A Clark County assistant prosecutor will challenge one of the longest-tenured judges in Ohio for a seat on the bench in November.
And whether or not Clark County needs a special court to combat the growing heroin and drug problem has become a central issue in the race.
Clark County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Carey will face Democratic incumbent Judge Eugene Nevius on the Nov. 3 ballot for a six-year term on the municipal court.
Nevius was appointed to the seat in 1981 and first elected in 1985. He’s since won five consecutive six-year terms. He won’t be able to run again after this election due to a state law that prevents anyone older than 70 from running for judge.
He graduated from Catholic Central High School, Xavier University and Ohio Northern University law school.
Carey joined the Clark County prosecutor’s office in 2008, working on general criminal and community-based cases. He is a graduate of Springfield North High School, Miami University and Ohio Northern University law school.
The assistant county prosecutor said he wants to establish a drug court to fight Clark County’s heroin epidemic, which he said is filling up the county jail and “eating our tax dollars.”
“We have 47 confirmed overdose deaths so far this year and 12 more are under investigation, which is as much as some states that have an epidemic problem such as Maine,” Carey said, who is part of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. “Drug courts are something proven to be effective at getting people off drugs and back into society.”
Drug courts are specialized court docket programs that target adult and juvenile offenders, and parents with pending child welfare cases who have substance abuse problems, according to the National Institute of Justice.
More than 3,400 drug courts existed nationwide as of last year, according to NIJ.
Drug courts allow offenders to waive “normal” court proceedings and participate in a program that serves as a partnership between the judge, a specially trained probation officer, a doctor, mental health professionals and counselors.
“It’s a group that works together to address all the co-recurring issues that lead to addiction and prevent recovery. It’s a team effort,” Carey said. “It’s not adversarial … It’s a way of staying on top of this and not letting someone fail and be another statistic.”
But Nevius said a drug court isn’t needed because municipal court judges individually use alternative sentencing and community resources to give addicts the help they need.
The judges have developed partnerships with drug treatment facilities, he said, and other community resources. That can end the repeated cycle of arrest and incarceration, Nevius said, which makes a specialized court such as drug courts unnecessary.
“Instead of trying to have a separate court for every problem for drug abuse or alcohol, or domestic violence or mental health, we do all of those things,” Nevius said.
Many drug courts began without funding, Carey said, but the upcoming proposed federal budget has more than $133 million set aside for drug courts.
Drug courts reduce crime and recidivism rates, Carey said, as well as save tax dollars and essentially pay for themselves.
“For every criminal justice dollar spent on drug courts, it saves about three criminal justice dollars,” Carey said.
To establish a drug court, Carey said a judge must be willing to do the extra work to run it.
“If you do this work you’re going to be doing full days, you might even be doing some night or weekend hours,” he said. “It’s a lot of work to stay on top of it. You have to have somebody willing to do it.”
Nevius said a local judicial committee considered establishing a drug court several years ago, but decided against it because it was too expensive, with start-up costs of about $500,000.
Judges have sent offenders to extended residential treatment facilities in Xenia, Portsmouth and Chillicothe, but he said all have a limited number of beds and addicts often have to wait for a spot to open.
If the county can get funding to to combat the drug epidemic, Nevius said it needs to be spent on expanding beds at residential treatment.
“We’ve been compassionate about trying to deal with those people and trying to identify who could be helped and then directing them to residential treatment programs, but there’s a tremendous need for more residential programs,” Nevius said.
Experience
Carey has served as an acting magistrate for the municipal court and for the city’s code enforcement department, which he said has given him the chance to preside over cases and writing decisions.
He’s represented clients in private practice and as an assistant prosecutor, which he said gives him an understanding of the concerns of those when they come to court.
Carey also has worked with community leaders from crime-ridden areas and said he understands the impact drugs and crime have on families and victims.
Carey said his background will give him the compassion needed in handling a drug court.
“That’s an important aspect that I hope people don’t overlook,” Carey said.
Nevius has been on the municipal court bench for 34 years since the Ohio Supreme Court added a third Clark County municipal court judge. The court was the busiest two-judge court in the state at that time, Nevius said.
His years on the bench are critical experience, he said.
Nevius said court officials changed how they assigned cases, implemented a pre-trial conference system that’s still used today and expanded the probation department.
He recalled dealing with jail overcrowding due in part to the crack epidemic in the 1990s. He said judges began using alternative sentencing and developed an intensive probation program.
“(It) allowed us to not put as many people just in jail, but to have them out and under supervision and making use of our agencies and services that provide drug and substance abuse counseling, anger management counseling, mental health counseling and dealing with the underlying problems that bring so many people into the court system,” Nevius said.
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