LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Violent offenders have been back on the streets within days, sometimes hours after an arrest in Louisville.
On Tuesday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg lamented another violent year in Louisville and emphasized a need for criminals to remain in jail. Jefferson County has had at least 93 homicides so far this year, a pace that rivals the deadliest years in history.
Greenberg, Louisville Metro Police, prosecutors and family members of victims share similar concerns.
Days before Christmas in 2019, Krista and Navada Gwynn's 19-year-old son was shot and killed on his way home from work on West Market Street.
"Sixteen months later, they arrested Jameko Hayden," Krista said.
Hayden was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but could be out sooner.
"He got 10 years but as long as he does the good thing in jail, he gets time off his sentence so he can get out as early as December of 2028," Krista said.
Greenberg shared his frustration regarding violent crime in the city and suspects.
"When someone who commits a heinous act or violent crime like using a gun to kill or hurt somebody, just has a gun might not have a punishment that's only measure in months and not years," Greenberg said.
Police have shared a similar sentiment. In 2020, Kyle Kelly was arrested in connection to the murder of a 19-year-old on Colorado Avenue, but he was released from jail within a week.
"My goal was to measure the danger that that person posed to the community as a while," said Karl Price, a former prosecutor.
Price spent 25 years as a Jefferson County prosecutor and said police often complained to him about the revolving door of criminals.
"Some of them would even joke and tell you that before they could even get back to the beat because there's so much paperwork to do, that that individual has been released," Price said.
Price said his goal was to create a safety plan.
"That safety plan may include requiring that individual to post a bond to make sure that we are getting some attention from an individual that this conduct is not appropriate," Price said.
Retired Jefferson County Judge McKay Chauvin said judges likely share the same safety concerns as members of the Louisville community.
"When passions run high, it's easy to misinterpret a judge's deference to the Constitutional rights of the accused and the due process of law as indifference," Chauvin said in a written statement Tuesday. "But in the 35 plus years I've worked in the criminal justice system, I have yet to meet a single judge who was "pro crime" or "pro gun violence."
"Judges are called on to make difficult legal decisions that impact the lives of the people who appear before them. They are obliged to make those decisions fairly, dispassionately, and according to law even, or even especially, when what they decide may not be readily understood or popular with their neighbors."
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