News
Page 4
Transit troubles
BY EMILY GREEN
STAFF W RITER
his past July, at the Tigard Transit
Center, Chris Tejero was arrested and
slapped with two misdemeanor
charges after he boarded TriMet’s WES
Commuter Rail line without paying for a
ticket
He was arrested despite the fact that the
conductor gave him permission to board
because the ticket kiosk wasn't working
properly.
During trial, a jury listened to testimony
from the WES line’s conductor. Tejero had
also provided his attorney with bank
statements showing a history of consistent
payments.
The jury acquitted Tejero, but not before
taxpayers paid for his arrest, jail processing
and time spent by court staff who were
present for multiple courtroom appearances.
Plus, 12 registered voters were summoned to
the courthouse to hear Tejero’s case. It toqk
the jury 20 minutes to find him not guilty.
Tejero’s story exemplifies what defense
attorneys claim are common petty cases that
contribute to a significant waste of
diminishing court resources. They also say
that in some cases, serious criminal charges
ar& pressed in scenarios where a simple
ticket or warning would be more appropriate.
a
'T 'r iM e t has a history of filling Multnomah
County courts. After it cracked down on
fare compliance in 2011, floods of people
went to the Justice C enter to get their fines
reduced or to fight tickets on what has
become known as “TriMet Tuesdays.”
For boarding TriMet’s WES line, Tejero
was charged with “interfering with public
transit,” or IPT - a Class A misdemeanor,
which carries the same weight as a drunken
driving or misdemeanor assault charge. The
definition of IPT allows transit officers to
issue this serious criminal charge in
circumstances that - were they to take place
anywhere other than on transit property -
usually would result in a ticket or Class C
misdemeanor.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by
up to one year in prison. A Class C
misdemeanor is punishable by up to 30 days
in jail.
Attorney Chris O’Connor, with
Metropolitan Public Defender Services,
explains that interfering with public transit
isn’t what it sounds like.
“The things most people think of as
‘interfering’ are very different than what is
getting charged,” he says.
“The overwhelming majority of IPT cases
are for re-entry onto a bus or MAX train or
platform after previously being excluded. It is
A
Street Roots • March 6-12, 2015
business day following the date of issuance of
this exclusion.” While there are two places
where the officer issuing the citation can
write the date of the incident, nowhere on
the form does it indicate the actual start and
end date of the exclusion.
Tejero was excluded as the result of his
July a rre st He says that during that period,
on days when he wasn’t able .to find a ride,
he had to walk for two hours to get to work.
Metropolitan Public Defender Erica
Rothman has defended clients in both
Multnomah and Washington counties. She
was instrumental in prompting a bill in this
legislative session that would change IPT’s
definition. The change would mean that
people who did no more than set foot off
TriMet property when they weren’t supposed
to no longer would face a serious criminal
charge.
She says she has up to four or five clients
per week facing charges from transit police,
and it’s usually an IPT charge.
Under a Class A misdemeanor, people are
more likely to be jailed, at least briefly, when
they are being processed. But the charge can
bring an actual jail sentence too, Rothman
sayS.
“Within both counties that I’ve practiced
in, I’ve seen people sentenced to jail time on
these matters, upwards of 30 days in some
cases,” says Rothman. “And I don’t want to
say these are exceptional cases, because I’ve
seen so many of them,” she says.
According tckdata compiled by the Oregon
Criminal Justice Commission, for those who
received jail sentences resulting from IPTs
from 2010 to April 2014, the average
sentence in Washington County was 28 days,
iii Mül^fem^n Coun^, the a^rag esen ten ce
was 15 days at a cost of $2,520 for each
inmate. During the same time period,
Multnomah County dismissed 31 percent of
issued IPT cases. (Washington County
dismissed 9 percent and Clackamas
dismissed nearly 10 percent.)
Many of the people Rothman says she’s
seen facing this charge are homeless or
mentally ill. She says it’s often people who
ridé the MAX to stay warm, or to get to
very rare to see someone charged with this
social services spread out across the tri-
crime for actually interfering with the vehicle
county area, but who lack money for the fare.
or stopping the vehicle.”
Sara Mulroy, who also works as a public
Jane Fox, a public defender who handles
defendér in Multnomah County, says she had
cases in Multnomah County’s Community
a client who was homeless and had been
Court, says IPT charges make up 25 percent
racking up IPT charges for a long time for
of h er caseload, and it’s rare that a client
taking the MAX or sitting in bus shelters
actually interfered with a transit vehicle.
while he was excluded. “Almost always, he
Because most IPTs only go to Community
was stopped by officers that knew him,” she
Court in Multnomah County, Fox handled
7 says.
about 420 IPT cases last year.
Her client was able to finally get housing
Fox says 99 percent of her clients charged
and a bus pass, she says. “However, he still
with IPT are accused of entering TriMet
was picking up these IPTs when he was
property while under an “exclusion.” She
riding on the bus,” says Mulroy. “And this
says in many cases, the rider has no idea
was once he had a bus passl He had valid
they were excluded from TriMet property at
fare, he was riding on the bus to services he
the time of arrest, so it comes as a surprise
needed, and he was still stopped and charged
when they find themselves facing significant
with them as crimes because he was
criminal charges.
excluded.”
Most people receive temporary exclusions
Another side effect, Rothman says, is that
from TriMet property for not paying fares,
IPT plays a significant role in what she calls
but in some cases exclusions aré issued for
the “trafficking of petty warrants.”
behavioral reasons.
Sometimes when people get charged with an
“The way TriMet counts the exclusion is
IPT in one county, they already have an IPT
not how normal people would count. The
or other misdemeanor chargé pending in
exclusion says it’s 30 days, but it doesn’t
another county. They get arrested and
start until 11 days after you get (cited),” Fox
booked into jail, which causes them to miss
says. “So (the offenders) count 30 days, but
their court date for the first IPT. So the
there’s still another week, so they get back
judge overseeing the arraignment they'
on the bus and get another charge,”
missed places a hold on them so they can be
TriMet’s Notice of Exclusion form states
that the exclusion begins “on the eleventh
See WRONG STEP, page 5