Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"He's had six strikes and he's still not out," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Nagel said. "Except he's out on the street, and that's why this is a travesty of justice."
Actually, English will not go free but instead will be sent to a drug treatment center, where he will undergo an intensive 18-month program. If he fails the Hegira House program, English could face up to 15 years in prison.
Still, Nagel said a six-time convicted violent felon like English never should have been considered for a diversion program that screens offenders for alternatives to prison, such as drug treatment and community service.
"The bottom line is that this defendant may not see any time in a jail cell," Nagel said during a hearing that included some of the tough-on-crime rhetoric being heard in Richmond as the General Assembly prepares for a special session next week to consider abolishing parole.
Roanoke Circuit Judge Roy Willett had asked earlier that English, 46, be evaluated by the Community Corrections Resources Board for diversion from prison. The board recommended that English be sent to Hegira House in lieu of a prison sentence, and that he perform 250 hours of community service - a suggestion that Willett followed.
"Your record's bad," the judge told English, "but there's been a time when you were productive."
Nagel had argued that the board's decision to recommend English for diversion violated guidelines that bar violent offenders from programs such as Hegira House. Nagel made a point of reading the names of the board members into the court record, and several other prosecutors attended the hearing in a show of support.
Nagel said he knew of only one other case in which the board accepted a violent offender for community diversion: a manslaughter charge that stemmed from an accidental traffic fatality.
English has five robbery convictions that date to the 1960s, Nagel said, and an extensive criminal record that includes property offenses and probation violations. He will remain in jail until there is room for him at Hegira House.
Melvin Hill, English's attorney, pointed out that his client's most recent conviction was actually for attempted robbery, and that his only involvement in the November holdup of a Brandon Avenue Southwest convenience store was to wait outside and then drive an accomplice away.
While English may have a lengthy criminal record, Hill said, he recently received an associate's degree from Virginia Western Community College and no longer poses a risk to society.
"In the prevailing political climate, it's easy to say he's a career criminal ... and we should lock him up and throw away the key," Hill said. "But that's too simplistic."
Under cross-examination Wednesday, English said it was in 1966 when a sentencing judge first told him that he was receiving his "last chance."
"From 1966 to now," Nagel said, "We have done everything except take Mr. English off the street."
by CNB