A retired Sutter County judge will not spend any time behind bars for driving with a blood alcohol content almost three times the legal limit.
Timothy J. Evans will instead put in four eight-hour days working for the California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. office in Marysville under the jail’s work release program, said Sutter County Undersheriff J. Paul Parker.
At Evans’ sentencing in December, defense attorney Richard A. Thomas said his client had agreed to serve four straight days in jail, starting Feb. 23.
But on Monday, Parker said Evans is eligible for the jail’s outside work release program, just as anyone else would be.
“The court has no authority over that,” said Parker.
That was news to Assistant District Attorney Fred Schroeder who, at Evans’ sentencing, said the judge’s blood alcohol content of 0.21 when he was arrested Nov. 6 made him ineligible for work release.
After looking into it further, Schroeder acknowledged the law changed a year or more ago.
Inmates in the work release program normally are assigned to do manual labor, but those like Evans who have health problems sometimes are assigned to do nonmanual labor for nonprofit groups. In Evans’ case, working for CRLA matched his abilities, said Parker.
Citing federal privacy laws, Parker declined to say what health issue prevents Evans, 63, from doing manual labor.
Parker said some attorneys – even some judges – are unaware that courts no longer have authority over who is eligible for work release.
Evans came to the jail Friday to sign up for the program but has yet to be fingerprinted and photographed as other inmates are, said Parker.
Plans call for Evans to put in his four days of work before Feb. 23, the date he originally was ordered to report to jail.
Evans also was fined $1,725 and sentenced to three years summary probation and a nine-month driving school.
Parker said other drunken drivers with an extremely high blood alcohol content have routinely been put in the work release program.
“We try to treat everyone the same,” he said.
Inmates in the program do not have to spend nights in jail after finishing work for the day. They pay an administration fee of $50 and a daily fee of $13, making the program a significant revenue source for the Sheriff’s Department, which otherwise would have to pay for inmates’ room and board, said Parker.
Inmates serving sentences up to 15 days long are eligible for the program, he said.
Click here to read the full article.
Source: appealdemocrat.com