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SHELBY COUNTY
PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
2009 YEAR-END REPORT
 During
2009 the Criminal/Juvenile Divisions of my office
handled over 8,032 cases. Included in that caseload are
211 Major Felony (Murder, Class A, B & C) matters; 513
Class D Felony prosecutions, including 64 O.V.W.I.
cases; 1,621 Misdemeanor offenses; and 4,421 Infraction
cases.
In addition to those cases, we also prosecuted 177 Juvenile
matters and filed 284 Search Warrants and Miscellaneous
Criminal Cases.
Our Child Support Division collected $4,645,738.00 in
child support payments.
Tough times always drive crime statistics. Given the
almost unprecedented economic year that we just
experience, Shelby County endured the year fairly well.
Some measures were up and others down. Most
significantly we did see a 13% rise in our “major
felony” cases. These would include Class A, B, and C
felony cases. We did file one murder case last year. The
Klakamp murder case was concluded in a swift fashion.
While sentencing has been delayed until February, the
trial itself took less than nine months from the time of
the offense until the jury verdict. Unusual, in that the
typical murder case can often take close to two years to
bring to trial.
Surprisingly, we saw very little change in our
misdemeanor filings in 2009. Misdemeanors generally
represent “petty” offenses such as shoplifting and
alcohol related offenses, like Public Intoxication and
first time drunk driving. These are the types of offense
you would generally expect to see a spike in during
times of a down economy. Fortunately, we did not see
that here in our county and I think that it is a
testament to the stability of the community.
Along those same lines, I am happy to report that we
actually had almost a 19% decline in the number of
felony/repeat drunken driving cases that we filed last
year. This actually represents the second year in a row
that this number has declined. It, in fact, reflects an
over 40% decline in this category since 2005. This is a
critically important number for our community because we
know from experience that the vast majority of alcohol
related traffic fatalities involve repeat offenders. The
most likely person to kill an innocent motorist in a
drunken driving accident is a driver who has a history
of previously driving drunk. We have seen that bear out
in Shelby County, as our alcohol related fatalities have
continued to decline over the same period of time. Local
law enforcement officers are to be commended for the
fine job that they are doing in reducing serious drunk
driving cases in Shelby County. More importantly, the
whole community deserves congratulations for embracing
this effort.
All in all Shelby County has weathered a very tough
economic year from a criminal justice standpoint. We
remain one of the safest communities in the State to
live in.
– R. Kent Apsley |
