Thursday, February 10, 2000
Parole after violent crimes criticized
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The last time the young woman saw Darryl Miles in court, she told a judge how he abducted her, drove her to his apartment and raped her for seven hours.
When she had finished speaking, she says, Mr. Miles winked at her.
And then he blew her a kiss.
Twelve years later, the woman has joined Hamilton County prosecutors and several other crime victims in a campaign against parole for violent offenders like Mr. Miles.
Prosecutor Mike Allen said he launched the campaign Wednesday because Mr. Miles and several other Ohio inmates are scheduled for parole hearings in the next few months.
He said a recent increase in the number of inmates granted parole suggests that victims and prosecutors need to be more aggressive in their opposition to early releases.
“Enough is enough,” Mr. Allen said. “Most states are getting the message: Don't let these people out. But in Ohio, we're letting them out in record numbers.”
The surge in early releases began in 1998 when the parole board freed 22 percent of the inmates who came before it — an increase from 14.8 percent in 1997.
Last year, the board granted parole in nearly 38 percent of its cases.
Parole officials say the increase is temporary and resulted from new parole guidelines adopted in 1997. Those guidelines, they say, were in response to Ohio's 1996 “truth in sentencing” law.
The new law set mandatory prison terms for most offenses, eliminating open-ended sentences such as 10 to 25 years. The new law sets exact sentences such as 10 years or 15 years.
Once sentenced to that term, the inmate is required to serve the entire term without possibility of parole.
The parole board's new guidelines evaluate each crime and set a release date based on the new sentencing law.
Once it reviewed Ohio's inmates, the board found that many already had served a maximum sentence according to its new guidelines. The release of those inmates caused the sudden jump in parole.
“It's starting to come back down,” said Joe Andrews, spokesman for the parole board. “We think the trend is going to be reversing itself.”
For Mr. Allen, however, it's not happening fast enough. He said the board too often grants parole to violent offenders.
He said Mr. Miles had a long criminal history before he was convicted of raping the young woman in 1988. The victim was 16 at the time.
Another inmate up for parole is Samuel McCree, who has served 19 years for the 1981 shooting death of Daniel Von Hoene. Mr. Von Hoene was a West End pharmacist and the father of 11.
Mr. Von Hoene's family also has joined prosecutors in their efforts to block parole for violent offenders.
“It's clear he is a menace to society,” Mr. Von Hoene's daughter, Anne, said of Mr. McCree. “He will do it again if given the chance.”
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