COVINGTON — Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Don Buring is disputing a claim that he plea-bargains the majority of his cases, resulting in less jail time for convicted felons.

        The charge was made by Mr. Buring's political opponent, Bill Crockett, a Fort Wright Republican and the chief prosecutor for Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson.

        In a campaign flier mailed to Kenton County voters last week, Mr. Crockett claims that “95% of all cases (in Mr. Buring's office) are plea-bargained without trial and result in lesser jail time.”

        “They are not trying the cases in that office, they are plea-bargaining the cases,” Mr. Crockett said in an interview earlier this week.

        Mr. Buring said Mr. Crockett is not factual in the mailer.

        “In truth, it is mere conjecture,” he said.

        Mr. Crockett said he arrived at the 95 percent figure by taking the typical number of trials Mr. Buring's office conducts each year and comparing that to the number of cases handled by the office.

        “They try about 30 cases a year, and have had from about 700 to about 900 cases a year over the last 10 years,” Mr. Crockett said, citing data he said was gleaned from state reports.

        But Mr. Crockett also admitted that he assumes that most cases not tried are plea-bargained down to lesser jail time.

        “There is some assumption built into that,” he said.

        Mr. Buring said it's wrong to assume that every case not tried is automatically plea-bargained. “That does happen, but not on every case.”

        But to blunt Mr. Crockett's criticism, Mr. Buring ran newspaper ads this week that showed three felons — including two convicted murderers — who pleaded guilty without going to trial.

        “These are but three examples which, according to my opponent, would be considered plea bargains,” Mr. Buring said. “Obviously, they are not.”

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