Judge stands by controversial sentence.

Byline: BILL BISHOP The Register-Guard

A Circuit Court judge refused to back down Friday from a sentence he imposed on a career thief last month that put the judge on the outs with the Lane County district attorney's office.

The case involves Joseph Robert Penland, a repeat offender who made a plea deal with the prosecutor that included a 26-month prison sentence. To help close the deal, Judge Maurice Merten agreed to impose the sentence. However, Merten was on vacation and the sentencing fell to Judge Ted Carp, who imposed a 12-month jail term after Penland's probation officer urged him to give Penland one last chance.

Friday, in a brief ruling after a 50-minute hearing, Carp rejected the district attorney's claim that Carp violated a contract between the court and the district attorney when he imposed a more lenient sentence than had been agreed to by the defendant, the prosecutor and another judge.

Topping off Friday's hearing, Carp - at the request of Penland's lawyer - dismissed the remaining two charges against Penland. The dismissal had been part of the original plea deal that Penland made, but it was not done during last month's hearing. The charges were another possible means for the prosecutor to leverage a harsher sentence for Penland.

District Attorney Doug Harcleroad pledged to appeal Carp's rulings "as soon as the ink is dry on the final orders Judge Carp is going to sign."

For the foreseeable future, Harcleroad said his office will continue to exclude Carp from any criminal or civil case involving the district attorney's office. State law allows any party in any case to reject a judge if the party feels the judge cannot be fair.

"What I'm concerned about is the integrity of the justice system," Harcleroad said. "It's absolutely critical that we can trust judges to do what other judges in the court say they will do.

"This is about trusting a judge," he said. "There is a judge I do not trust on that court. Nothing about that hearing today changes my mind about that."

Carp did not respond to a reporter's request for comment on Friday. However, in an earlier interview, he said he was confident that he did the right thing.

On Friday, defense lawyer Greg Veralrud argued that Carp has legal authority to disregard plea negotiations if new information about a case comes to light after the negotiations are completed.

A transcript of last month's hearing shows that Penland's mental illness had not been taken into consideration in the negotiations. Additionally, Penland's probation officer advised Carp that Penland may be at a turning point in his life and might change his criminal lifestyle with programs and mental health treatment available at the jail.

Veralrud said judges, as well as prosecutors, often give great weight to the opinions of probation officers because they are most familiar with individual defendants.

"Essentially, the court is exercising the discretion given to the court" by state law, Veralrud argued. "The state is challenging the court's discretion."

Harcleroad said lawyers for the attorney general's office will review the entire case before deciding which aspects of Carp's rulings should be appealed.

Penland, 58, who has a 24-year record of thefts, said nothing during Friday's hearing. He remains in the Lane County Jail.