Otto Schalk: Watch what he does, NOT what he says, Part I

We have already pointed out that Prosecutor Otto Schalk has a habit of wanting to see himself on television and in the newspaper as often as regular people go to work each day (and it may cost taxpayers money because of it), and that his credibility is clearly in question about where he was born and whether he failed to tell the truth later, but you may wonder if this also extends to other cases he prosecutes. It does, big time.

You may have noticed in the last few years that it seems that Otto Schalk talks big about cases where he charges people with something, and then you hear very little from him on how the cases turn out. Let's start with this one to see an example. Back in November, 2011, there was a story that appeared in the Corydon Democrat, titled "3 Arrested in Burglary Ring". The Prosecutor made big promises on this case, in which he alleged involvment the Aryan Brotherhood. Here are some quotes:

"White supremacists are not welcome in Harrison County, and it's not a place for burglars," Schalk said. "Once they're caught — when they're caught — we're going to prosecute them to the fullest."

Schalk said that while the quartet is only being charged for robbery at this time, he expects a number of other charges to be handed down in the next couple of days, including manufacturing and selling of methamphetamine and possibly other drugs.

"Short of moving to the North Pole, we'll catch these guys," he said.

"These are not the type of people you'd want to move in next door to you," Schalk said.

He also talked to WHAS-11:

"White supremacists are not welcome in Harrison County," Harrison County Prosecutor Otto Shalk said. "There's no place for that. There's no place for burglaries. You put the two of them together, that's my number one target."

Let's not leave out WLKY-32:

The State's ready to move forward with trial and seek justice for the victims," said Schalk.

Schalk said it's still unclear exactly which case will go to trial first.

Clearly big talk and big promises from the Prosecutor. The fullest extent of the law would mean to the average person that he would try to seek the maximum sentence or at least close to it. The reality is far from that when one examines the court records. There were four defendants in this case, and we will list case numbers, not actual names. You can review the court records on this website by typing in the case number that we provide: https://mycase.in.gov/default.aspx. Also, one thing he and his supporters may do is to try to blame these outcomes on the Judges in the cases. Note that when the Prosecutor makes a motion to dismiss, the Judge has to do so, and it is the Prosecutor that designs plea agreements, the Judge can either accept or reject, usually when they are considered too soft (that does happen-see below), so let's remember where the responsibility is here. And if you were wondering, the top sentence for a B Felony is 20 years and for a D Felony 3 years, so you can judge for yourself what "prosecute them to the fullest" is in your mind.

Defendant 1, Case 31D01-1111-FB-856, charged with Burglary (B Felony) and Theft (D Felony), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Case 31D01-1111-FB-901, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), Criminal Gang Activity (D Felony), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Case 31D01-1111-FB-902, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Defendant 1 also has two other pending drug cases, 31D01-1004-FB-298 and 31D01-FB-93, both serious methamphetamine cases, where the Court rejected the easy plea agreement offer. 

Defendant 2, Case No. 31D01-1111-FB-856, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), Criminal Gang Activity (D Felony), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor.

Defendant 3, Case No. 31D01-1111-FB-897, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Case No. 31D01-1111-FB-900, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), Criminal Gang Activity (D Felony), in a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to Theft, with other charges dismissed, including the more serious Burglary charge. He received a sentence of 18 months, and was given jail credit for 270 days, so his agreement was to get out of jail. On Case No. 31D01-1201-FB-19, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), in a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to Theft, with other charges dismissed, including the more serious Burglary charge. He received a sentence of 18 months, and was given jail credit for 270 days, so his agreement was to get out of jail. So three cases where he could have received 20 years each, he gets out with a year and a half. Is this "we're going to prosecute them to the fullest"? This defendant is already out on the streets, and let's hope he isn't your neighbor.

Defendant 4 (note there was a Special Judge on these cases), Case No. 31D01-1109-FB-751, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Case No. 31D01-1201-FB-18, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), Criminal Gang Activity (D Felony), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Case No. 31D01-1202-FB-92, Dealing Methamphetamine (B Felony), Possession of Ammonia with Firearm, Manufacture (C Felony), Dumping Controlled Substance (D Felony), Receiving Stolen Property (C Felony), Receiving Stolen Property (C Felony), Possession of Paraphernalia (A Misdemeanor), dismissed by motion of Prosecutor. Case No. 31D01-1111-FB-857, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), in a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to Burglary (B Felony), all other charges dismissed. He received a sentence of 6 years, 3 of which he has to serve, with 547 days jail credit and 3 years probation. In Case No. 31D01-FB-903, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), in a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to Burglary (B Felony), all other charges dismissed. He received a sentence of 7 years, 3 of which he has to serve, with 327 days jail credit and 4 years probation. In Case No. 31D01-FB-904, charged with Burglary (B Felony), Theft (D Felony), Residential Entry (D Felony), Criminal Trespass (A Misdemeanor), in a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to Burglary (B Felony), all other charges dismissed. He received a sentence of 7 years, 3 of which he has to serve, with no jail credit and 4 years probation. The three cases that were not dismissed are to be served back to back, but here is the kicker- criminals can get day for day credit, so the first case could have no additional time, only a few months on the second one, and another year and a half on the last one. So according to the State Prison, Defendant #4 is scheduled to be back in someone's neighborhood come April 25, 2016. So there were six cases in which the most serious charge here was 20 years, so back to back, that comes to 120 years, not counting for the other charges that would make it even more. So if you look that he was put in jail in November, 2011, sentenced in March, 2014, and to be released in April 2016, he will serve only about four and a half years, when he could have been facing more than 120 years for being involved in meth labs and breaking into Harrison County citizen's homes and stealing things from them. Is this an example of "we're going to prosecute them to the fullest"? 

As you can see, when dealing with Otto Schalk, we have to examine what he does not what he says. Not only were these cases not prosecuted to the fullest, many of them were outright tossed out by him. If these people are his "number one target", one would hate to see how cases that were lower targets would be handled. And it doesn't seem like he was so willing to go to trial on any of these cases either. Maybe we need a Prosecutor that will follow through on what they say. We need a Prosecutor that will protect, not promote himself. 

Otto Schalk: Listen to what he does, not what he says.