High school athlete sentenced to "no sports"

A six-year prison sentence is pretty harsh for shooting a BB gun. Rapists and drunk driving football players who kill pedestrians at 7:30 in the morning don't get sentences that harsh.

A short jail term, and making the kid sit out for two years would be sufficient enough, with the community service of coaching Pee-Wee football. Make the kid learn a lesson that life isn't all about being a jock. But more than two years is a gigantic loss of time, especially for a 19-year-old. Typical 19-year-olds barely plan for two days ahead of time, much less 2 years.

 

Probable intent certainly enters into it: He shot the kid twice in the face, with one round hitting the victim's eyelid. If it had been anything other than a BB gun, the victim is six feet under instead of available to testify.

Mario Reyes, the guy who Donté Stallworth ran over, apparently was jaywalking (and not in the Leno sense), which under Florida law ameliorates the charges against Stallworth. And Stallworth flashed his headlights and honked his horn to try to warn Reyes, along with hitting his brakes. There's a reason his survivors didn't take the civil suit to trial: If Stallworth hadn't been drinking, no criminal charges would have been filed in the first place.

 

He's sent boys younger than him to the gas chamber. He didn't want to do it, but felt he owed it to them.

 

Well that's the thing. He was intending on hurting the other kid. If he wanted to kill him, he would have used a real gun.

Someone uses a baseball bat twice, they're intending on hurting the other person. If they use it multiple times, they're trying to kill him.

I used the Stallworth case as another example. Guy doesn't even get two months in jail for a death. He should have gotten two months just for drinking and driving.

 

You cannot convince me that using a BB gun displays his intent not to kill him.

He. Shot. The. Vic. In. The. Head. Twice.

 

With. A. BB. Gun.

And are you seriously going to argue what would have happened if he used something other than a BB gun? How about we stick to what he did? I bumped into a guy on the street the other day. If I had done that with a car rather than walking into him....

 

That is absolutely ludicrous.
Would we ever take a kid who hacks into a computer and say he can't study any sort of science for 5 years?
Teach him the world isn't all about his smarts? Make him shovel **** on a farm somewhere?
Hell, no. It's OK to be biased against athletes. It's only sports, right?

 

Actually, I could see a judge telling a kid who hacks into a computer be banned from owning a computer for 5 years, or need permission to use one from a probation officer. And it would probably be longer if it was a federal computer.

And I don't see science majors getting treated any different than music majors, or art majors. Do they get visits to a hot tub, or free shoes? Nope. But jocks did.

 

Does banning them from using computers and/or the Internet count?

http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7576
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/law/1017969447.php
http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Kevin:Mitnick.htm

 

Wasn't this case referenced by SNL on Weekend Update in last night's repeat episode? They mentioned a BB gun being shot in someone's face and Seth had some forgettable funny line.

 

Not a great comparison, since a hacker actually uses his computer skills to commit a crime.

 

I don't understand the outrage. While I don't think it's the best punishment, it is directed at something that gets the guy's attention. As his attorney said, he can always reject the probation and take the jail time.

He's 19. Time to grow up, buddy. Lots of high school stars have to put the past behind them.

And if he's as good as they say and has DI schools breathing down his door, stay in shape. Universities aren't going anywhere.

I just don't have much sympathy for morons. Guy's 19 and is in court for shooting a kid and has an upcoming date because he is charged with misdemeanor assault.

The guy's got issues that need he needs to work on.