Oklahoma County case vs Richard Urrutia jr. # CF 2018-4243

John brewer - Prosecuter on case

 Micah Sielert - Court App. Attorney
Judge Hammond then following is Judge Coleman
Officer Luna - Sante Fe division

    This is the case I am working on now because he was illegally approached to begin with when he was searched, but all he has is a habit & it showed. Plus, he has always been in prison & just got out & that’s where that habit formed. Now they wanna give him 15 years back in prison for some drugs. 

    Upon being searched, (technically Unlawfully), Richard Urrutia had some drugs in his pocket. Officer weighed it out at 23 grams with the container & they charged him as Trafficking even though there was not one single thing as far as scales, or baggies, or anything besides being a personal bag. Richard does not have a history of anything, & he was in his same area of town, & was not concealing it to hide it & now they are trying to give him 15 years on what was really just a possession charge & nothing more. He had a real good paying job but now he sits in jail for 8 months already because I can’t post bond.

   The officer aproached Richard for a stolen vehicle that was parked outside a gas station in small shopping center.  That officer had never seen him get out of a car & at his Pelimanary Hearing they also dropped that charge of Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle because they had nothing on him, but even though that was their  probable cause for his search.., they didn't throw the rest the case away!  

   That officer at his arrest must of had it out for Richard because he told Richard that he was going to give him the worst charges he could get out of it. And so Richard was charged with Trafficking drugs also.

   ( Oftentimes, people possess drugs only for personal use, but end up being criminally charged with something more severe. I refer to these charges as legal traps; someone intends to use their drugs solely for personal use, but some circumstance or something they say to police causes them to be charged more severely.)

   They also for some reason have Richard on a charge of 'Taken Credit Card' although in the police report it lists the name on the card as Richard Urrutia Jr. & it being a Chase Bank card. But then later, as you read the report, it  says it was reported missing out of this truck. So if it has Richard's name on the card then how is it the one missing from some truck. ?? ? 

   It's never been changed but how do we fight that when they never give us a chance. They won't even allow me to speak at anything & the police department has kept Richard's money he had in his pocket which happen to be $450 bucks. The courts keep telling us that isn't part of the case but the police department won't release it because they said that the District Attorney on the case has to tell them it can be released. The District Attorney won't even let me say a sentence to him & tells me go talk to my Attorney.  I have did that & made sure the attorney called up the police lutienent O'Brian so it can be released & O'Brian keeps saying Judge or District Attorney. Niether them want to talk to you & our attorney says it not even part of the case because Richard not charged with proceeds so now 8 months later I can't get the money released Richard had. 

(Under the federal sentencing guidelines, a "drug trafficking offense" as "an offense under federal, state, or local law that prohibits the manufacture, import, export, distribution, or dispensing of a controlled substance (or a counterfeit substance) or the possession of a controlled substance (or a counterfeit substance) with intent to manufacture, import, export, distribute, or dispense." U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1),)

  They charged him with Trafficking even though there was not one single thing as far as scales, or baggies, or anything besides being a personal bag. Richard does not have a history of anything, & he was in his same area of town, & was not concealing it to hide it & now they are trying to give him 15 years on what was really just a possession charge & nothing more. He had a real good paying job but now he sits in jail for 8 months already because I can’t post bond. There was nothing that showed intent to sell for that matter.

( Oklahoma has the second-highest incarceration rate in the country, 70 percent higher than the national average. Yet Oklahoma is not 70 percent safer than the rest of the country.

   Oklahoma continues locking up low-level nonviolent offenders as felons despite criminological research that shows that this approach is ineffective. In fact, for some offenders, including drug offenders and first-time offenders, prison actually increases the likelihood of reoffending.)

    He was not transporting, or on a highway traveling. He was not making a sale & it was not hidden in a vehicle or animate object for concealing it. It was in his pocket & he was shopping at a store.

(The federal government typically treats trafficking as trafficking, and possession as possession no matter what the amount, but they do give a little leeway for each state to come up with their own guidelines. Although the definition of trafficking is commercial dealing or over state lines.)

   So Oklahoma says that over 20 grams can be considered trafficking.  But while in jail on a trafficking charge for having 23 grams of Meth in a single bag, he had 2 cell mates who were locked up for possession charges of a misdemeanor with one man carrying 25 grams of meth & he also had a few ounces of Heroin with scales & bags. And the other having 28 grams of meth with other baggies.., but yet those 2 men were booked in for possession only.

(Prison reformers seem most unhappy about what they say is a trend of upgrading charges against nonviolent offenders. With our loose definitions many can find a way around question 780. The report notes that while admissions with a controlling drug offense declined, charges for possession with intent to distribute, drug trafficking, child endangerment and second-degree burglary increased.)

    When I went over arrests each day in the jail blotter, all it shows is that there is in increase in possession with intent & also trafficking charges, since the new laws went out.

   So what are the new guidelines for Trafficking & shouldn’t they change the term to classify those who really do traffic in illegal drugs, or are they now lowering that charge & making trafficking drugs seem like possession now.???

  Richard didn't even have anything else on him!

   When I checked out the Oklahoma county Trafficking records from beginning of last year those people obviously sold drugs at least & most had several different drugs on their person & paraphernalia. Some had a gun also & I had thought priors of equal value mattered. Richard don't really have any priors of that nature or other drug-related priors at all, except his simple misdemeanor possession going back 7 years ago, & they want to give him 15 years on this one. He has had no other charges since his release at all & since he already did his time on any other things in the past then this is like a single charge.  

   I read this saying that is very popular which tells you "Don't be a prisoner of your past" & its written often all over Facebook even.  Your not supposed to be a prisoner of your past unless it comes to the system, then thats exactly what it is all about! 

    They say your sentence is only enhanced if you do the same alike crime but thats not true I seen a girl with 2 sets of Trafficking charges get 10 years & they were run concurrently together.With 2 sets that means 4 charges & they were so close they got ran together for sentencing.  And they want to offer Richard 15 years & its not even a Trafficking case, & his record is for the most part is 20 years ago.

(Kendra Renee Glover 

case# 2018-918  Traffic Meth, Traffic Heroin
Sentenced 10 years run concurrently w/ 2017-1328 (poss heroin),  

 2017-3837 (poss heroin, poss pills), 

 2018-197 (Traff Heroin, Traffic Meth), &. L2018-1485 (poss heroin).)

(Shane Anderson Myers case# 2018-918 .Trafficking Heroin, Trafficking Meth
Sentenced 5 years D.O.C.
Run concurrently w/ 2017-2209 (poss meth), 2017-8714 (poss Heroin). )

(Jeffrey Alan Harrison -Trafficking
6 years D.O.C)

(Edward Greenfield Cole- Trafficking
5 years D.O.C)

    THOSE THE REAL TRAFFICKING CASES. Richard's isn't & so Lets look at amended ones to just poss w/ intent.. . Because his would be one that not kept Trafficking for sure.. .  

(Jennifer Shatswell- amended to intent & also a poss., 4 years supervised w/ first 90 days in OCJ.)

(Joshua McAlister- amended to intent & also a poss., 8 years supervised w/ first 90 days in OCJ.) 

(Zachery Newton- amended to intent & had a poss. also, 4 years supervised w/ first 90 days to do in OCJ.)

(Thomas Clayton Ralston- Trafficking amended to w/ intent, & a POSS. OF FIREARM, sentenced 4 years D.O.C)

   AND THOSE MENTIONED ARE WITH THAT CASE ALONE NOT INCLUDING THEIR RECORDS PREVIOUSLY, BUT SOME HAVE HAD ONE, & SOME ARE WITH THEM ALL RUN TOGETHER .  These people show at least one of the required items that will soon show intent to distribute & Richard has none. .

   (For most drugs, there’s now no difference in punishment based on how many trafficking violations a defendant has ever had & there’s no enhancement based on previous felony convictions for a violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act (except for fentanyl).)

  Well, that explains why the girl who actually had 4 trafficking charges got a 10 year sentence, others got less with 4 or 5 years & these were real trafficking cases & not amended ones., where its wrong in the first place to charge for something not suitable because it makes a better case & more time!   ...

    SOMEBODY IN THE SYSTEM DON'T CARE FOR RICHARD & I know this because they have been harassing him  since he got out & been trying to illegally set Richard up on something.

 (Senate Bill 0649: Limiting enhanced punishment for controlled substance possession

• Previous convictions for possession of a controlled substance or an equivalent law from another jurisdiction cannot be used to enhance punishment for following offenses.)

     (Obama Administration Wrote this Concerning Criminal Justice Reform.. . 

Defining applicants by their past mistakes, without considering their qualifications and potential, is unjust and unnecessary. Having served their prescribed sentences, former prisoners have repaid their debt to society. Yet the stigma of their criminal conviction continues to punish them and, in many ways, permanently relegate them to a second-class status. )  

 They did offer to lower it to a possession & it's with that they are offering the 15 year sentence.

And of course they using enhancements purely because he been in trouble before & its been 8 years since then. 

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  ****  CASE FILING #2 (Court 12/10/2018)   ****

  

  ( Fully 75 percent of Oklahoma’s inmates were sentenced for nonviolent offenses. These are not hardened criminals. More than half of those sentenced for nonviolent offenses have zero or one prior felony convictions, and the vast majority have no history of violent crime.)

   Statistics say that most people who have been in prison; will return to prison within a few years. Since they're typically has to be other factors.., at his court hearing the state of Oklahoma decided to reduce those charges from trafficking to possession, which is what it truly was.

  So at court December 10th they reduced his charge to just a possession charge but they tried to give him 15 years in prison.  And despite the new law making possession a misdemeanor.  They also stated that it was to be charged as a felony because he has priors.

    (Possession is also a misdemeanor even if you were recently released from prison. Max time for a possession charge is up to one year in jail. Enhanced it can be no more than twice the amount the charge carries.  And if the offence dont carry a minimum prison time then it is 2 years for a subsequent offense. .)

?.!  

No wonder the statics show once you have been in prison that you are likely to return within the first year or two.

  

 (These laws, all signed by the governor on April 26, 2018, go into effect in late 2018.)

  (-Senate Bill 649 removes previous felony drug possession convictions as a reason that prosecutors can seek sentence enhancements. The new law also reduces sentence enhancements for recidivism in non-violent crimes. A petty larceny conviction after a prior felony conviction will be a simple misdemeanor – no longer a felony with penalties as long as five years in prison.)

 (-SB 649 will reduce sentences for repeat drug offenders convicted of possession. Currently, repeat offenders receive harsher sentences because of their previous drug possession offenses. The new law eliminates those sentencing enhancements. Courts now cannot impose longer sentences on defendants because of their previous convictions for possession of controlled dangerous substances. However, people convicted of other drug crimes may still receive extra prison time for being repeat offenders.)

  Out of the many things that he could be, its not criminal activity that they are trying to give him 15 years for in prison.., but a possession charge which law states is a misdemeanor now & carries no more than a year in jail. They are trying to consider it a felony & District Attorney John Brewer came to him with another 15 years in prison.

  The law of possession being a misdemeanor passed 2 1/2 years ago & the law 649 passed in April but effective 1 1/2 months ago officially..

    Seems to me now that more people are just charged with bigger offences than would have previously been so that the law can lock them up the same. But it's always been like that. 

   AND SO HOW DOES OKLAHOMA COUNTY THINK THAT THEY DONT NEED TO FOLLOW THE LAWS; BUT THEY WILL SIT HERE & ACT LIKE THEY ARE ENFORCING THEM..?  They wheel & deal however they want to make what they want happen. THEY HONESTLY THINK THEY ADE GOD & THAT DONT FOLLOW BY RATIONAL RULES.   Not for others or themselves!

    Thats why I no longer have respect for the law. They are all biggits & many of them are alcoholics, but would they do that to themselves. . ? ?

    So his pre-trail conference is March 6th, 2019 & thats where they see what they have & if it could hold trail. So I cant wait to see what they will pull this time. 

                                        Stacy Privett

   *HERE IS ANOTHER STORY FOR YOU***

  (The federal government typically treats trafficking as trafficking, and possession as possession no matter what the amount, but they do give a little leeway for each state to come up with their own guidelines. Although the definition of trafficking is commercial dealing or over state lines.)

  I have an Uncle who did drugs for so many years so that now that he is old & disabled, he needs drugs each day to just function normally. He gets disability & limited income one a month & lives in Eufuala which is 2 hours from Oklahoma City. So once a month he comes to OKC to buy for entire month while he at home in Eufuala. He was used to doing an 8-ball a day at least, just to function in the past, so narrowing it down to a gram per day ain't much for him. 

    My Uncle comes & buys 28 grams if he is able to, & he has to budget, gets paid once a month, & can only make trip to city once a month. He has to drive home on Highway almost 2 hours away, but he has limited income & lives outta town, & for damn sure is no drug trafficker. He does not sale drugs & he is almost 60 years old now. What he buys is strictly personal & I would be extremely upset if he went down for a charge of Trafficking & had to do 15 years in prison because he had an addiction to drugs so long that he needs them to get up in the morning each day. 

   He has to budget & has to come down to the city & don't know people in Eufuala., but 28 grams is only about a gram a day.  His old habit had him having to do an 8-ball a day so this cuts him down enormously.

 Anyway you look at it still makes it just possession & just a habit.  Everyone has one, even if it's gambling or food.. .

                        Stacy Privett

P.S.  I AM PRETTY POSITIVE THAT IS WAS THE FACT HE SPENT HIS ENTIRE ADULT YEARS SO FAR (22 out of 42) IN PRISON THAT HAS LED TO HIS SCHIZOPHRENIA ISSUES NOW.  ITS BEEN AWFULLY HARD FOR RICHARD TO ADJUST OUT HERE AS IT IS. 

AND YOU WOULD THINK THEY WOULD BE MORE HELPFUL IN THE SYSTEM FOR AN ISSUE LIKE THIS WHICH, either way you look at it, THE SYSTEM IN SOME WAY STILL CAUSED IT.  .

  15 YEARS IS THE SAME AS DOUBLE JEOPARDY, WHERE YOU FORM SOMETHING & THEN PUNISH FOR IT!  
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