West Lebanon
Cahill said he and Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten met two weeks ago with owners of the Shady Lawn Motel and put in place a few “binding terms,” as well as a couple of “recommendations” owners Harish Patel, Hatish Patel and Mayurkumar Patel could consider to move the process forward.
The binding terms, according to Cahill, are: The owners must submit to a site inspection by the town health inspector and the state fire marshall and comply with codes; meet with Hartford police and provide an ongoing dialogue about dangerous conditions; ensure that a competent and substance-free manager runs motel operations; and the motel must not rent rooms to individuals known to be engaged in crimes.
“The purpose is to … interrupt ongoing criminal activity,” Cahill said.
The parties met after Cahill put the motel’s owners’ company, Jalaram Hospitality LLC, on notice about addressing ongoing problems at the motel. The Maple Street motel was involved in 131 police calls last year, more than any other comparable residential motel, and two suspects in recent armed robberies along Route 5 were living at the motel. Police said one of the suspects was using money from the robberies to buy drugs at the motel.
The update came as Cahill sat down with Valley News editors and reporters to talk about crime-reduction initiatives he and others in Windsor County are working on. Cahill, a former prosecutor in White River Junction who had been working as executive director of the Vermont Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, returned to the Windsor County office when former Windsor County State’s Attorney Michael Kainen was appointed a state trial court judge in January 2016.
Cahill spoke of a program launched in May 2016 that he said may result in fewer prosecutions of some nonviolent drug offenders. Instead of arresting and charging them, individuals in the program are engaged in a “pre-charge contract” where a pretrial services provider will set them up with resources to help prevent re-offending, such as drug counseling.
The Windsor Rapid Accountability Program (WRAP) doesn’t receive any special funding and is made possible by a worker at Windsor County Pretrial Services who serves as the program’s coordinator, Cahill said.
About 80 people have been referred thus far, but it is too soon to tell what the effectiveness of the program will be, he said.
“Is it a story of diverting people who would be clogging the prisons? No, not necessarily,” Cahill said. “Is it a story of individuals who would be spending a lot of time in the criminal justice system if it weren’t for the program? Probably.”
The lead Windsor County prosecutor also talked about the need for Vermont to better collect data and analyze it to determine how effective various programs are in reducing crime. Vermont has presumptive sentencing ranges, but no formal sentencing guidelines, which he said creates a lot of discretion for judges and prosecutors.
Cahill said he uses statewide data from the nonprofit Crime Research Group to help make his sentence calculations comparable.
“That is my attempt at a solution at this point,” Cahill said. If he likes the way his method looks in the “rearview mirror,” he said he will recommend it to his colleagues.
Cahill also said he is trying some reforms relating to restrictions ordinarily put in place on alleged offenders after they have been charged with a crime but are awaiting trial. Those conditions of release — such as not allowing them to use alcohol — oftentimes lead to a “trail of subsequent charges” since they are returning to environments where alcohol is difficult to avoid.
“In my view, requesting those conditions and charging them are not a good use of time and resources,” Cahill said.
Since January 2016, for certain non-violent drug and alcohol offenders, Cahill’s office has taken a different approach: instead of restricting people from engaging in certain types of behavior, prosecutors have asked the alleged offender to make an appointment with a licensed drug and alcohol counselor.
“We have had far fewer” violations of conditions of release since the launch, he said.
Cahill also addressed pretrial detention, a timeframe that can often be lengthy for a person caught up in the Vermont criminal justice system.
Recently, he said, his office has been leaning “a little harder” on the pretrial monitor to make sure people in the system are aware of when their next court appearance is, even notifying them by text or Facebook message. The intent is to have fewer people miss court appearances, thereby reducing the number of defendants who have their bail revoked.
“My guiding ethic has been to try to minimize the total trauma within the system,” Cahill said. “… Trauma to those who are the victims of crime, trauma to those who might be the victims of crime but perhaps if we locked up the right person will not become the victims of crime and also trauma to those who find themselves incarcerated — collectively, minimize the trauma within the system. It’s a big project.”
Cahill, a 2001 Dartmouth College graduate who went to law school at the University of Minnesota, also touched on various pieces of legislation he has been involved in at the state level.
Asked about a bill in the Vermont House that would legalize marijuana possession by adults of up to an ounce, Cahill spoke favorably but also said he wants a law that regulates “the supply chain.”
“I support the bill, but as a baby step to a fully regulated market,” he said.
Another bill he has worked on would create a model for drug-treatment courts, something New Hampshire is in the process of unrolling in all jurisdictions.
Vermont has a demand, Cahill said, but money is an issue. The bill has had a “rough time” in the Legislature, and may be “boiled down to a pilot program with a mobile team” that he hopes will focus its attention on White River Junction.
“There isn’t a good pot of money to spend on upstream alternatives to incarceration,” he said.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.