10 Years for a BJ

i have the sense that wasn't the first time you ever uttered those words. haha

damnit you beat me to it

 

That was a shitty joke, man.

 

Haven't read the whole post, sorry, but Genarlow Wilson is the top story on ESPN.com today. Sure doesn't help Georgia fight the stereotype of its being run by a bunch of half-witted hillbillies:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson

 

It's the law. He should have known. The rules are the rules. Let him serve his time.

 

I wonder what Starman has to say.

 

I missed this thread and story in December. I kinda wish I had still missed it.

:-X

 

We ended up with a country of convicted criminals walking the streets with minimal punishment.
Mandatory minimums were a reaction, the swing of the pendulum, to overly liberal sentencing by judges. They have large amounts of discretion but didn't use it in an even handed manner. So legislatures, as is their absolute right as representitives of the people, sought to balance out punishment. Obviously, in seeking to balance a pendulum stuck far off to one side, the brought it equaly as far to the other side.

For every story like the one that is the subject of this thread, there are dozens that are the polar opposite. Those stories get less coverage, like a paragraph in a Metro crime section, if at all, because they tend to not involve sex & sports and because it is so prevelant.

"The fault, dear Zeke, is not in our stars,
But in our story editors, that we are readers."

 

First thing first ... the kid doesn't BELONG in PMITA prison. Having said that, let's not let the kid off the hook for his predicament. For some reason, he decided to fight the system and hope that the jury wouldn't follow the strict letter of the law.

 

JR, I assume you are relating this to the Notre Dame pot smoker thread. There is a huge difference between being dismissed from school and being thrown in jail for 10 years.

There is also a big difference between the actions of law enforcement and a university.

If I am misreading your post, please let me know. If not, you are once again using an example that doesn't fit the situation to make your point.

 

Fighting the system is one thing, but this sounds like the DA thought that -- gasp! -- proclaiming one's innocence when he, the all-seeing, all-knowing DA, thinks one is guilty, was "arrogant" or smacked of vanity. His repeated "took their medicine" quotes make him sound like some bully dolling out frontier justice. God forbid someone who's innocent -- innocent at least of the rape and non-consensual charges -- would want to prove said innocence rather than cowering under the almighty (and, from the sounds of it, misguided) power of the DA. This reeks of a personal grudge on the part of Barker, not of his desire to carry out justice. Believe me, I'm no dove when it comes to locking serious, dangerous, career/terminal criminals up and throwing away the key if it means society will be a safer place, and this kid was certainly no saint. But come on, a consensual hummer from a classmate two years younger than you (when you're not over 18 yourself) gets you 10 years alongside hardcore mudrerers, rapists and worse? Bullshit. This sounds like an arrogant, spiteful DA lashing out because his authority/opinion was challenged, and this kid is getting FAR FAR more punishment than his "crime" (in quotes due to the law's antiquated nature, i.e. was clearly written as such to prevent pedophilia) deserved. It's not like he was 33 and molesting a 12-year-old, yet that's how he's being treated. And they've since revised the law by which he's being punished based on his case. How stubborn are the GA legal powers-that-be not to admit that it's their original error in judgment in the Wilson case that made them revise that outdated law in the first place!? Amazing.

 

on a totally unimportant note, anyone else think it's weird, considering how he ended up in prison, that his new lawyer is named BJ?

 

You obviously haven't managed to understand the sarcasm font.

The comparable is there. In both cases it's the simplistic "law n' order", "zero tolerance" approach to justice and punishment that has resulted in the USA having the highest incarceration rate in the world.

There is a connection. You just have to look for it.