sounds like he had possession of
that gun which they found in this So you clearly
see him handcuffed on the ground. But then what happened,
What happened after that? So I did talk to Columbus police.

(32:23):
They said, his victim two different crimes. You have a
felonious assault, you have an aggravad robbery. This seventeen year
old is charged with the aggravated robbery. So his victim
had gone to the hospital emotionally distraught, emotionally upset. Couldn't
get that victim identification. Yeah, of the suspect, they had
to wait a few days. They had a little time.

(32:45):
They crossed all their t's, dotted all their eyes. Filed
the charges armed robbery, aggravade robbery charges in September, a
month after the actual incident, and they filed an arrest warrant.

Speaker 8 (32:58):
In that time.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
The detective calls the dad of the seventeen year old saying, hey,
I filed the charges.

Speaker 8 (33:06):
Bring him in. Dad's like, don't know where he is.
So then the warrant is there.

Speaker 5 (33:16):
So all all they know is that there was a
detention in October. I do not have the details of
that detention, but that detention was marked on October thirtieth.
On October thirtieth, that is the record I obtained that
the magistrate set aside that arrest warrant and we do

(33:40):
not know why, and is that.

Speaker 6 (33:42):
That's in custody.

Speaker 8 (33:44):
Then we know there was detention.

Speaker 5 (33:48):
And so the juvenile was the seventeen year old was
instructed to come back into court in November, which he
did not do.

Speaker 8 (33:57):
So I called.

Speaker 5 (33:58):
The prosecutor's office what And I do want to note
because I have seen comments on on social media. So
at this time the prosecutor was Gary Tayak, But now
I'm getting all my information from Sheila Favor's team, right,
she was not in office when this happened. But the

(34:20):
the Juvenile Division, who's the same prosecutors then as they
are now, said we had no idea this arrest weren't
was set aside.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Really now that that information.

Speaker 7 (34:33):
I might I might add the reason I asked Lisa
if he was actually in attention when in preparation for
coming out here today, I touched base with some people
in the system and they said he was never in custody.
It was just a warrant issued go arresting. They never
found him, He was never arrested. Somehow somewhere in the

(34:54):
process before he was arrested, the warrant was set aside
and he was given the court date. And so now
I did I think that does make a difference if
if you have his body, had given his record, uh,
and he's in custody, releasing him then, particularly as as
would be indicated, doesn't make sense without additional facts. But

(35:18):
if he was never in custody and his dad he
may have been right in the kitchen when the police
called and talked to his dad had said, we have
a warrant for him.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
Where is he?

Speaker 7 (35:28):
But at the same time, kids with this kind of
background don't ordinarily stay and live at home. They bounce
from place to place. Uh, And so it's a matter
of hide and seek. And at least what I just
understood was it was a warrant issued and they were
unable to find him until this shootout.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
That you so, why would they? Why would they?

Speaker 8 (35:51):
I think it's just to piggyback off that.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
I think it's also important because I did look into
what are the instructions to say a side a warrant.
Those are listed on the juvenile Court's website.

Speaker 8 (36:05):
So while officers we do not know how he was
detained quote unquote.

Speaker 5 (36:14):
Which is what the alert was. The rest warrant was canceled.
The seventeen year old was quote unquote detained. So going
and looking at those rules, they really say you can
turn yourself in. We don't know if he turned himself
in with a parent, but home rule does say if

(36:34):
you do turn yourself in, you can get an initial
hearing right away. Where it makes sense that if he
did see this magistrate and then he was given the
instruction to come back, which again he did not do.

Speaker 8 (36:49):
That was a no show.

Speaker 7 (36:51):
They had stopped him for jay walking and ran a
Warrens Jack and saw the warrant called down and they said,
don't bring him in.

Speaker 6 (36:58):
Or give him a court d to get. Yeah, as
I say, that would be.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Documented, there would be a documentation of that.

Speaker 6 (37:05):
But that's the.

Speaker 7 (37:06):
Problem here is that there isn't necessary documentation, which the
court rules suggest and in practice would suggest.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
The rules are. But again the rules are you can
you can turn yourself in. Emotion can be filed. I
was never given handed emotion from juvenile court that that
had been done in the prosecutor's office clearly said that
that had not been done on their end. Or the
magistrate and or judge could look at the warrant itself,

(37:36):
consult the prosecuting attorney, consult the defense attorney. You're all
in agreement, and then that can be done so it
doesn't again the the I did. I I talked to
law professor Robert Barnhardt yesterday from Capital University. I asked
him if this is we don't know if this warrant,

(38:00):
this set aside order is inappropriate at the very least,
is it sloppy?

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Right?

Speaker 5 (38:06):
And he said, you know, you should know, you should
have the accountability. He he He did not say it
was sloppy, but he did say that definitely it should
be reviewed. Out of a review, procedures could tighten up
where signatures are required on documents like this so you

(38:27):
can hold individuals accountable.

Speaker 7 (38:30):
So Hill and I think currently the signatures are required.
You know, Uh, sometimes you cut corners and that's probably
what happened here.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Did you get that that documentation that set aside initially
with your with your stack of information?

Speaker 8 (38:45):
I did not. I did not.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
I did ask for release orders, detention orders.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (38:50):
My first initial requests from juvenile court were all of
his cases and conclusions, and then I needed more, so
I asked for release orders, detention orders, anything that showed
when he was in custody, when he was not in custody.

Speaker 8 (39:08):
This set aside warrant was not included in that batch.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
It was tipped off to me that this took place,
so I asked for it specifically, and that's when I
received it.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Guys, just jump to a break and we come back.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
We'll continue our discussion with our good friend Lisa Rontlet
with ABC six and Fox twenty eight and our good
friend Rhin O'Brien ed and I will be back as
well too. We're w'n talk about paracasting live from the
studios of LAPD Farms Arranged.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
We'll be back after the break. Well, go on talking
to I'm your host, Derek Joy Day the LPD studios.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
I got big ed to my ride mister Rohan O'Brien
and our good friend Lisa roan Let to my left. Sorry, Lisa,
I need to apologize in advance. I know you came
here to do the weather, so we're short on time,
and so I did.

Speaker 8 (39:49):
But it's forty nine degrees outside.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Perfect say there, I don't even know weather men, and
you know what it geez, we don't got no green
screen either.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Hey, we're talking about the case.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
And that you or the story you did this week
on the in depthness of the juvenile justice system is
specifically one case where something appears to have slipped through
the cracks, allowing a juvenile with a long record out
there shooting our officers and stuff.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
What do you think I mean? Is this story done?
What's your next step in this?

Speaker 8 (40:15):
No? No now?

Speaker 5 (40:17):
And for that, we've been talking about the aggravade robbery
from August, so it shows that that aggravade robbery, a
gun was involved. He was seventeen at the time. He
was eligible likely eligible to be bound over into adult
court just for that alone. Now you have four counts
Offeloney's assault on officers, you know, stemming from that shootout

(40:42):
in January. So he is looking for a bind over
hearing that was supposed to take place this week. However,
his attorney is having him go through a competency evaluation
which is not yet complete, so that has been bumped
to April. So when he does go to the court,

(41:05):
if it's mandatory, which ron. You could definitely speak to
Way more. But if it's mandatory, boom, he's he's into
adult court. I don't think there's much discretion what a
judge can rule.

Speaker 7 (41:19):
If they can prove that a firearm was used in
the crime, it's a mandatory bind over. And it sounds
like the officers would probably come in and say I
was shot at and they found the gun that had
been discarded, So I would think that a mandatory bind
overs being.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
So, could he had been bound over for the aggravated
robbery back in August of last year?

Speaker 5 (41:40):
It sounded like a mandatory I did ask the prosecutor.
I did see discretionary the term discretionary on a few
of their requests.

Speaker 8 (41:47):
I asked, is this discretionary or is it mandatory?

Speaker 5 (41:52):
My rule of thumb that I've always quite understood, if
you're sixteen seventeen year old and it involves a gun
more than more times than not, that's a mandatory bind over.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
So always so, yeah, So why did I wonder it
didn't happen?

Speaker 8 (42:09):
Well, there was no initial appearance.

Speaker 6 (42:11):
I mean just saw the charges in the war.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Okay, yeah, there was there.

Speaker 8 (42:16):
Was no initial appearance.

Speaker 5 (42:17):
And what I understand He had an attorney appointed for
that aggravated robbery case last year, but there was never
a first appearance. And now that it's bound over, that's
been turned over to another attorney who is certified to
do bind over.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Here and we end a prior incident with him with
the firearm got plaid down to CCW instead of the wood.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
So I wonder if that one should.

Speaker 7 (42:42):
Have been that probably would not have been a mandatory
bind over CCW, and even a wood or not mandatory
binder really discretionary. Okay, with his record, they could have
sought it, but as a general rule of the court
doesn't bind over too many people on a discretionary bind over.

Speaker 6 (43:00):
Mandatory.

Speaker 5 (43:01):
They don't have a choice, right, And I think this
is interesting, So I talked to I sat down with
Assistant Chief Potts in January to really talk about again.
There was a seventeen eighteen year old charged in this
armed robbery in August. The eighteen year old church that
day never got out of jail. This guy is in

(43:22):
juvenile court. Pot says, laws need to change.

Speaker 6 (43:25):
Is he currently in custody still?

Speaker 1 (43:27):
He is now in customer he is, Yeah, guys. The
hour went quick, Lisa, thank you so much. You know
you're used to four minutes We got no Thank you
so much for joining and Ron for stepping in. As always,
we'll be back next week, same time, same place, hopefully.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
Lisa.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
This is the beginning of you jumping on when you
got a big story to talk about. Ye anytimes for
the invite. Yep, the seed is here, guys, and look
who's in the crowd right there. Now, guys, have a
safe week out there, and as always, let's be careful
out there.