[Dewey-Darrow] Court Hearing for Crain Breakins (Gordon Darnell Watt)

[Bearhair]

In response to my email encouraging neighbors to attend the court proceedings
of the man recently arrested for burglary and possession of burglary tools,
two neighbors responded on the Nichols Neighbors email list with their
concerns. In case others have the same concerns, I'm copying their comments
and my response to other nearby neighborhood email lists as well.

Paul Whittaker of Nichols Neighbors wrote:

>I have no firsthand information about this situation and Mr. Watts is innocent until proven guilty.

Joan Batlle of Nichols Neighbors wrote:

>I have to agree with Mr. Whittaker.  I think the homeowners directly  
>affected by the crimes should be encouraged to attend if they want  
>to.  The whole neighborhood being invited and encouraged to show up  
>sounds a little like prejudgement and overinvolvement in the justice  
>process.  It makes me uncomfortable too.  Our neighborhood is still a  
>very safe one on the whole, but this incident should teach us not to  
>take it for granted.  I for one, have lectured my kids for years about  
>the importance of locking all the doors on our home at all times.  
>However, the fact that our neighbors, two doors down, were victims of  
>a breakin last month has finally made them believers!

Nichols School is only 7 blocks from the area where, over the past 3 years,
has been the target of a home invasion with sexual assault, a
drug/gang-related murder, a drug-related shooting spree between two speeding
cars down Greenleaf in the middle of the day, and in the last month, at least
2 home burglaries, a garage burglary, and two attempted burglaries, one a
backyard shed and the other a home. I wonder if your neighbor's victimization
isn't part of the same recent burglary activity.

Our judicial system is open to the public in part to ensure the fairness to
the defendant. Attendance by the neighbors of crime victims will in no way
affect the outcome of a trial. It may, however, affect the speediness of the
trial and the sentencing. The suspect in the garage burglary & attempted shed
burglary, Mr. Watt, is currently being tried for a similar offense in another
suburb, for which he was arrested 2 years ago. From what I have been told by
police detectives, little progress has been made in that trial.

We have a vested interest in the quick culmination of Mr. Watt's trial for
this arrest, since if he is NOT guilty, we need the police to be aware that
the burglar remains free. If he IS found guilty, we want the judge to
understand that sentencing a repeat offender to the minimum possible term is
not an acceptable action, given that he has shown a pattern of returning to
the same community to engage in criminal activity. As clarification, the
police detectives told me that he has a significant criminal history (and
that his initial bail on this arrest was set too low). I have been told by
others that his criminal record included the burglary of the property
adjacent to mine, for which he was tried and sentenced to two years in jail.
He was, of course, released much sooner on probation.

Your degree of involvement in your neighborhood or larger community is, of
course, a personal choice. However, the aldermen and police have both
encouraged those of us in attendance at ward and neighborhood meetings to
become actively involved in joining together to combat crime, from keeping an
eye out for suspicious activity and circumstances, to phoning 911 immediately
instead of the next day after observing something that didn't seem quite
right, to forming official or unofficial Neighborhood Watch groups, and
lastly, to becoming visibly involved and interested in ensuring that those
arrested are brought to justice. This includes being willing to serve as
witnesses or complainants so that a criminal case may be successfully tried.

I hope this helps you to better understand the reasons for my initial email.

Best regards,

Lora