Judge Slagle Court Case Study

On Thursday, February 18th 2016 I attended multiple court hearings at the Marion County Courthouse in Marion, OH. In this particular court-house there are two common pleas court rooms along with two judges which include Judge Slagle and Judge Finnegan. I felt it necessary to observe both courtrooms of the courthouse to get the most out of this experience. Judge Finnegan’s courtroom was much larger than Judge Slagle’s but seemed to have been more out of date compared to Slagle’s courtroom. In judge Finnegan’s courtroom there was a witness stand directly next to the judge, a table sat vertically on both the left and right side of the room, and individual chairs lined up directly in front of the judge across the room between the two tables. The …show more content…
The defendant by the name of Chad Welch was being charged with felony theft resulting from a stolen television. The prosecutor Denise Martin noted that she had spoken to the victim Jeremy Welch prior to the hearing but that he did not agree to testify. According to the prosecutor the defendant rented a television from the local Rent-a-Center in which he later transferred into his brother’s name. After the defendant transferred the television into his brother's name he stole the tv from his home and pawned it at a local pawn shop. The defendant admitted to the allegations made against him and claims that they were due to his addiction to heroin. The prosecutor finds it necessary to place the defendant in a treatment but would need to speak to the probation department to find if it would be necessary to place him in an inpatient or outpatient treatment center. Welch asks for community control for 2 years and to be placed on the Vivitrol shot with consideration of the time that has already been served which is a little over a month. The defendant has already previously successfully completed a drug program in which he was on the Vivitrol shot and was sober from drugs for two years until his vivitrol shot was no longer being supplied due to insurance issues. Welch probation recommended that he be …show more content…
Welch has shown that he can be successful in being sober if he gets the help that he needs. While observing the case Welch indicated that he currently has custody of his daughter due to the mother of the child currently serving a five-year prison sentence. In order to be a successful parent to this child he needs to have treatment for his drug addiction rather than being placed into a prison in which drugs are still easily accessible and treatment is limited. Judge Slagle could see that the defendant was struggling with drugs and that this had led to his previous run ins with the