Earlier this month, it was reported that a man, David Willie Queen, was arrested for attempting to invade a house where a woman was inside babysitting a toddler and two infants. When he didn’t succeed in breaking down the door of the house, he stole the woman’s SUV from her driveway and crashed it into the ditch across the street and fled on foot from authorities. He was captured and arrested a short time later by Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
Needless to say, the woman was so traumatized by the incident that she was visibly shaking and had difficulty breathing and talking when authorities first arrived on the scene, according to reports from Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
And Sheriff Sills says all the trauma could easily have been avoided.
“Queen is what we call a Great American Criminal,” Sills said. “Instead of being in state prison where he belongs, the people of Putnam County get crimes committed against them time and time again.”
In addition to having crimes committed against Putnam residents, the cost of the repeat criminals’ incarceration upkeep becomes the burden of the county residents, in a sense making the residents pay double, Sills said.
“The court system has turned into nothing but a probation machine,” Putnam’s longtime sheriff said. “It’s like an old mimeograph machine, it just turns over and over and over again. The recidivist commits probation violation and instead of sending them to prison in the state prison system as the law mandates for repeated probation violations, they get 30 or 60 or 90 days in the county jail.
“And guess who pays for that – the local taxpayers. It’s an elaborate system of transferring the expense to the property-owning taxpayers in the county.”
Queen’s most recent arrest July 20 made the 37th arrest for Queen, according to Sills. Queen’s criminal record includes arrests since 2008 for a long list of a variety of charges including possession of cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, possession of these drugs with intent to distribute, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, theft by taking, criminal trespass, driving on a suspended license, giving a false name to authorities, batteryfamily violence, cruelty to children, homicide by vehicle, and four counts of failure to appear plus 19 probation violations. The crimes, charges and convictions took place in Putnam, Morgan, and Rockdale counties.
“This is why we have so much crime. It’s yet another example of our ridiculous system,” Sills said. “Nineteen of his 37 arrests were for probation violation, but of course each of those were in conjunction with other charges (crimes). He was last arrested in February, but was out on bond June 3. He’s on probation until 2025.”
Georgia’s Recidivist statute, O.C.G.A. 17-10-7, states that if a criminal has one prior conviction and then is convicted of a second felony, the judge must sentence the offender to the maximum term of imprisonment. However, the judge has discretion to allow probation.
A stipulation of the Recidivist statute is known as the “three strikes rule.” It means that if a criminal has already been convicted of three felonies, if he/she is convicted of a fourth, then they must serve the maximum term of imprisonment without parole.
Sills said that in addition to the felony theft by taking, driving while unlicensed, and probation violation charges on July 20, Queen also is facing charges of driving under the influence of methamphetamine and benzodiazepines.
“When I was arresting him, he told me he didn’t commit a crime, he was trying to get help,” Sills said. “I told him I’d get him some help in prison.”
