From left are Neal Thompson , program chairman, District Attorney General Coty Wamp, Civitan Gary Napolitan, and new member Robert Wilson
District Attorney Coty Wamp, speaking to the Civitan Club on Friday, said that most violent crimes in Hamilton County are committed with stolen guns.
“It all comes back to these stolen firearms,” she said.
Gun control advocates have suggested prosecuting the gun owner in these cases.
“My opinion is that nothing should happen (to the gun owner),” she said. She argued that the gun owner, or victim, would then become a second defendant, and the basic structure of gun robbery cases would fall apart.
“It would so negatively impact criminal justice,” she said.
Prosecuting the gun owner would also deter people from reporting stolen firearms, she said.
“For people like (House) Speaker (Cameron) Sexton, that resonates,” she said.
District Attorney Wamp said that some juveniles should be tried as adults to deter each other from committing serious crimes including murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery.
“They talk to each other,” she said. “They know which of my prosecutors are more lenient than others.”
In such cases, juveniles usually are 16 or 17 years old and have violent records from 14 years old.
“It is not easy (to transfer),” she said. “You have really messed up.”
“We have a set of people that do not value life,” she said. “It is a video game to them.”
District Attorney Wamp said she is pursuing more convictions related to fentanyl overdoses as officials have reported 200 fatal overdoses in 2023.
“We’re only seeing increases. We aren’t seeing decreases,” she said.
“We’ve got to worry about opioids in this county right now,” she said. “It is everyone from teenagers to grandmothers.”
Instead of reducing charges to misdemeanors with probation, she said someone who sells or delivers drugs that cause a fatal overdose will be charged with second-degree murder.
“I don’t think it’s a stretch, and I don’t think a jury would think it’s a stretch,” she said.
She said the county’s District 11 had fewer drug dealers in prison than all but three of the state’s 32 judicial districts.
“This is when I decided to run for office,” she said.