Rose Machesky has heard the reports of victims of crimes in Morrow County for 23 years. Machesky began her work as Director/advocate of the county Victim Witness program in 1994 when there were 90 to 100 victims served by her office. She said there were 343 in 2016 that were victims of felony, misdemeanor and juvenile crimes.
Machesky and Advocate, Amanda Abdon, work with the Sheriff’s office and courts to be proactive in helping victims of crime. They are advocates for the victim in court and often speak in court if the victim is afraid or intimidated to speak for themselves.
Victims’ rights noted by Machesky include: the right to be notified of all proceedings related to their case; the right to be reasonably protected from the accused offender; the right to have impact/a statement at sentencing, the right to be informed about the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment and release of the offender and to be notified of all these rights.
Machesky emphasized that all of these rights apply to victims in Morrow County. Victims may obtain information about their rights through the Morrow County victim witness office at 419-947-9391. It is a division of the Morrow County Prosecutor’s office.
This year’s Office for Victims’ of Crimes theme is “Strength, Resilience, Justice.” The theme reflects a vision for the future in which all victims are strengthened by the responses they receive to challenges and that communities are able to seek collective justice and healing.
Machesky and Abdon reflected on the many hours they spend working with victims.
“It’s hard, but very rewarding because they (victims) are so thankful there’s somebody there for them,” Machesky said.
