The Greene County Attorney’s Office is starting a new process to bring closure for victims of previous crimes.

County Attorney Thomas Laehn says last school year, Grace Cullum was an interim from Paton-Churdan and did a project where she found individuals who had been convicted of crimes where victim restitution was either not paid or only partially paid. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio, his office has done the first batch of ten cases where they went to a judge and argued to show cause so that a notice of a contempt charge would be filed if these individuals didn’t come to their hearings. Laehn states that the results have been a mixed bag.

“We’ve had some contempt hearings, we’ve had warrants issued for defendants who failed to appear for those contempt hearings, and most importantly we’ve had defendants pay the money that was due and the victims have finally received compensation for their losses.”

Laehn points out that about 20 percent of individuals have paid their amounts for victim restitution, but his office takes all cases seriously.

“When the judge has the contempt hearing, if the person doesn’t show up then my office requests a warrant for that person’s arrest. So we do have some warrants that have been issued. And we do everything we can in my office to make sure that victims are compensated for their loss and made whole.”    

Laehn sees this as one of his fundamental responsibilities, under state code, as county attorney to seek justice and having convicted people pay victim restitution is one of those ways.