Defendant Claims He's Too Sick for Long Sentence—Judge Hands 16 Years!

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: We'll go ahead and take people via Jeffrey Kortman. [00:00:03] Speaker 2: Devin Komerenke, on behalf of defendant Jeffrey Kortman, I am privately retained, not only. [00:00:09] Speaker 1: And we're here for sentencing on what looks like a charge of possession intent to deliver methamphetamine, habitual third. Guidelines were initially scored at 78 to 195. [00:00:20] Speaker 2: I'm informed that Mr. Kortman received his final Social Security. He's going to be canceled on his sentencing to his attorney. [00:00:29] Speaker 1: Okay. I mean, that statement's accurate. I mean, obviously, you know, he's going to lose that book. Okay. Mr. Komerenke, go ahead with the argument. [00:00:40] Speaker 2: Your Honor, I don't have any argument, just by the way, about you. Yes, that's right. Mr. Kortman has substantially struggled with a problem with substances. Mr. Kortman, for most of his entire life, worked with his hands, both on trades and on vehicles. At this later part in his life, he has become more bound to his chair and limited by his mobility, his energy, and everything else. That's the premise and excuse that he used for himself to continue using and to support his habits and the urge and the need to do that in order to get what he thought was justifiably more things done. Mr. Kortman has since ran on a road in that regard. He thought this was a way, I think, to sustain himself or support himself, and he understands the gravity of this, and he accepts. He's made a substantial mistake. There's not much more I can say besides my last point. Mr. Kortman sits before you, a very fragile man. The guidelines that we have before us today are substantial. Anybody, but especially somebody with potentially limited time, somebody who is just looking at some pretty serious health things in the last few years and has some more to look forward to. So, I would just ask that the court consider the low end of the guidelines, which is still a substantial amount of time for somebody with potentially limited time. Okay, thank you. [00:02:34] Speaker 1: Mr. Kortman, you don't have to say anything to me today, but you're welcome to. Is there anything you want to say today, sir? No, sir. [00:02:40] Speaker ?: Okay. [00:02:40] Speaker 1: Mr. McClendon, recommendations from the deputy. [00:02:42] Speaker 3: Yes, thank you, Your Honor. Defendant is 64 years old. Yes, five prior felonies, six misdemeanors, ninth grade education. We're here today, Your Honor, obviously for, as you said, there was a lot of drugs found in his car and his home. I know in his criminal history, it wasn't too long ago that he was before you first alert. Looks like there was delivery charges there, firearm charges as well. So, here we are today, five years later, and we're seeing more of the same, but I think that this one is more serious, Your Honor, both in terms of repeating the events and in terms of quantity of drugs found. In my discussions with Hunt, I've been told that this is among the largest, if not the largest drug busts in Prescott's history. And defendant made the choices. He made the choice to go downstate, get these drugs. He made the choice to bring them up into our community, into our county, and then further distribute the drugs in our county. And it's an offense, Your Honor, I would submit, that ending at the handing off of the drugs to someone else, you're profiting off the pain of the addictions of others. And I believe, then, the downstream effects of drugs in our community are horrendous. Increased crime, the impact it has on families, probably the economic impact it has on our community. So, I think there's a lot of ancillary effects to drug crimes, and especially when it's at this quantity. I don't think he learned his lesson. Obviously, he did not learn his lesson in 2021, Sheboygan, and he's amped things up since then. I think the guidelines really do reflect the seriousness and the impact of the crime here, Your Honor. I'm seeing 99 months on the low end. I don't think that that properly accounts for what's happened here and what has been happening. I think that 15 years, 20 years, is a more appropriate number, Your Honor. And that's within the guidelines, as I understand them to be. Your Honor, based on all of this and the repeat nature of the offense and the impact it has, which I submit is tremendous, I would ask the court to bash in a sentence somewhere between 15 to 20 years. Thank you, Your Honor. [00:05:07] Speaker 1: All right. Well, this case involves several serious charges with significant guidelines, ranges. This case involves the defendant making, essentially, drug runs downstate for further trafficking, not just that he's going down. We see a lot of times somebody with their own drug problem going downstate, buying some drugs for themselves, and a little bit more to boot so that they can sell it to some other friends to continue to support their cycle of use. So those are deliveries, but they're not, you know, they're not really trafficking deliveries. This did involve significant quantities found in Mr. Cortman's vehicle, handed his home, methamphetamine, cocaine, both powder and crack, and various pills. And there's evidence that he was selling that to other people who would in turn sell it to others. So Mr. Cortman was pretty significantly involved in drug trafficking in our community of some very harmful substances that really destroy lives and families. And I had him in 2021 in a Sheboygan drug case, not as serious as this, and I gave him six months in jail. I had him in 2022 in Preskill County on a drug case, again, not nearly as significant as this, but again, I only gave him six months in jail. So, you know, I guess folks listening to that would be perhaps justified and thinking, well, gee, shame on the judge, you know, six months, six months, didn't do the trick. Trying to give people every opportunity to make changes and better themselves, and Mr. Cortman didn't take those opportunities, but really kind of doubled down on his involvement in the drug trade. Also, he's got a loaded pistol at his home. But for all these reasons, I believe that the guidelines do adequately take into account the seriousness of the circumstances of this offense and this offender. However, his repeated pattern of drug crimes in the 2020s here does not call for a low end of the guideline sentence. I believe that a proportionate sentence, in addition to the standard fines and costs, would be a sentence at about the two-thirds mark of those advisory guidelines. So for those reasons, this is my sentence, Mr. Cortman. On count four, possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, habitual third, with the guidelines range of 78 to 195 months advisory. I'm going to commit you to the Michigan Department of Corrections for a term of not less than 13 years, nor more than 40 years, exercising my discretion to increase the statutory maximum, maintaining a drug house, habitual third. I'm going to commit you to the Michigan Department of Corrections for a term of not less than two years, nor more than four years, increasing the statutory maximum under the habitual statute. Count six, felony possession of firearm, habitual third, commit you to the Michigan Department of Corrections for a term of not less than five years, nor more than 10 years. Again, using my discretion to increase the habitual statutory maximum. Count ten, possession with intent to deliver more than 50 grams of cocaine, habitual third. I'm going to sentence you at the two-thirds mark of the guidelines to 16 years in prison, or 193 months. Sixteen years to 40 years, credit for 381 days served, increasing the statutory maximum from 20 to 40 under the habitual third statute. Count eleven, possession with intent to deliver oxycodone, habitual third. Commit you to prison for 10 years to 40 years, again, discretionary increase in the statutory maximum for the habitual, credit for 381 days served. Count twelve, possession with intent to deliver hydrocodone, habitual third. Prison 10 years to 40 years, again, increasing the habitual, under the habitual statute, the statutory maximum. Operative sentence, those are all concurrent. So, Mr. Cortman, the operative sentence is the 16 to 40 years in prison. That is at the two-thirds point in the guidelines, I believe, for the reasons I've stated, that is a proportionate sentence to the circumstances of this offense and this offender. Mr. Cortman, if you want to appeal, you can file an application to the court. Anything further from the people? Oh, your honor. No, your honor. [00:09:47] Speaker ?: Okay.