
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 4, 1993                   TAG: 9309040013
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE DEFENDS TERM FOR ICE CREAM THEFT

The rural judge who sentenced a 17-year-old to three years in prison for stealing ice cream bars from a school says he was never told the youth's age or that the theft involved only food.

In a letter to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Superior Court Judge Andrew Whalen defended his handling of Dehundra Caldwell's case. He said he would have considered a lighter sentence had he been told the youth's age.

"At no time prior to sentencing was the court advised that the accused was 17 years of age or that the theft . . . was ice cream," said Whalen's letter, a response to an editorial critical of his handling of the case. In Georgia courts, 17-year-olds are treated as adults.

Whalen sentenced the Thomaston youth to three years in prison on Aug. 23 after Caldwell pleaded guilty to a burglary charge. Lawyers who practice in the district about 65 miles south of Atlanta said that sentence is normal for burglary in the Griffin Judicial Circuit, which includes Thomaston.

Caldwell spent 10 days in jail before being freed Wednesday on $15,000 bond pending an Oct. 15 hearing, at which Whalen will reconsider the sentence. A lighter sentence might consist of probation and community service.

Caldwell, who had no previous criminal record, has said he did not take the ice cream bars when he entered Upson-Lee Middle School last month with his 15-year-old brother and a 16-year-old friend.

He contended that police turned his statement into a confession, and he said he pleaded guilty because he thought he would be held legally responsible for being with the youths who took the ice cream. He also has said he was unaware what the sentence for burglary would be.

Whalen's letter said Caldwell was "fully advised, prior to entering the plea, what the sentence would be." Whalen also said leniency was not requested, "nor did anything presented to the court indicate that any sentence different from that recommended would be proper."

by CNB