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Speaker 1: 7 0 6 here at 55 KRC talk station, Brian Thomas wishing everyone a very happy Friday and happy to welcome into the 55 KRC morning show. He is running for judge. We need to vote for him. It's Chris McDowell in studio, judge McDowell. Thank you for showing up today. And I obviously off the, out of the gate, um, wish you all the best in the world. It's a huge concern among a lot of folks, including a lot of people in my listening audience. No one really pays close attention to the judicial races. You don't run under a party affiliation. You, so you, you, You have to earn the endorsement from the Republicans or Democrats. That's how people know who you're affiliated with or connected with anyway. But because so few people, thankfully, aren't involved in the judicial system or criminal justice system as a subset, they don't know. They don't know what it's like. And many people who, I mean, some people don't even understand the concept of, you know, judicial activism and judicial conservatism, conceptually even, to know one way or another whether any judge is qualified. Good to have you here in the morning show and welcome, sir.
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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be here. It's good to see you again.
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Speaker 1: It is my pleasure. Again, it's keepjudgemcdowell.com. It's a website. You can learn all about them. Let's start real quickly here because on the heels of Tech Friday with Dave Hatter, I'm going to have to ask you about the judge throwing the observer out of the courtroom in the Hinton case using technology, the smart glasses. It records everything out there. I mean, as a judge, you're going to have to deal with this. And the other component is Not just that type of incident, but also something that really puts some concern in me is the proof beyond a reasonable doubt thing you need in a criminal justice case. With artificial intelligence turning out videos that look absolutely real, what do you anticipate being the challenges down the road with that? If I can even ask you that. I know we've got advisory opinion problems, but can you feel that?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot of questions at once.
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Speaker 1: I know. It's compounded nature. I'll give you an opportunity to just do a stream of consciousness response and throw in anything you want. Watch him do this.
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Speaker 2: Well, first, I would say that the jury pool and jurors need to be protected. And people who come into the courtroom, in the courthouse, you cannot video record because also witnesses need to be protected because we've had instances where witnesses were photographed and then that was put out there and then they were killed. And so you can't just record people in the courthouse, and that's one of the primary reasons. Secondary reason is jurors and the protection of jurors, because many people might want to try to bribe a juror, hurt a juror, talk to a juror. And so when I do a criminal case, they have numbers. I have their names, but it's juror number four, juror number six. They're never addressed by their last name. When I go through it, I'll say Joe S. But we need to protect jurors. And someone... filming a juror, particularly in this case, what she was doing was basically saying that the juror was an Uncle Tom. She was saying, this juror, this is a black juror. The juror is a sellout. And putting that information out into the internet placed that juror at risk. And I think it's a way of trying to influence that juror to get their friends to talk to them and so forth. It's really bad.
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Speaker 1: Well, and the elephant in the room for me as you say that, and I'm certain that goes on, The same thing probably happening to our elected officials. Threats, right? If you don't do something this way, then we are coming after you, whoever this collective we is that puts fears in the hearts and minds of a lot of people. That really concerns me. And the other component is how do you deal with the video evidence, if there is any? I mean, I don't know if you know, technologically speaking, if there's a way to figure out where something is fake, but that has me concerned because any savvy defense attorney can easily put some reasonable doubt in someone's mind about whether it's real or not.
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Speaker 2: Well, and it gets better and better every day. The AI technology gets better. It was like a little child a year ago, and now it's an adult. It's so much better than it used to be.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about Judge McDowell's career. I thank you very much for your service to our country. I'd like to acknowledge that you are a veteran, and you voluntarily entered the American military, and you also then became a judge advocate general with your law degree. So you represented the service members? Yes, sir.
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Speaker 2: First- I am the only military veteran who is a judge or magistrate in Hamilton County. The only one. Times have changed. We don't have that in our courthouse anymore. People who have basically put their butt on the line for the Constitution. I'm the only one who's done that. Yes, first I was a military prosecutor in Korea. I was a military prosecutor for southern Germany, northern Africa, the former East Bloc countries. Then I did that so well they made me a defense attorney. And I volunteered for a deployment as a NATO peacekeeper to Bosnia. And that's where I met my wife, Anna Castellini, who obviously lives in Cincinnati. The Army sent me to Fort Riley. They sent her to Fort Hood. They wouldn't put us together, so we both got out before 9-11, or we probably never.
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Speaker 1: Would have gotten out. God has a way of planning things, sir. I hope you married out of your element or outkicked your coverage like I did.
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Speaker 2: 100%.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure you did.
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Speaker 2: 100%.
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Speaker 1: Now, on to the practice of law. You were over at Dinsmore and Scholl. I have that right? And you did all kinds of types of cases, both civil and criminal with Dinsmore? That's right.
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Speaker 2: One, before I became a judge, I was the prosecutor in the city of Wyoming, also the prosecutor for the village of Newtown. I've both prosecuted murder cases and defended murder cases. On the civil side, I've done multi-million dollar civil cases from the plaintiff's side and the defense side. So I cover all aspects of what a common pleas judge does. People get confused about the levels of judges. Common pleas court, we deal with the serious felonies, the murderers, the rapists, and the big dollar civil cases. We don't deal with traffic cases. And so I've done those cases. I've got the most experience. My opponent, according to the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, has never tried a case, civil or criminal, and the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.
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Speaker 1: And there is where the rubber meets the road. I was literally just going to ask you, how important is it? Because I know the importance. Never sat on the bench before, but, you know, I've been in front of a lot of judges in my legal career, and that's where, as a practicing attorney and trying cases and being in front of judges, you learn who the good ones are and who they aren't. And you also learn what it is to be a good judge and be fair and equitable because, you know, Quite often, you find yourself on the short end of the receiving side of a judge who's obviously biased.
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Speaker 2: Right. And it's so important that as a judge, you make split-second decisions that are so important to people's lives. And you have to have a background to make informed, good decisions so quickly. And that comes from experience. And there's no substitute for experience. The first time you see an Ohio murder case, you should not be the judge. I mean, it's as simple as that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I don't understand, honestly, how you could be a judge if you have never tried a case. Evidentiary issues alone.
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Speaker 2: The civil case aspect of it is even more significant. In civil cases, they file motion after motion. There's so many more issues in a civil case that go on. Jury selection. differs from state to state. You have to know the Ohio jury selection rules the voir dire. And just to be doing that on the fly, that's not the kind of judge you want.
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Speaker 1: No, it isn't. I used to practice civil litigation. We used to call it scorched earth litigation when I was up in Chicago. Yeah, there's a lot of work, a lot of evidence, and a lot of motions.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have over 600 cases on my docket. And the majority of those are actually civil cases. I have 16 murder cases that were on my docket. I have so many murder cases, it's hard for me to keep them straight. It's really amazing the level of crime that goes on. I do my own arraignments in serious felony cases to make sure that bond is set appropriately to protect society.
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Speaker 1: Oh, there's that bond thing. So you have a perception that bond is appropriate, that the public is in need of some measure of protection from time to time. Right?
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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
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Speaker 1: There are flight risks out there. So you don't go zero bond in every case that comes into your courtroom, I presume.
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Speaker 2: No, not at all. You know, we passed a constitutional amendment in Ohio that requires judges to take into consideration public safety when they set a bond. And we have judges, and I'll tell you, quite frankly, who are not doing that. What people don't understand, if somebody commits, for example, a murder, I don't have jurisdiction over that case until the person's been indicted. The municipal court judge in room A sets the initial bond. I have cases with people who have felonies of the first degree where I'm doing the arraignment and they're not in my courtroom. And I'm like, where are they? And they said, well, judge, they bonded themselves out last night. And I look at the bond. For an F1, it'll be $ 2, 000 at 10% on a felony of the first degree where you're looking at 11 years in prison and walking out. And I have to issue warrants for people to come in there so I can set an appropriate bond. I'll tell you this. Since I've been a judge, no one out on bond to a case– that's been on my docket, has committed another violent crime.
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Speaker 1: That's what we need to hear. He's in the studio. He is Judge Christopher McDowell, and you can help him out. Check out his website. Learn all about his past, his history, and we need to get him on the bench for another term right there at keepjudgemcdowell.com. We're going to continue the conversation. Right now, it's 715 at 55 KRC, the talk station. 719, 55 KRC, the talk station. Very, very happy Friday to you. Judge McDowell in studio. You can vote Chris McDowell. And again, keep judgemcdowell.com to help him out. Can I maybe get a yard sign? Judge McDowell, you have yard signs. I've seen them around. I do.
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Speaker 2: I have them in my car. if you want one.
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Speaker 1: All right. Here's a thought exercise. It wasn't that long ago, almost on a weekly basis, if not more often, we were hearing tales of woe about overcrowding at the jail. Now, I guess I'm kind of curious because crime, I know crime statistically has gone down, but I don't think it's gone down enough to create the situation, which I apparently know about now because you told me off air, but did they fix the problem or is this really the judiciary in Hamilton County, which has given us a false sense of safety here? Because I don't think the jail is empty at all right now.
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Speaker 2: No, well, if you harken back to when we closed down the Queensgate jail, and that was hundreds of beds that were closed down. And when they closed down Queensgate, we were told we were going to, have to build a new jail. We heard all this. We need to get a funding. We need to build a new jail. When's the last time you heard about building a new jail? The reason is because we can't fill this jail that we have right now. They've closed sections of the jail entirely. There are over 260 empty beds in the jail right now, and that's because these progressive judges are not holding people accountable. It's even worse in the juvenile system at 2020. I'm told that the 2020 detention center is basically empty.
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Speaker 1: You know, the cops have told me that lots of times, um, FFP president Ken Coburn has been on the show. It's just like a pointless exercise to pick up a juvenile because they're just going to let them go.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. It's like the hotel on the shining, totally empty. Uh, and that's because people are in juveniles in particular are not being held accountable. Then they turn 18 years old and they're used to the slap on the wrist. They steal a gun like they've done before they come into my courtroom and Oh, and lo and behold, they're going to prison. And they're shocked, shocked that somebody would hold them accountable. And it's a very unfortunate thing that we have going on here. We have empty beds because judges are not holding people accountable. Wow.
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Speaker 1: Frightening stuff. Next question. So you deal with the bonds appropriately on the front end, considering public safety, of course, because that's one of the reasons for higher bonds. What about the backside? Probation.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, the backside of probation. Now, There are a certain element of society here who are addicted to drugs. And I never want to put, for example, a drug addict in prison if I can avoid it. I always give them an opportunity to get treatment because if I can get them treatment, that is the least expensive route. The reason they're breaking into your car and committing crimes is because they're a drug addict. If we can get that demon out of them, then we eliminate why they're breaking into things and doing crimes. But... So I put those people on probation, and when I do, I put them on strict probation. The progressive judges have taken over our probation office. We've closed these probation substations throughout the city. I say we, not me. The Republican judges voted to keep those substations open. Those substations were so important to those communities that they donated buildings to the city. The city was paying nothing. The county was paying no rent for those buildings because those communities felt it was so important to have those people there. So if somebody is on probation, one of the things I want them to have is a job. Now, instead of walking into their nearby substation, they have to get on a bus and go all the way downtown. And so they miss a half a day of work and it's very difficult for them to keep a job. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. If you're on probation, I order you to get a job, a real job with a W-2, not working for your uncle, getting paid under the table, but a real job. The other thing is they have the system of rewards. Now, have you heard about this? If you're on probation, if you do well on probation, then they start giving you rewards. The rewards can include things like gift cards to get groceries, other things. At one point, it did include Cincinnati Reds tickets. But most concerning, as a reward, they allow somebody as a reward to skip a urinalysis.
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Speaker 1: What?
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Speaker 2: Yes. What? Yes, and I'm putting people who are drug addicts on probation, and then as.
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Speaker 1: A reward— Get out of jail free card for one drug test, Skip? That's what that is?
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Speaker 2: Yes, it's outrageous. And so if you're a drug addict, you're jonesing for drugs. And so if you know that you can use drugs and not be caught, then what happens is you just start to spiral back down out of control.
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Speaker 1: Right?
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Speaker 2: That's not a reward. A reward should be you have more drug testing.
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Speaker 1: Well, and you know, the little libertarian in me is always for years saying, you know, I don't believe in criminalizing self-abuse. If you're going to abuse drugs, you're doing yourself a massive problem and you're probably going to end up dying. But why should I throw you in jail for something you're doing to yourself? But the reason is, and this is where the tough on the drug use is really compassion to your point. I transferred my views or I changed my viewpoint because the only way to help that person is to get them into rehabilitation. The only way to get them into rehabilitation sometimes is is the involvement of the criminal justice system. You give them the option. You want to go to jail? No? Okay, well, you know what? We want to solve your problem. We are compassionate in our treatment of you because we are offering you those services which you so desperately need. Why not take us up on the offer?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Brian, I have asked over 30 fentanyl addicts this one question, the same question. I ask them, where is this leading you? Where is this going for you? And I always get the same one-word answer, death.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: Death.
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Speaker 2: Death. And I'll ask them, do you want to die? Do you want to live? Do you want life? Do you want to have your life back? And if they say they want to have their life back, absolutely. I want to give them their life back. I want to give somebody their mother back. I want to give somebody their daughter back, society back, a productive citizen again. If I just warehouse them for six months, they're going to come out with being the same drug addict that they were going in.
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Speaker 1: Yep. And they'll probably learn some more nefarious tricks while they're locked up.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, if not used while they're locked up because we have a problem with drugs in the jail. Believe me, we have a problem with drugs in our jail right now.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: It's a leadership issue on that one, I would say.
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Speaker 2: 100%.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: Keepjudgemcdowell.com. Sounds like a great idea to me. Judge McDowell, it has been a pleasure talking with you, having you in the studio. I look forward to maybe doing it again before the election. And guess what? We can all go out and vote as early as today, can't we?
00:16:19
Speaker 2: Yes, you can go down there today. I went down there. I've already voted.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Good for you. Leading by example.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: Fast and easy.
00:16:24
Speaker 1: Thanks for all the great work you've done on the bench so far, and I sure hope that the listening audience considers you and also takes friends and recommends voting Judge McDowell as well. You would probably say the same thing about Leah Denkelocher and Magistrate Lukin, too.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: Love them. They're great. And Judge Katie Cash and Winkler. We have a wonderful, highly qualified ticket. Yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker 1: GOPjudges.com. They can get the whole list. Judge McDowell, it's great having you in.
00:16:49
Speaker 2: Thank you, sir.
00:16:49
Speaker 1: Take care, my friend. 726 right now, 55KRC, The Talk Station.
Speaker 1: 7 0 6 here at 55 KRC talk station, Brian Thomas wishing everyone a very happy Friday and happy to welcome into the 55 KRC morning show. He is running for judge. We need to vote for him. It's Chris McDowell in studio, judge McDowell. Thank you for showing up today. And I obviously off the, out of the gate, um, wish you all the best in the world. It's a huge concern among a lot of folks, including a lot of people in my listening audience. No one really pays close attention to the judicial races. You don't run under a party affiliation. You, so you, you, You have to earn the endorsement from the Republicans or Democrats. That's how people know who you're affiliated with or connected with anyway. But because so few people, thankfully, aren't involved in the judicial system or criminal justice system as a subset, they don't know. They don't know what it's like. And many people who, I mean, some people don't even understand the concept of, you know, judicial activism and judicial conservatism, conceptually even, to know one way or another whether any judge is qualified. Good to have you here in the morning show and welcome, sir.
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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be here. It's good to see you again.
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Speaker 1: It is my pleasure. Again, it's keepjudgemcdowell.com. It's a website. You can learn all about them. Let's start real quickly here because on the heels of Tech Friday with Dave Hatter, I'm going to have to ask you about the judge throwing the observer out of the courtroom in the Hinton case using technology, the smart glasses. It records everything out there. I mean, as a judge, you're going to have to deal with this. And the other component is Not just that type of incident, but also something that really puts some concern in me is the proof beyond a reasonable doubt thing you need in a criminal justice case. With artificial intelligence turning out videos that look absolutely real, what do you anticipate being the challenges down the road with that? If I can even ask you that. I know we've got advisory opinion problems, but can you feel that?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot of questions at once.
00:01:53
Speaker 1: I know. It's compounded nature. I'll give you an opportunity to just do a stream of consciousness response and throw in anything you want. Watch him do this.
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Speaker 2: Well, first, I would say that the jury pool and jurors need to be protected. And people who come into the courtroom, in the courthouse, you cannot video record because also witnesses need to be protected because we've had instances where witnesses were photographed and then that was put out there and then they were killed. And so you can't just record people in the courthouse, and that's one of the primary reasons. Secondary reason is jurors and the protection of jurors, because many people might want to try to bribe a juror, hurt a juror, talk to a juror. And so when I do a criminal case, they have numbers. I have their names, but it's juror number four, juror number six. They're never addressed by their last name. When I go through it, I'll say Joe S. But we need to protect jurors. And someone... filming a juror, particularly in this case, what she was doing was basically saying that the juror was an Uncle Tom. She was saying, this juror, this is a black juror. The juror is a sellout. And putting that information out into the internet placed that juror at risk. And I think it's a way of trying to influence that juror to get their friends to talk to them and so forth. It's really bad.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: Well, and the elephant in the room for me as you say that, and I'm certain that goes on, The same thing probably happening to our elected officials. Threats, right? If you don't do something this way, then we are coming after you, whoever this collective we is that puts fears in the hearts and minds of a lot of people. That really concerns me. And the other component is how do you deal with the video evidence, if there is any? I mean, I don't know if you know, technologically speaking, if there's a way to figure out where something is fake, but that has me concerned because any savvy defense attorney can easily put some reasonable doubt in someone's mind about whether it's real or not.
00:03:48
Speaker 2: Well, and it gets better and better every day. The AI technology gets better. It was like a little child a year ago, and now it's an adult. It's so much better than it used to be.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about Judge McDowell's career. I thank you very much for your service to our country. I'd like to acknowledge that you are a veteran, and you voluntarily entered the American military, and you also then became a judge advocate general with your law degree. So you represented the service members? Yes, sir.
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Speaker 2: First- I am the only military veteran who is a judge or magistrate in Hamilton County. The only one. Times have changed. We don't have that in our courthouse anymore. People who have basically put their butt on the line for the Constitution. I'm the only one who's done that. Yes, first I was a military prosecutor in Korea. I was a military prosecutor for southern Germany, northern Africa, the former East Bloc countries. Then I did that so well they made me a defense attorney. And I volunteered for a deployment as a NATO peacekeeper to Bosnia. And that's where I met my wife, Anna Castellini, who obviously lives in Cincinnati. The Army sent me to Fort Riley. They sent her to Fort Hood. They wouldn't put us together, so we both got out before 9-11, or we probably never.
00:05:01
Speaker 1: Would have gotten out. God has a way of planning things, sir. I hope you married out of your element or outkicked your coverage like I did.
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Speaker 2: 100%.
00:05:08
Speaker 1: I'm sure you did.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: 100%.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: Now, on to the practice of law. You were over at Dinsmore and Scholl. I have that right? And you did all kinds of types of cases, both civil and criminal with Dinsmore? That's right.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: One, before I became a judge, I was the prosecutor in the city of Wyoming, also the prosecutor for the village of Newtown. I've both prosecuted murder cases and defended murder cases. On the civil side, I've done multi-million dollar civil cases from the plaintiff's side and the defense side. So I cover all aspects of what a common pleas judge does. People get confused about the levels of judges. Common pleas court, we deal with the serious felonies, the murderers, the rapists, and the big dollar civil cases. We don't deal with traffic cases. And so I've done those cases. I've got the most experience. My opponent, according to the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, has never tried a case, civil or criminal, and the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.
00:06:04
Speaker 1: And there is where the rubber meets the road. I was literally just going to ask you, how important is it? Because I know the importance. Never sat on the bench before, but, you know, I've been in front of a lot of judges in my legal career, and that's where, as a practicing attorney and trying cases and being in front of judges, you learn who the good ones are and who they aren't. And you also learn what it is to be a good judge and be fair and equitable because, you know, Quite often, you find yourself on the short end of the receiving side of a judge who's obviously biased.
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Speaker 2: Right. And it's so important that as a judge, you make split-second decisions that are so important to people's lives. And you have to have a background to make informed, good decisions so quickly. And that comes from experience. And there's no substitute for experience. The first time you see an Ohio murder case, you should not be the judge. I mean, it's as simple as that.
00:07:00
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I don't understand, honestly, how you could be a judge if you have never tried a case. Evidentiary issues alone.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: The civil case aspect of it is even more significant. In civil cases, they file motion after motion. There's so many more issues in a civil case that go on. Jury selection. differs from state to state. You have to know the Ohio jury selection rules the voir dire. And just to be doing that on the fly, that's not the kind of judge you want.
00:07:36
Speaker 1: No, it isn't. I used to practice civil litigation. We used to call it scorched earth litigation when I was up in Chicago. Yeah, there's a lot of work, a lot of evidence, and a lot of motions.
00:07:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have over 600 cases on my docket. And the majority of those are actually civil cases. I have 16 murder cases that were on my docket. I have so many murder cases, it's hard for me to keep them straight. It's really amazing the level of crime that goes on. I do my own arraignments in serious felony cases to make sure that bond is set appropriately to protect society.
00:08:14
Speaker 1: Oh, there's that bond thing. So you have a perception that bond is appropriate, that the public is in need of some measure of protection from time to time. Right?
00:08:23
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
00:08:24
Speaker 1: There are flight risks out there. So you don't go zero bond in every case that comes into your courtroom, I presume.
00:08:29
Speaker 2: No, not at all. You know, we passed a constitutional amendment in Ohio that requires judges to take into consideration public safety when they set a bond. And we have judges, and I'll tell you, quite frankly, who are not doing that. What people don't understand, if somebody commits, for example, a murder, I don't have jurisdiction over that case until the person's been indicted. The municipal court judge in room A sets the initial bond. I have cases with people who have felonies of the first degree where I'm doing the arraignment and they're not in my courtroom. And I'm like, where are they? And they said, well, judge, they bonded themselves out last night. And I look at the bond. For an F1, it'll be $ 2, 000 at 10% on a felony of the first degree where you're looking at 11 years in prison and walking out. And I have to issue warrants for people to come in there so I can set an appropriate bond. I'll tell you this. Since I've been a judge, no one out on bond to a case– that's been on my docket, has committed another violent crime.
00:09:26
Speaker 1: That's what we need to hear. He's in the studio. He is Judge Christopher McDowell, and you can help him out. Check out his website. Learn all about his past, his history, and we need to get him on the bench for another term right there at keepjudgemcdowell.com. We're going to continue the conversation. Right now, it's 715 at 55 KRC, the talk station. 719, 55 KRC, the talk station. Very, very happy Friday to you. Judge McDowell in studio. You can vote Chris McDowell. And again, keep judgemcdowell.com to help him out. Can I maybe get a yard sign? Judge McDowell, you have yard signs. I've seen them around. I do.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: I have them in my car. if you want one.
00:10:00
Speaker 1: All right. Here's a thought exercise. It wasn't that long ago, almost on a weekly basis, if not more often, we were hearing tales of woe about overcrowding at the jail. Now, I guess I'm kind of curious because crime, I know crime statistically has gone down, but I don't think it's gone down enough to create the situation, which I apparently know about now because you told me off air, but did they fix the problem or is this really the judiciary in Hamilton County, which has given us a false sense of safety here? Because I don't think the jail is empty at all right now.
00:10:38
Speaker 2: No, well, if you harken back to when we closed down the Queensgate jail, and that was hundreds of beds that were closed down. And when they closed down Queensgate, we were told we were going to, have to build a new jail. We heard all this. We need to get a funding. We need to build a new jail. When's the last time you heard about building a new jail? The reason is because we can't fill this jail that we have right now. They've closed sections of the jail entirely. There are over 260 empty beds in the jail right now, and that's because these progressive judges are not holding people accountable. It's even worse in the juvenile system at 2020. I'm told that the 2020 detention center is basically empty.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: You know, the cops have told me that lots of times, um, FFP president Ken Coburn has been on the show. It's just like a pointless exercise to pick up a juvenile because they're just going to let them go.
00:11:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's like the hotel on the shining, totally empty. Uh, and that's because people are in juveniles in particular are not being held accountable. Then they turn 18 years old and they're used to the slap on the wrist. They steal a gun like they've done before they come into my courtroom and Oh, and lo and behold, they're going to prison. And they're shocked, shocked that somebody would hold them accountable. And it's a very unfortunate thing that we have going on here. We have empty beds because judges are not holding people accountable. Wow.
00:11:57
Speaker 1: Frightening stuff. Next question. So you deal with the bonds appropriately on the front end, considering public safety, of course, because that's one of the reasons for higher bonds. What about the backside? Probation.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, the backside of probation. Now, There are a certain element of society here who are addicted to drugs. And I never want to put, for example, a drug addict in prison if I can avoid it. I always give them an opportunity to get treatment because if I can get them treatment, that is the least expensive route. The reason they're breaking into your car and committing crimes is because they're a drug addict. If we can get that demon out of them, then we eliminate why they're breaking into things and doing crimes. But... So I put those people on probation, and when I do, I put them on strict probation. The progressive judges have taken over our probation office. We've closed these probation substations throughout the city. I say we, not me. The Republican judges voted to keep those substations open. Those substations were so important to those communities that they donated buildings to the city. The city was paying nothing. The county was paying no rent for those buildings because those communities felt it was so important to have those people there. So if somebody is on probation, one of the things I want them to have is a job. Now, instead of walking into their nearby substation, they have to get on a bus and go all the way downtown. And so they miss a half a day of work and it's very difficult for them to keep a job. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. If you're on probation, I order you to get a job, a real job with a W-2, not working for your uncle, getting paid under the table, but a real job. The other thing is they have the system of rewards. Now, have you heard about this? If you're on probation, if you do well on probation, then they start giving you rewards. The rewards can include things like gift cards to get groceries, other things. At one point, it did include Cincinnati Reds tickets. But most concerning, as a reward, they allow somebody as a reward to skip a urinalysis.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: What?
00:14:03
Speaker 2: Yes. What? Yes, and I'm putting people who are drug addicts on probation, and then as.
00:14:08
Speaker 1: A reward— Get out of jail free card for one drug test, Skip? That's what that is?
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Yes, it's outrageous. And so if you're a drug addict, you're jonesing for drugs. And so if you know that you can use drugs and not be caught, then what happens is you just start to spiral back down out of control.
00:14:25
Speaker 1: Right?
00:14:25
Speaker 2: That's not a reward. A reward should be you have more drug testing.
00:14:28
Speaker 1: Well, and you know, the little libertarian in me is always for years saying, you know, I don't believe in criminalizing self-abuse. If you're going to abuse drugs, you're doing yourself a massive problem and you're probably going to end up dying. But why should I throw you in jail for something you're doing to yourself? But the reason is, and this is where the tough on the drug use is really compassion to your point. I transferred my views or I changed my viewpoint because the only way to help that person is to get them into rehabilitation. The only way to get them into rehabilitation sometimes is is the involvement of the criminal justice system. You give them the option. You want to go to jail? No? Okay, well, you know what? We want to solve your problem. We are compassionate in our treatment of you because we are offering you those services which you so desperately need. Why not take us up on the offer?
00:15:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, Brian, I have asked over 30 fentanyl addicts this one question, the same question. I ask them, where is this leading you? Where is this going for you? And I always get the same one-word answer, death.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: Death.
00:15:27
Speaker 2: Death. And I'll ask them, do you want to die? Do you want to live? Do you want life? Do you want to have your life back? And if they say they want to have their life back, absolutely. I want to give them their life back. I want to give somebody their mother back. I want to give somebody their daughter back, society back, a productive citizen again. If I just warehouse them for six months, they're going to come out with being the same drug addict that they were going in.
00:15:51
Speaker 1: Yep. And they'll probably learn some more nefarious tricks while they're locked up.
00:15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, if not used while they're locked up because we have a problem with drugs in the jail. Believe me, we have a problem with drugs in our jail right now.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: It's a leadership issue on that one, I would say.
00:16:06
Speaker 2: 100%.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: Keepjudgemcdowell.com. Sounds like a great idea to me. Judge McDowell, it has been a pleasure talking with you, having you in the studio. I look forward to maybe doing it again before the election. And guess what? We can all go out and vote as early as today, can't we?
00:16:19
Speaker 2: Yes, you can go down there today. I went down there. I've already voted.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Good for you. Leading by example.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: Fast and easy.
00:16:24
Speaker 1: Thanks for all the great work you've done on the bench so far, and I sure hope that the listening audience considers you and also takes friends and recommends voting Judge McDowell as well. You would probably say the same thing about Leah Denkelocher and Magistrate Lukin, too.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: Love them. They're great. And Judge Katie Cash and Winkler. We have a wonderful, highly qualified ticket. Yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker 1: GOPjudges.com. They can get the whole list. Judge McDowell, it's great having you in.
00:16:49
Speaker 2: Thank you, sir.
00:16:49
Speaker 1: Take care, my friend. 726 right now, 55KRC, The Talk Station.
