by William Skink
That’s the headline, accompanied by a picture of a smiling Kirsten Pabst. If I were the lead County Attorney in Missoula with that kind of good news, I’d be smiling to.
I’ll tell you who is not smiling, and that’s the family of Sean Stevenson.
It’s been about a month since Stevenson was allegedly involved in a fight with 29 year old Johnny Lee Perry at the Poverello Center. Perry was arrested for aggravated assault, then quickly released. No official charges have yet been filed against Perry for his part in a physical altercation that left Stevenson dead and his daughter without a dad.
But violent crime is down, the County Attorney’s office says.
Before believing the headline, let’s take a look at what’s actually down:
Criminal case filings in Missoula were down in most categories, including violent crime, last year, according to a year-end review published Wednesday by the Missoula County Attorney’s Office.
Saying criminal case filings are down is not the same thing as saying violent crimes are down. Violent crimes can happen, and the County Attorney’s office can choose to not bring charges. No charges means no official crime according to the official numbers, but we all know that doesn’t mean the crime wasn’t committed.
Stay tuned for further developments. And if you have any information about what happened between Sean Stevenson and Johnny Lee Perry at the Poverello Center, you can contact me at willskink at yahoo dot com.