Teen turns down plea deal for 25 years in prison, gets 65 years instead

Part of it is also the culture that some choose to adopt.

When I was robbed, the 2 punks who did it were actually living in an upper-middle class environment. The Aunt-Mother of the 2 cousins was rather well off, owned 2 businesses and a rather nice house South of town.

But the kids idolized the "Thug Life". After the barbershop closed (their parental unit owned that and a t-shirt shop next door) they would hang out there with their friends. The night I was robbed, I remember seeing 4 other people inside the barbershop watching the robbery. And in the pre-trial phase the DA told me one thing that had been missed linking the robberies other than they were all in a 3 block area is that every single location was visible from the barbershop.

The daughter of a friend went to school with them, and she told me they idolized the "Gangsta Lifestyle". They wanted to be "Gangsta", and were always making up lyrics for their own rap songs about how they were gonna live the "Gangsta Life". They would talk about "popping caps" and other such stuff, and joke about some kid they had beaten up the day before. And they would talk about how they had the "biggest rep" in the area.

Yea, a town of about 65,000 people in SE Alabama. They thought they were big ballers, they had their own "crew" of around 10 other kids who hung out with them. Thankfully, none of their crimes went beyond essentially petty robbery and beating people with pipes and sticks. But they thought that they were living out the "Gangsta Paradise", in a town more known for Peanuts than Crips.

But sadly, I hear and see things like this all to often over the decades. The culture being pushed is all to often destructive, convincing many that drugs and crime are justified. Even encouraged sometimes.

And I think that tells a lot more. Interestingly, the rate of Hispanic incarceration (19%) is roughly the same as it's population figure (16%).

But saying it is because of being a minority, then I would love to see an explanation of why Asians make up around 6% of the population, yet are only 1.5% of the prison population.

 

The law is doing that. It is considered a "Criminal Conspiracy".

Just like if 5 Klan members kidnap and shoot somebody. Only 1 of them pulls the trigger, but all 5 are equally guilty of the crime.

Or how about this. 3 kids go out in the park at night, and one of them sees a girl and decides to knock her out. He then stands back as his 2 buddies rape her. Is he guilty of rape?

Yes, he is. Because he is guilty in participating in the crime itself, even if he never touched her sexually.

 

Because when someone dies, for whatever reason, during the commission of a felony the law says those committing the felony are responsible for that death. It's just not hard to understand, and your arguing with opinions isn't going to change the outcome.

 

No, I have actually been very "law and order" for most of my life. My having been attacked has nothing to do with that.

In fact, I am somewhat disappointed in the State of California at this time. You see, just recently they released a career criminal from jail yet again. His criminal record is primarily burglary, where he broke into pharmacies to steal drugs. And other charges have often been evading the police trying to get away, crashing into cars, and multiple parole and probation violations.

And for his latest offense (yet another attempted pharmacy burglary), he got 1 year in county jail. And myself, I find that a perfect example of why crime is rampant in this state.

However, he is still living in my home again, and I will always love my son. Even if I think he is a blooming idiot who spent most of the last 10 years in jail.

And that is fine by me. While in jail, at least the population in general are safe. The only people they can hurt are other criminals.

Actually, since Alabama typically incarcerates for 1/2 time before parole, he would have been eligible for release with a clean prison record in 12 years. I would love to see what his lawyers thought of his going to trial. I bet each and every one of them wanted to try and smack some sense into him.

And it really does not matter how much you try and exclaim he did not murder anybody. Under the law, he did. When it comes to the law, your own personal opinions and beliefs do not matter.

 

It's called a criminal conspiracy.

Or do you believe that such things should not exist under the law?

 

He did not shoot at the police. While he got convicted for somebody who got killed by the police. Get your facts right.

The color of his skin matters. Black people statistically get harsher sentences than other people by the US "justice" system. It's a fact.

 

Which is just nuts. That when you took no part in the shooting one bit, that you're still convicted for "murder" when a cop did not murder anybody according to his own conviction.

 

Like I said, harsh sentences for everyone is the best. I hate culture of excuse and second chance because it harm innocent people.
I don't think that black people should be sentenced in a lighter way, I think that everybody should be sentenced as much.

I won't cry on this guy. He involved himself in criminal activites, he doesn't deserve any mercy.

That's terrible when innocent people are killed, either black or white, and I have pity for people who are victims of injustice or crimes of any colour but for criminals, no.

 

Who had pulled a .38 caliber pistol and fired on the police.

What should the cops do when somebody pulls a gun and shoots at them after committing a crime, let him go?

And this kid was no angel. It never ceases to amaze me when people want to want to jump up and defend scum.

http://www.wtol.com/story/37717020/...l-offer-to-plead-guilty-in-felony-murder-case

This is the type of person who should be in jail for life. I could not care less what color he is.

 

So far the US justice system systematically is punishing black people far more harsh than other ethnicity.
I told you this before that this is a fact.

He wasn't shooting at anybody. I would even guess nobody shot at him either, if I looked into it.

 

You mistaken an average for something systematical. Furthermore, I would be curious that there could be other reasons like gross circumstances or even poor behaviour at the tribunal, but yes racism can be a part of that. I feel difficult to feel any empathy toward those guys. They're criminals.
When some innocent people don't get a job because of their ethnicity (in that case, because they're black), yes I feel bad for those people.
You're not totally wrong, fairness is a noble objective but the fault would be to give black people a lightier sentence. Being unfair toward criminals is a minor concern, being unfair against good people is a deep problem.

He was still in criminal activities : burglary, thievery.

 

He took part in a criminal conspiracy that left somebody dead.

So tell me, should all the Klukkers who only planned the Montgomery Church Bombing be let free then? Because after all, not all of them planted the bomb. Yet they were all charged with the murders.

How about Shawn Berry and John King? They along with Lawrence Brewer were convicted in the 1998 murder of James Byrd. And even though Berry is the one who actually drove the car that dragged Mr. Byrd to his death, all 3 were convicted of the murder.

So should the other 2 not have been convicted in the murder?

 

@notme To be more clear, your mercy for black criminals seems to me a crime against honnest people, either black or white.

I'm often confused to seem some people so concerned about black criminals. As I perceive it, that means that people see those people first as black people and second as criminals. But what matters the most is acts.
Ethnical tribalism seems to become more important than morality.

 

The person who did that, was killed by the police. The person who got convicted for this, was this child.
And that fits the US statistics to punish black people far more harsh than other ethnicities.

 

Dude. Pay closer attention. It's a FACT... get it.. a FACT... that criminals get sentences in the US.
But where white people get sentence with a duration of X-amount of years.
Black people under the exact same circumstances get 20% more years.
And this fits like a glove.

 

When people analysed the date with the exact same circumstances... the only thing that was different was black people getting 20% longer sentences on average.

When black people get 20% longer sentences under the same circumstances, than I call that systematical.

In this case, the child got convicted for something a cop did.

 

He took no part in the killing of anybody. That's a fact.

The jury said something else.

 

You didn't got my point.

You said it, it's on average, systematical and on average are almost opposite things.

Responding to a call for burglary, being shot and responding ? You seems to blame the cop for what happened. Those guys put themselve ine this situation.

"But several in the group, including Washington, fired shots at Millbrook police officers who responded Feb. 23, 2015, to a call of a burglary in progress, according to officer body-camera footage. The officer that Washington ran toward pointing a .38 caliber revolver fired his police-issued sidearm four times, killing Washington."

 

Those aren't the same types of situations. In that case they both did something (kidnap in the first example, knock out in the second) that allowed the subsequent crime to be carried out.

 

20% is such a massive discrepancy on such a massive amount of people, that it becomes systematic.

The opposite of this, would be an incident. And that can not be the case to get 20% on such a massive amount of people.

Well it's a fact that the cop killed one of those people.
And it's a fact that this black child got the conviction over what the cop did.
Stick to the facts.

 

Isn't it fair to say that the individual who actually got shot put himself in that situation?

But some people are trying to say that the accomplice somehow put the other burglar in that situation.

 

Systematic mean it always happens. As far as I know, all american judges don't always punish more black people. So yes, it is significant but not systematical. And my point was : yes it's unfair, but I don't feel concerned when criminals are treated unfairly, because a criminal don't deserve to be treated nicely or fairly.

The facts is that this guy belonged to a violent gang. He get a retribution for that, I won't cry for him.

 

So why not sentence all members of a violent gang to 65 years, even if no one actually got killed? That's where your logic is headed.

 

When you're in a gang with criminal activites, you shouldn't be surprized that things turn bad. He knew he was participating into criminal activities.

 

I would be for that kind of justice. Mercy for the wicked is cruelty toward the fair.