Crowding lets criminal get out of jail free.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

The continuing saga of Lane County's jail bed shortage brought the release last week of a career burglar who served 12 1/2 years in prison following a murder during a 1983 Florida break-in.

Michael William Duska, 44, got out of Lane County Jail because of overcrowding on Tuesday. That was one day before he was scheduled to be in court to get a 34-month prison sentence for burglaries in Lane County - including one on Christmas Day during which a homeowner with a gun confronted him, according to a police report.

Duska did not show up in court to get his sentence, prompting a judge to complain that he should have stayed in jail.

That's easier said than done in Lane County, says sheriff's Capt. John Clague, who manages the jail, where officials must release inmates virtually every day to comply with a federal court order controlling over- crowding.

To make required releases they use a new assessment tool that weighs more than 50 aspects of an inmate's history, living circumstances and current charges to determine an inmate's risk of failing to appear in court, committing more crimes and violent behavior.

The assessment replaces the former "matrix" system, which took into account only the inmate's current crime and past record.

Duska scored high on the possibilities that, if released, he would fail to appear in court and commit more crimes, Clague says.

Duska ordinarily would not be released, based on his risk level, Clague says.

But with 340 jail beds - not counting 119 idled by budget cuts - someone had to go. To hold Duska would have meant releasing someone even more risky, Clague says.

"It continues to tell the story: There is not enough jail space to hold people who are a risk," Clague says.

Nevertheless, Clague says he will meet with court and jail staff to discuss whether more exceptions should be made for inmates whose court dates are nearing.

However, he said an overemphasis on that factor would be a mistake.

"We can't do it routinely for everybody (awaiting a hearing). We'd have a jail full of people and a lot more-dangerous people getting out," Clague says.

Duska's failure to appear caused Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure to issue a warrant for Duska's arrest and to pen a letter to the sheriff, jail manager, presiding judge, district attorney and public defenders office objecting to Duska's release.

Velure focused on Duska's involvement in the 1983 murder and wrote, "I do not think matrix release was at all proper, given these circumstances." Velure declined to comment further.

Deputy Lane County District Attorney Karl Matthews, who prosecuted Duska, describes Duska as a brazen burglar.

In the Christmas Day burglary, a homeowner awoke to find Duska under his carport, jacking up the homeowner's truck to steal the wheels. The homeowner got his gun and confronted Duska, but Duska sarcastically asked the homeowner if he was going to shoot him over a couple of tires. Duska then got into his own vehicle and drove away, Matthews says.

Sheriff's deputies caught up with him later in the day, and he was held in jail until Tuesday.

In a plea deal with Matthews, Duska pleaded guilty to one count each of theft and criminal mischief and three counts of burglary in exchange for a 34-month sentence, according to court records. With the deal broken, Matthews says he has not yet decided what sentence to seek once Duska is rearrested.

"He is a lifelong convict. That's not going to change," Matthews says.

Presiding Lane County Circuit Judge Mary Ann Bearden says the Duska case does not undermine her confidence in the jail's new risk assessment system, developed in partnership between court and jail personnel.

The new system correctly assessed Duska as a risk to skip court, she says. He would not have been released but for jail overcrowding.

Bearden notes that inmates who fail to appear in court create a cascade of waste in the system - from police officer time, to jail space, to prosecution and defense attorney expenses, to court costs.

Keeping inmates in jail because they may skip out on their court date means more dangerous offenders will be released, she says.

"The rub is, you have to justify why you let out the person who is more risky," Bearden says. "We are going to have this problem as long as we have this jail capacity problem."