The challenger for the Republican nomination for McKean County’s district attorney has made allegations of misuse of discretion and a waste of resources against the incumbent.
Phil Clabaugh, a former assistant district attorney and current chief public defender, announced his intention to run against DA Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer in the May primary.
In his announcement, he said, “The lack or misuse of discretion, backlog of criminal cases and excessive waste of time and resources demonstrated by the current administration make it apparent that it’s time for a change.”
The Era asked him to clarify his assertions.
Clabaugh gave numerous examples of the district attorney’s office dismissing cases against a suspect months into the case, in some instances when the suspect had spent months in jail or when a trial was to start within days. And, he alleged, there’s a backlog of criminal cases awaiting trial dates, but trial dates are going by unused.
“I’m on public defense now,” he explained. “I’m in the courtroom everyday, dealing with the court list everyday.”
Clabaugh said he first noticed what he called a trend with his own clients. “I had one client extradited from Indiana. He sat in jail for months. I pushed for an immediate trial after extradition,” but the motion was opposed by the DA’s office.
“He was accused of lying on a gun form,” Clabaugh said. The county went through the expense of extradicting him back to McKean County to answer to the charge.
“I knew they didn’t have enough evidence to convict him,” Clabaugh continued. After his client sat in jail for about six months, Shaffer dismissed the case against him by filing a motion of nolle pros — which means a discontinuation of prosecution of the case.
While the move was good news for his client, Clabaugh contended that Shaffer could have made that decision to dismiss the case far earlier, before his client had sat through three holidays behind bars. And before the county was on the hook for the cost of six months of jailing a man who would no longer face prosecution.
In 2018, one day in McKean County Jail cost about $98. The cost of extradition would be borne by the county as well, as the man was not convicted.
In regards to that specific case, Shaffer replied, “He claims that county taxpayers are on the hook for ‘thousands’ in extradition costs. The truth is, the cost of the extradition was $633.60. The case was withdrawn when the defendant established a valid legal defense.”
Shaffer said there are many reasons why cases are withdrawn, and it’s up to the prosecution to determine when and if that will happen.
She gave some examples. “A bad check is paid or restitution is otherwise made. The court suppressed needed evidence from use at trial, most often in DUI cases. Required evidence is not forthcoming from the lab or another jurisdiction. The defendant is determined to be incompetent to stand trial or otherwise has significant mental health issues. Victims become uncooperative, recant their testimony, or otherwise express an unwillingness to go to trial.” Pursuit of a relatively minor offense would waste money and manpower, such as a $2.78 retail theft and harassment, the DA said.
“Defendants even die,” Shaffer pointed out. “Four of the cases recited by my opponent are from his office. In these cases, the defendants died before trial. Should these cases not have been withdrawn?”
Shaffer explained she has one test she applies for all cases: “Can the Commonwealth prove the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt? When the answer is no, we withdraw the prosecution. At other times, we add charges when the evidence dictates.”
While Clabaugh acknowledged there are valid reasons for dismissing a case, he had researched some numbers of dismissals for comparison to current numbers.
In 2016, Shaffer’s first year in office, there were 39 cases dismissed; and in 2017, 36.
Between January 2013 and December 2015, there were 18 the first year, 26 the second year and 14 the third year.
Clabaugh said he thinks the numbers are higher than they should be, and that the decisions are being made later in the cases than is practical.
“It’s the volume that is concerning,” he said. “The decision to nolle pros (dismiss charges) coming the day of the trial, the week before the trial, the Friday before the trial is to start, has been greater.”
Shaffer argued that decision is for the prosecutor’s office to make.
“Which cases to withdraw — and when to do so — are matters entrusted to the district attorney’s discretion. None of the cases recited by my opponent were dismissed for any arbitrary, capricious or improper reason.
“The truth is that I have never heard a peep from him — when any case against one of his criminal defendants was dismissed.”
Clabaugh said his issue with how Shaffer is running the office is “the fairness of the system for everybody. There seems to be a lack of voice for police, for defendants, when the district attorney is making the decision unilaterally when things need to go to trial.
“If we’re holding somebody for five or six months in hopes they plea and they don’t, and then nolle pros the case, that’s a fundamental fairness issue,” Clabaugh said.
He added that he could not prove that is what Shaffer is doing with dismissing charges late in cases, but said “it’s an educated guess. If you are holding somebody in jail, in my opinion, if you are arguing someone is a danger to society or a flight risk, you have a pretty strong obligation to make sure that case is carried through.”
Shaffer also brought up fiscal responsibility, and compared the public defender’s office budget from before and after Clabaugh took over. The numbers are on the county’s website at mckeancounty.org
“In 2013, the year before my opponent became the public defender, the annual budget for that office was $349,870.00,” Shaffer said. “In 2019, its proposed budget is $520,786.00 — a 48.85 percent increase of $170,916.00.
“Further, when my opponent claims a conflict within his office, the public is required to pay for court-appointed lawyers to represent defendants,” she added. “That cost to the county taxpayers in 2013 was $126,475. In 2018, the cost to the taxpayers increased to $179,060 — a 42 percent increase.”
She compared her budget to the public defender’s office as well.
“From 2013 through 2018, the public defender’s budget increased 46 percent.” she said. “During the same time, the district attorney’s budget went up a mere 7 percent. It should be remembered that the district attorney’s office prosecutes nearly all crimes in the county. The public defender’s office, which has the same number of attorneys, defends only a fraction of those cases.”
The primary election is set for May 21. Both candidates are Republicans seeking the party’s nomination for the ballot in the fall general election.
