Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023
Good morning. Welcome to Thursday. We’re covering a judge’s ruling on a veteran who stole and crashed a Humvee on Fort Stewart, more issues stemming from a former Savannah homicide detective’s alleged misconduct and how recidivism statistics need more of a critical eye.
Questions, comments or story ideas? You can always reach me at jake.shore@thecurrentga.org. Let’s get into it.
Judge: Vet suffers from mental illness
A judge ruled that a retired soldier accused of stealing a Humvee and crashing it into a Fort Stewart complex suffers from mental illness and is currently incapable of understanding the consequences of his actions.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge William T. Moore of the Southern District of Georgia ordered Treamon Lacy, 39, be hospitalized and receive psychiatric care for up to four months, until “he is able to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him and to assist properly in his defense.”
Lacy is a former U.S. Army staff sergeant, who retired in 2013 after a decade serving as a wheeled vehicle mechanic, according to Stars and Stripes. He served two tours fighting in Iraq.
On July 10, 2023, Lacy allegedly stole the Humvee from the “87 BSSB motor pool” and drove it through the front doors of the headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Division on the Liberty County post, charging documents stated. He was indicted by a grand jury in August.
Context: Mental health declines among U.S. active duty service members and veterans continue to be national public safety and health issues.
- Public safety: The October mass shooting in Maine by an Army reservist has caused officials to re-examine the role of blast waves that troops experienced from firing weapons or throwing grenades and how they impact the brains of soldiers, according to the New York Times.
- Health: Suicides in 2020 decreased slightly among former service members, according to a 2022 Veteran’s Administration report, but the suicide rate was still twice as high for veterans than for non-veterans.
Fired Savannah homicide detective reinstated
A city disciplinary panel reinstated a Savannah homicide detective last week who was fired over accusations she falsified search warrants.
The decision to reinstate and demote Ashley Wood last week, first reported by The Savannah Morning News, was reached by the Civil Service Board. She won’t work as a detective again but instead with the code compliance division.
In April 2023, an internal affairs investigation was initiated over claims Wood made to obtain a search warrant that a murder suspect was caught on Walmart surveillance video buying cleaning supplies with the other defendants. Court records say the footage never showed that, and Wood was later fired.
While Wood’s alleged misconduct had to do with the 2021 murder case of Charles Vinson, similar accusations against her are impacting other court cases, The Current has found.
Prosecutors seeking to convict Kevin Wilson, who is accused of murder in the 2020 death of Vincent Smalls, Jr., disclosed in an August 2023 court filing that Wood stated she had phone evidence in order to obtain a search warrant, but that phone evidence could not be found.
“I was not able to locate these records on the discs I had or on Evidence.com, and had previously requested them from Det. Wood several times,” the prosecutor Christy Barker wrote in an email. “I received confirmation that SPD has been unable to locate the records, either.”
The case is still ongoing and an initial trial date is set for February 2024.
Read our 2022 look into the Savannah Police homicide unit and its clearance rates.
Devil in the details
One term I hear often as a public safety reporter is “recidivism.” While it simply measures whether or not a former prison inmate commits another crime after release, its significance can be misappropriated. Officials will use the term to tout their prisons’ educational programs. Local communities will look to the statistic to define how safe they are.
As our friends at Stateline.org report, how you measure recidivism makes all the difference.
One problem is what states consider reoffending. In some states, if a former prisoner violates their parole by missing an appointment with their parole officer, that’s considered reoffending. Some states only consider felonies. Many recidivism studies also miss those who leave prison, commit a crime and go undetected by the authorities.
Georgia has a stricter interpretation of the data, according to the state Department of Corrections website.
As of 2019 (the most recent data available), the recidivism rate is 25.1% in state prisons. However, the agency considers recidivists as only Georgia inmates who went on to commit and be convicted of a felony in the three years since release.
Read the story here for why recidivism data deserves more scrutiny.
Savannah surpasses other police departments in solving murders. Why?
The snapshot of successful detective work, homicide clearance rates, are a mark of pride for the Savannah Police Department that has struggled in recent years with morale inside the force and its ability to foster community good will. While a high statistic, some experts and advocates say it doesn’t tell the whole story […]
500 new police guns will help failing recruits pass academy, Savannah brass says
The Savannah Police Department and city leaders made misleading claims advocating for 500 new guns with red-dot sights. One reason was that the sights will help failing recruits pass the police academy.
How many inmates return to prison? Inconsistent reporting makes it hard to tell.
Recidivism rates across the country can vary greatly because of how they’re defined, how the data is collected and how it’s presented to the public. So it can be difficult to say that, for example, one state is doing better than another in rehabilitating formerly incarcerated residents.
Justice Department investigates Georgia prisons over inmate deaths, LGBT attacks
Department of Justice probe will look at a correctional system where murders and suicides have spiked during the pandemic and examine allegations that staff and inmates repeatedly physically and sexually abuse LGBT inmates.
Support independent, solutions-based investigative journalism without bias, fear or favor on issues affecting Savannah and Coastal Georgia.
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