News : Benton County Attorney's Office and Assistants share with area Kiwanis

Benton County Attorney Ray Lough, Assistants Tim Dille and Megan Hall shares what the work of the office entails.

Benton County Attorney, Ray Lough along with his two assistant attorneys Tim Dille and Megan Hall spoke briefly to the Vinton Kiwanis Club. The three shared a little about their experience and duties as part of the team in Benton County. Both Dille and Hall were appointed to their positions under former county attorney Dave Thompson and have continued in their positions under Lough.

Lough began by explaining what his office does. They try criminal cases that are divided into two groups, the indictable which are serious misdemeanors and felonies, and the non-indictable which are simple misdemeanors. They also handle juvenile complaints, delinquent matters, and actions that are called, "child in need of assistance" cases. There is also a civil side to the office, participation in several boards, and property transfers and other issues that affect the county property...things like the county parks and cemeteries.

The county attorney's office Lough explained handles all kinds of cases. On his agenda now is preparing for the Bevans murder case and sexual assault cases which have been a couple of the more well-known cases in the county.

Several offices connect to the attorney's office, like the Sexual Assault Response Team or the Mental Health Board, basically, anyone who deals with the responsibilities that the office handles are also the County Attorney's responsibilities Lough explained. His job also includes being the legal advisor for every board in the county.

Introducing Tim Dille he said that Dille works mostly on indictable cases. Dile was born in Van Buren county and began his career there for his first five years then served as a prosecutor part-time in Fairfield, Jefferson County. He ran for and won the county attorney position in Jefferson County serving there 20 years until he lost the position in the 2018 election. He then moved to Poweshiek county for a few months until he was hired by Thompson in September 2019.

He's prosecuted everything from murder and assaults to speeding violations. A Williamsburg resident with family ties there, he said the drive back and forth gives him time to prepare for the day and wind down from the day. Of course, he said the cases never go away, even when you're home, you still think about the cases. He said the office is very, very busy but he loves prosecution.

Megan Hall, of Springville, attended Mount Mercy College with the goal of becoming a federal officer but changed her mind halfway through. She worked security in a hospital and later then began law school. This is her first job since graduation.

She works with juvenile cases, which are probably some of the most emotional of all the cases, Lough added. She also deals with simple misdemeanor cases and lends a hand in other cases as needed. She also deals with mental commitments. Dille said that they are seeing an increase in the volume of these cases. Often he said it's just a matter of getting the proper treatment. Hall said that she enjoys what she does, and the challenges that it brings.

Hall said that mental health and how it's being handled relies on the hospital's abilities and resources that are available, but she said there are never enough resources. Substance abuse falls under the mental health category, so treating it relies on the individual and their desire for treatment. Often help is rejected. She said that long-term care is the hardest to find. Hospitals aren't equipped to care for individuals over a long period of time. She said that because there isn't long-term care, individuals are transferred out of the hospital and return home.

Lough chimed in that there is an even greater need for juvenile care. There just isn't anything available for those that need help. For juveniles, there are two types of facilities, and they are always full. He said there is really nothing that can be done unless the juvenile is so bad that they go into the detention center in Eldora, which is also not a long-term option. Facilities continue to close, so there is a shortage. The options that are available aren't enough to keep juveniles from reentering the system repeatedly.

Hall said that another issue is that there is a shortage of service providers because children are difficult. Only the high-intensity, at-risk children that are often more aggressive are admitted. She explained that the children aren't bad kids, they simply need help. Benton County contracts with Eldora for help in this area. The county also works with Foundation 2 and Johnson County for shelter beds.

Hall explained that the office is limited by what can be done for children because of what the law requires. She explained that our jail has one cell that can handle a juvenile if it's needed, but most counties don't have even that available. She explained that the office works really hard to be able to keep kids at home and find resources to assist the family in a less restrictive way. The goal is to correct the issues and help to change behaviors. Judges make these decisions in a hearing as opposed to adults who are subject to a trial.

Adding to the discussion, Dille explained that the purpose of the juvenile system is rehabilitation. The adult system, it's more of a penal, consequential system. While they work to rehabilitate adults, the whole juvenile system is geared just toward rehabilitation to help children avoid the penal system. Unless a child is a risk to themselves or others, the goal is to work with them as they staty in the community.

The attorney's office also works with police officers to help them make cases much tighter, which often helps to avoid tying up the court's time and the attorney's office's time in a trial. Sometimes, Lough said, defendants still want to go to court, but if they don't it's sometimes better for the defendant, and it frees up the attorneys to move on to the next case.

Because of our location, sandwiched between both Black Hawk and Linn, their drug problems travel through and often bleed into our county. So yes, Benton county has a drug problem. The majority of Dille's cases are drug cases. Fentanyl and heroin are more dominant he said, and that scares him.

In a recent case, officers seized 30 grams of fentanyl on Highway 380. Because fentanyl is so potent, it is dosed in micrograms. In that stop alone there were 30,000,000 micrograms.

In federal cases, the trio explained, prisoners serve 85% of their sentence, while at the state level, it's closer to 30%. Dille said that in this case, the most they could charge the defendent with is a "felony charge of possession with intent to distribute," which brings a 10-year sentence. Dille estimates that with parole and other options, he'd be out in 3 years. The state formula for prison time is that each day counts as 1.3, plus they could get out early with good behavior. The state sentence also includes all the time served in the county jail and offers other options to get out earlier.

A federal charge eliminates any parole or other perks of a state sentence. Dille explained that a federal charge would bring a 10-15 year sentence because of the amount of fentanyl he had on him.

Lough gave the example of driving while barred. He said, "Why take a sentence of 30 days in the county jail when you can get booked on a state charge, and be released the same day?" He said it's very frustrating. However, a lot of the issues that the state faces are overcrowding, finding people who want to work, and funding,

Last year, Lough said the office filed 345 indictable cases. Lough believes that as of this week, they are on track to meet the same numbers as last year. Hall agreed that the simple misdemeanor cases are at least that high this year as well. Lough said that for general cases they are currently around 150 cases so far, and mental health cases are about the same. He estimates that the total number of cases will easily top 1,000.