MOUNT VERNON — Thursday’s Knox County Common Pleas Court highlighted how transportation and association could be a continuous challenge for people serving community control sentences.
James Martin, 47, Mount Vernon, appeared via video from the Knox County Jail for the revocation of a 2019 community control sentence. Martin had failed to report to his supervising officer in December, according to the motion to revoke community control.
Martin explained that he used to live in Centerburg and did not have a driver’s license, which made reporting to Mount Vernon a challenge. He had since relocated to Mount Vernon and can better report, Martin said.
Martin’s difficulty maintaining contact from a distance was not a unique one.
In April, 39-year-old Keith Cochran was held in the county jail on a $2,500 bond with 10 percent due to previous failure to appear in court for a February jury trial.
Public Defender John Dankovich submitted that Cochran lived in Newark at the time and became disconnected because he couldn’t pay his phone bills.
Cochran was unable to post a bond for two months until he was sentenced to two-year community control in June. Cochran planned to move in with family in Mount Vernon where he could have a working phone to maintain communication with his probation officer, according to information shared in court, June 18.
While there is a need for probationers with few communication and transportation options to stay close to the city, it could create additional problems for others like 28-year old Samantha Cunningham, Mount Vernon.
The motion to revoke Cunningham’s 2018 community control sentence alleged that Cunningham had failed to report in February and was later found in the company of at least four people with convicted felony records in April.
It is a common condition of community control that probationers distance themselves from others with felony records.
“You are judged by the company you keep,” noted Prosecuting Attorney Chip McConville.
Cunningham explained that one person in her company was a family member who gave her a ride; another person with a felony record was in the car that picked her up — a situation she had no control over, according to Cunningham.
As for the other two people with felony records, Cunningham said one was her ex-boyfriend, and denied the allegation of contact with the fourth individual on the reported date.
Cunningham did not have a viable driver’s license and was previously cited for driving under suspension before the incident of contacting people with felony records.
Cunningham was ordered to continue her two-year community control sentence. Judge Richard Wetzel said that Cunningham may talk to her probation officer to explore treatment programs in Newark to put some distance between herself and her company in Mount Vernon.
