< Previous page

Another question remaining about the two cases is how often the officers overseeing the suspects checked court records for charges levied during the probationary period.

No automatic warning signals show up on probation officers' computer screens when one of their charges is accused of another offense and entered into the database of the Administrative Office of the Courts.

"We don't get automatic feeds when a new charge pops up," Guy said.

Guy, who has nearly three decades of experience in the state's Division of Community Corrections, does not want his officers to spend all their time in front of a computer.

He wants them out where the offenders are, familiarizing themselves with their worlds, looking for risks and ways to keep them from adding convictions to their records.

Such close attention might ease the standing-room-only crowds that fill Durham, Wake and other county courtrooms on days when offenders accused of probation violations go before a judge.

Probation officers do not immediately move to revoke probation based on one positive drug test. Nor would they necessarily drag someone back to court for missing an office visit or restitution payments.

"We get criticized as much for sending people to prison as not sending them to prison." Guy said. "Our job is to try and help them, not put them back in prison."

But there are times, Guy acknowledged, when the public is better protected with a violator behind bars.

He refuses to respond to the what-ifs that Nancy Grace and other cable-news talking heads have fired his way since the Carson slaying. Lovette and Atwater stand accused, not convicted, of murder.

Even if the officers had done everything by the book -- which Guy readily admits did not happen -- it is impossible to speculate whether the suspects would have been behind bars on March 5, when Carson was found.

"That's a bad question, and that's an unfair question," Guy said. "When a tragedy occurs, it hurts. We beat ourselves up whether y'all are here or not."

< Previous page