Motorists charged with speeding, additional crimes
The Oregon State Police charged two motorists with speeding and additional crimes last week. Their speeds were recorded at more than 30 mph over the posted limit.
Irving Bruce De Mello, 66, of Portland, was stopped Wednesday, Feb. 1, on Highway 18 between McMinnville and Sheridan for driving 88 mph in the 55 zone. The Mitsubishi Outlander he was driving had been stolen, and he was also charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
De Mello, who was cited, and his a passenger were taken to a McMinnville shelter and the vehicle was towed.
Nathaniel James Wilson, 33, of Tualatin, was stopped Saturday, Feb. 4, on Highway 99W in the area of the Dayton truck scales for driving 91 mph in the 55 zone. He was operating a BMW and his license was suspended.
Wilson was cited and released and his vehicle was towed.
Comments
tagup
Speeding & driving a stolen vehicle…. And he’s taken to a shelter?….why do we have a jail?
GRM
Probably better food and service for good behavior?
spicy_t
@tagup I agree. The county and state of OR continue to do an absolute joke of a job with holding citizens accountable. Be homeless, break laws, do hard drugs…whatever makes ya feel good, do it: Oregon won’t stop ya.
Joel R
I wish the Sheriff or the DA would write an editorial and explain what's going on. It seems like more and more we see these articles where people commit serious crimes and are just 'cited and released.'
Is the jail short on space and/or short staffed?
Does the DA or the police in the field have personal or political beliefs against putting people in jail?
We the people really would like to know what's going on because it's starting to get weird.
sbagwell
Joel:
When it went into effect July 1, Senate Bill 48 eliminated cash bail and established a new system significantly reducing pre-trial incarceration. Except for top-tier felonies, particularly those involving violence or sex abuse, release is now the norm, not the exception.
We published a long, detailed news story on it June 24 and a long, detailed editorial on July 1. We also published columns by the sheriff and DA, along with recently retired presiding judge John Collins.
You can find all of them in our archives using author names or relevant terms as keywords, say Senate Bill 48, cash bail, bail reform or pre-trial.
Understand, the penalties on conviction remain unchanged, so time served remains unchanged. It's just that instead of remaining in jail to await trial, and getting all of that time knocked off your eventual sentence on conviction as "time served," you will start your sentence later and finish it later.
The aims include avoiding infliction of often substantial jail time on someone ultimately found not guilty or found guilty under circumstances that would not have triggered jail time.
That is vastly more likely for people who are poor and/or non-white, thus be highly discriminatory. It also serves to destroy families, careers and reputations, bankrupt individuals and families, apply pressure to sign off on lopsided plea bargains, and hamper trial preparations, thus make ultimate conviction much more likely.
Most criminal justice officials feel that eliminating cash bail should serve to foster more evenhanded justice without threatening public safety.
Keep this in mind: Virtually every one of these guys you are reading about will be getting out within a few years if not a few months. It's just a matter of time.
We can't remotely afford to permanently lock away everyone who might pose a threat. The challenges are deciding who to lock up when, for how long, and with what kind of rehabilitative requirements.
Steve
Joel R
Steve, with all due respect, All I can do after reading what you just wrote is shake my head and say thank God we have the second ammendment. It allows us to protect ourselves and our families long enough to get a U-Haul rented and get on the road to Texas or Florida where criminals are jailed and woke nonsense is rejected.
Oregonize
Joel, there are many places that rent U-Hauls and I am sure Texas and Florida would be very welcoming to you. We will miss your little ray of sunshine on this comment board.