By Maggie Lee / Staff

Under a new ordinance passed unanimously by the new Milton City Council, some first-time offenders will get a chance to keep a clean record.

People who plead guilty or “nolo contendere“ to relatively minor offenses such as shoplifting, underage possession of alcohol, disorderly conduct and possession of small amounts of marijuana may be deemed eligible for a sentence of community service, an education program — to explain the seriousness of being arrested — and a fine.

But the major change is the chance of the dismissal of charges rather than a criminal record.  As far as the court’s decision, “we’ve had some form of this type of treatment of cases anyway,” according to Milton Chief Judge Barry L. Zimmerman. “This sort of formalizes it and helps everybody know what they’re doing.”

Because the pretrial intervention program could prevent repeat offenses, Milton Court Solicitor Fran Shoenthal opined, “I think it’s a win-win for both the offender and the city.”

For defendants, “its main purpose really here for the city is to allow our first offenders to have a program, if they qualify, that they can go through to get their record expunged at the end of the process so they don’t carry around a criminal conviction for a relatively minor offense throughout their lives,” explained Shoenthal, who first presented the ordinance last month. Typical participants would be offenders from about 16 to 19 years old, she said.

Both city judges, Brian A. Hansford and Zimmerman, supported the ordinance, which takes effect immediately.

Some 10 to 15 percent of Milton’s total offenders could be eligible for the program, Shoenthal estimated. That would have been somewhere in the range of 100 to 200 people last year, though changing patterns of crime or police focus could change the percentage.

NOT A ‘BLANK CHECK’

But, “I think it could send a positive message or a negative message,” commented Councilman Alan Tart. “I don’t want it to sound like in Milton you have a blank check to make first offenses.”

Milton’s program compares to other jurisdictions like Cobb County. Georgia law allows any court system to create such a program, and most do with little variation. Shoenfeld said she had no data on hand to show the program’s effect on crime. But basing a prediction on her experience in DeKalb and Alpharetta, she expects about 10 percent of offenders to fail.

Tart ended up voting for the program.

Pretrial intervention won’t affect the city budget, Shoenfeld added; all personnel are in place and any cost should be covered by offenders’ program fees. Extra would go to the city’s general fund.

Judges will still set the service hours and other variables at their discretion and victims will still have the chance to speak in court at arraignment and sentencing.

Editor’s note: Ordinance text- http://www.cityofmiltonga.us/cityclerk/council/2010/01-06-2010-Packet.pdf

Email: Mlee@beaconcast.com