Apparently, in speaking to both (the
Victim’s Advocate) on Friday and you
today, the parties most affected by
this incident (the offender and her supporters and the family members of the
young woman who died) are interested in participating in a group conference. The main issue at this point between the State and the Defense appears to be whether the conference
should occur pre- or post-sentence.
From my perspective as the potential
facilitator, this is not a crucial issue so
long as the defendant is not being coerced into participating in this process.
Two of the basic conditions necessary
before any conference is convened are
that the defendant admits guilt and
that all parties participate voluntarily.
As long as those conditions are met, a
conference might be held at any point
on the criminal justice continuum, from
pre-adjudication to pre-release from
incarceration.
It was then clearly established that the intent of the court was to convene the conference post-sentence by way of the following response from Judge Zimmerman:
Thank you for keeping me in the
“loop” as you prepare to do your work
on this case. I indicated to counsel that
the conference could be post-plea as
a condition of her probation. I will certainly make myself available if either
counsel wish to speak with me about
the logistics of a plea conference.
However, I prefer to stay “out of the
loop” at this point so that counsel may
feel free to speak with any interested
party w/o running afoul of involving
the court in any discussions that could
present ethical considerations. Thank
you to all for your quick response.
The next issue—what the exact wording
of a special condition requiring a conference might be—was dealt with in an e-mail
from me to defense counsel and the state’s
attorney’s office. I felt this was an important issue as it might relate to the future
use of conferencing as a condition of probation. While it was clear in this case that
there were victims interested in participating, this might not always be the case. My
main point was that the wording should
make compliance with a condition requiring conferencing moot if there were no victims interested in participating. The final
language of this condition read:
www.vtbar.org
SPECIAL ISSUE: A Facilitator’s Reflections
or post-sentence. Below is an excerpt from
an e-mail that I then sent to defense counsel with a copy to the state’s attorney and
the court:
You shall attend and fully participate
in … a restorative justice/family group
conference with members of (the deceased victim’s) family if a member or
members of her immediate family …
requests that such a conference be
convened.
Every indication was that the state’s attorney and defense counsel were agreed that
a conference would be required as a new
condition of probation. On the other hand,
it obviously would not be a “done deal”
until after sentencing. Over four months
had already transpired since the incident/
death, and it was apparently the family