By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

Officials have identified 193 repeat offenders with 5 or more pending criminal cases in Chittenden County that will be eligible for the new accountability program designed to help rehabilitate them, clear the huge court backlog and to provide greater public protection for the community.

Many of the entities that will be involved in the pilot court program had their initial meeting at the Judge Edward J. Costello Courthouse on Cherry Street on Monday to talk about trying to streamline the cases for the defendants that will be the focus of the project.

Retired Judge Martin A. Maley will be the primary person presiding to help resolve many of the nuisance cases.  He is coming out of semi-retirement to help lead the 90-day pilot project.

Maley will work with a Special Prosecutor, the defense bar and service providers to try to ensure that corrective action for drug, mental health and other issues are available to the defendants that are frequent flyers at court.  Their cases have been clogging the court dockets, often with minor or misdemeanor cases, and the pilot project is designed to reduce the logjam, while providing help.

Chief Superior Court Judge Thomas Zonay the program, which was dubbed initially as the “Accountability Court” was misnamed.  He said only the Vermont Supreme Court can establish a new court. 

Zonay said the cases will still be heard in Vermont Superior Court, but just the docket will be set separately from the regular cases so the criminal charges can receive the prompt and proper attention.

He said the main purpose of the program approved by Republican Gov. Phil Scott is to ensure services are available for those in need, to resolve pending backlog, and to enhance the safety of the public.

The program will be in a third-floor courtroom with some court staffing.

Special Prosecutor Zach Weight, who was appointed by Gov. Scott, said he is looking to get an office in the Costello Courthouse.  He said he plans to be there Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  

A few major stakeholders were not represented at the meeting.  They included the Department of Corrections, the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department and some expected service providers, including the Howard Center and Turning Point.

Part of the accountability program is that the defendants will be expected to appear in court in person to face a judge.  That will put additional pressure on the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department to try to transport all the people with hearings in court and not by video from a jail.

Weight said he had talked with the Department of Corrections, which will be willing to share two of their vans with the sheriff’s department so their teams of deputies can transport possibly 7 to 10 per trip.

Weight also reported Vermont Emergency Management said it will be able to work with state agencies, like state police, corrections, to help deliver defendants from jail to court on a rotating basis when the sheriff’s department is short of teams of deputies.

The plan is to have many of the inmate transports done for 8:30 a.m. hearings.

The morning hearings will work for inmates at the prisons in South Burlington and St. Albans.

There was no real discussion on the difficulty of the teams of deputies retrieving inmates held at the prisons in Springfield, Newport and Rutland and having them in Burlington when the court opens.

The Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield handles all inmates with mental health and medical issues due to its medical wing.  

The initial list of 193 eligible inmates may not be in the program for very long.  Defense lawyers noted that some of the identified inmates are facing homicide-related charges or sex crimes.  Their minor crimes will need to take a back seat to those felonies, the judges and lawyers agreed.

Defense lawyer Jessica Burke also noted she has some defendants with the five or more misdemeanors in state court, but they are in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for more serious federal crimes.  They also would likely take a backseat.

Weight said some defendants may be at the Brattleboro Retreat, a private mental health facility or under the care of the Department of Mental Health.

He said the number of active cases that the pilot project will address might drop to 60 to 80 defendants.

While the program is focused on Chittenden County cases only, Weight said some of the defendants may have pending criminal cases in nearby counties.  He said efforts will be made to have a global resolution of all the pending charges.

Those enrolled in the program must have 5 or more pending cases only in Chittenden County.  Cases in other counties do not count toward the threshold of 5 cases.

Pacht said it is possible that Superior Court in Burlington could have two jury panels at the same time so cases can be pushed toward trial.  Cases have a tendency to settle when defendants realize that potential jurors are in a nearby room waiting to be empaneled.

Pacht also proposed that a meeting be held soon for lawyers and judges to better understand the working of the program.  Weight said he has started to reach out to the law enforcement agencies.

Public Defender Sandra Lee questioned how the court would ensure equity of services from providers for defendants whether they were in the accountability docket or the regular court docket.   She will be working with Josh O’Hara, the supervisory lawyer for the Chittenden County Public Defender’s Office.

Weight said the cases are assigned to the accountability docket by the judiciary.

Pacht noted in some cases places like the Howard Center are stretched and they are decreasing services

Weight said he did plan to have meetings with others involved, including Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George.  Weight will report to Gov. Scott and his staff and not George.

Another stumbling block is what will happen when the frequent flyers get arrested for a new crime overnight or during a weekend.  How and when will they be expected to be in court.  Zonay said he would want them in court as soon as possible and to have the case presented to Judge Maley and not have them sent through the regular docket for arraignment.

Burke said she is concerned that jail may become the only option because there will be no additional services from community partners.

Vermont judges have been reluctant to send people to jail, but the hope is jail could become a “timeout option” to address the serious ongoing needs of the repeat offenders and also protect the public. Court-ordered drug and mental health counseling also would be options.

Most prosecutors also are reluctant to use Vermont’s Habitual Offender statute that allows judges to impose stiffer penalties, including up to life in prison, for defendants with three or more felony convictions.

The new project comes after Gov. Scott met with Progressive Party Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak in response to increased concerns by taxpayers about the ongoing crimes and disorder in Burlington that have created a poor quality of life. The disorder escalated after the City Council voted 9-3 in June 2020 to defund Burlington Police by reducing sworn officers by 30 percent.

Mulvaney-Stanak later put a sweeping muzzle on Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad in January when he said the current criminal justice system had its flaws and something had to be done differently. He cited Michael Reynolds, 47, of Burlington with more than 1,850 contacts with police in recent years and courts continue to release him back into the public.

Murad, who is now the Interim Corrections Commissioner, said the habitual offender law was designed for ongoing “violent, incorrigible, antisocial behavior.” State’s Attorney George, who has not made use of the statute, has said she does not believe many people, including Reynolds, belong in prison. The extreme liberal prosecutor also is a proponent for closing the women’s prison in South Burlington.

Burlington Police recently reported they have 20 criminals with nearly 850 pending cases clogging the court docket. It is unclear how many cases they have in other nearby towns in the county.

Scott and other politicians say they have heard a flood of complaints from the general public about the ongoing “catch and release” judicial system in Vermont that rarely holds anybody fully accountable for their criminal behavior. The legislature has talked about trying to put teeth back into the court system, but has not provided adequate funding.

Scott picked Weight to serve as the Special Prosecutor.  Weight has served as Deputy State’s Attorney in Washington County since April 2023. For a decade prior to joining that office, he was a criminal defense attorney who practiced in all 14 of Vermont’s counties. A graduate of Vermont Law School, his family hails from Proctor and Wallingford.

Tim Lueders-Dumont, executive director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, said the courts are flooded.

“The data is clear: the surge in serious violent crime, including a nearly 170% increase in homicides over the last decade, is pushing every other case type to the back of the judicial line,” Lueders-Dumont said.

“Our courts and State’s Attorneys are clearing cases at over a 100% rate, yet a staggering list of over 22,000 cases remain,” he said.

“Statewide, we know that over 44% of all pending dockets relate to persons with three or more pending cases. Establishing a rapid-intervention accountability court is a practical and necessary step to reduce the time between offense and consequence for repeat offenders—specifically for those 50-70 individuals who occupy an outsized amount of court time and law enforcement time in Chittenden County,” Lueders-Dumont said.