If you pay any attention to the stuff I post to my news feed on Facebook, you saw two stories about a guy up north of me whose murder trial was kicking off today with the plea and orders from the judge to select a jury. He's actually getting a retrial--he was found guilty once, then got a reprieve and a second chance to get away with murder (I know the fool did it--I testified at this trial and from the evidence there added to what I had to give, the jury got it right the first time) due to a witness who lied about his credentials.
As the stories show, Lady Justice didn't get quite that far today. One of those reports even mentions letting this pimple on society's ass off with time served (8-9 years if I remember right). Beautiful. Hm--I know men who have done 5 years and more because due to the economy they haven't been able to pay child support. There's no mercy, and no retrial--the fact that they can't even get hired to shovel cowshit is not only not a reason not to pay it, but some judges don't even allow that particular fact as evidence. I would think it should be a mitigating factor, at least in sentencing, but nope--they rot in prisons, costing the State money and are still racking up child support debt. In other words, laws meant to prosecute the rich who refuse to pay support are being used to persecute the poor who are unable to pay and desperately want their children to have what they deserve.
Soooooooooooooooooooooo...
Don't want to pay child support because your baby mama is a bitch? Just kill her--you'll only do about 4 years more than if you just didn't pay her.
Assholes.
The Vilas County justice system did everything in its power to make sure there were no reasons for overturning this conviction... and then one ego sinks everything--the case, the prosecution, and the peace Genell Plude's family used to have because they knew her killer was brought to justice and dealt with. The law enforcement officials were of similar mind, including the anonymous one who made sure I got a copy of the local paper (I was living in another state by the time he was brought to trial) to show me that they'd nailed him for what he did.
Judge Neal Nielsen will be sentencing this guy again at the end of November, ending the two years he's spent out on bail and under house arrest (What fucking judge gives a murder who had to be hauled back from one of the Southern states bail on a Wisconsin capital crime charge?) Some of the research I've done on this guy indicates he's extremely soft on sentences for crimes against women. Let's hope he can forget his gender bias for one day and give Douglas Plude the extended jail time he deserves. Again.
2 comments:
Sometimes there is no justice. And some defense lawyers are too good at their jobs.
Well, if you take the view that the better the defense lawyer is, the more likely it is that the accused gets a fair trial and gives less room for someone to skate on a technicality, so that should be good, unless the person really actually committed the crime s/he's accused of. But trying to decide who should be able to make the most of a good defense versus who should get a shitty lawyer to make sure they get convicted defeats the purpose of a trial--if we could tell who should get a good shot at freedom and a declaration of innocence, then we wouldn't need the US Justice system as we know it.
But we can argue that all day, knowing that the guilty get off due to the machinations of a good attorney and the innocent do time because they couldn't afford the best (or the second-best) and have to watch someone less skilled help grease the skids that will slide his ass down the river.
I once considered pre-law as my college major but wasn't sure I could fund all the schooling I'd need to get thru law school and didn't want to have to quit before I made it through the whole program. Maybe I should have tried it anyhow--I do all right even without a law degree, considering that someone I'd written a letter for to get her excused from jury duty wound up excused for LIFE (even tho I didn't ask for it).
Who knows what I'd have done with some schooling in the field?
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