Fourth time is the charm where Sentencing comes in.

[SavannahMann]

I sent this link to the wife with the words. I really do not understand this at all. It makes no sense.

So here is the link, and then the rant.

‘Melrose Place’ actress Amy Locane faces sentencing for 4th time on fatal DWI crash

‘Melrose Place’ actress Amy Locane served two and a half years in jail on a sentence that was later overturned, and now faces additional jail time.

www.nj.com

Ok, here is the deal. Former Actress ran into a car while driving drunk and killed someone. Vehicular Manslaughter. Sad but fairly common story. Now, there was a prosecution, and a verdict, and the guilty woman was sentenced to a short prison term and probation in 2010. The woman served her Prison sentence, and then her probation, and now the Prosecutor has returned to the appellate court for another sentence. Not that she violated probation. But that her original sentence was too short.

The First judge sentenced her. That was appealed while she was serving the sentence. He held another sentencing hearing, and sentenced her to the exact same sentence he had that the Appeals Court said was too short. Wait. It get's better. The Appeals court sent it to another Judge since the first one retired. Now Judge Number two in Sentencing number three gave her the same exact sentence a third time. Again the Prosecutor ran to the Appeals Court.

In the mean time the woman finished her prison sentence, and her parole. So now the Prosecutor is demanding that almost five years after she finished her parole, she go back to prison for the sentence the appeals court wants her to do. So a fourth sentencing hearing is going to be scheduled. Unless the defense appeals to the State Supreme Court. Which they say they are going to. They are going to spend more time arguing the case than she could possibly serve, and you wonder why there are so many people with charges dropped. The Prosecutor gets a wild hair up his ass and chases after something silly while dozens of others go free because he doesn't have the time to deal with them, he's going to get this god damned woman locked up for another what? Six months? A year? Max? She's already done the Probation.

 

[JoeB131]

Okay, you make some good points... always a pleasure to talk to you.

That said, some questions. Did she get a lenient sentence because she was a celebrity?

Second, the article states that the lenient sentence was too short according to minimum sentence guidelines set down by the legislature. So it kind of sounds like the judges were ignoring the law as written. Might have been mitigating circumstances as to why they did.

Third, I can't tell you how many cases I've seen of a guy who killed a bunch of people during a DUI whohad been in the system before, got lenient sentances, and went out to offend again.

Final point. If you want to talk about one of the biggest government scams, it is the DUI system. They could end DUI tomorrow, by simply requiring every motor vehicle to have a breathalyzer lock on it. Instead of relying on you to figure out if you've had too much, you blow and it locks it out. Call an Uber. Done.

But the State makes millions of dollars on the whole shame of busting some working stiff for blowing a 0.8 driving the three blocks to his house.

 

[SavannahMann]

Okay, you make some good points... always a pleasure to talk to you.

That said, some questions. Did she get a lenient sentence because she was a celebrity?

Second, the article states that the lenient sentence was too short according to minimum sentence guidelines set down by the legislature. So it kind of sounds like the judges were ignoring the law as written. Might have been mitigating circumstances as to why they did.

Third, I can't tell you how many cases I've seen of a guy who killed a bunch of people during a DUI whohad been in the system before, got lenient sentances, and went out to offend again.

Final point. If you want to talk about one of the biggest government scams, it is the DUI system. They could end DUI tomorrow, by simply requiring every motor vehicle to have a breathalyzer lock on it. Instead of relying on you to figure out if you've had too much, you blow and it locks it out. Call an Uber. Done.

But the State makes millions of dollars on the whole shame of busting some working stiff for blowing a 0.8 driving the three blocks to his house.

If she is a celebrity it is a fairly minor one. A few episodes of Melrose Place is not exactly superstardom. Most likely it was an expensive lawyer who made a lot of arguments. That seems to work for those who can afford it. In fact, it worked three times with two different judges.

Now, it may be that she is a celebrity to some extent, and if you remember Lindsey Lohan in the LA County Jail, she was ordered to serve ninety days. The Sheriff sent her home with a ankle monitor. The Judge got outraged and insisted she go to the Jail Proper for ninety days. Lohan served about fourteen days, and was released due to overcrowding. She would have spent more time at home on the monitor, no early release there. But everyone cheered when she was sent to jail proper thinking that she would finally serve some time.

Each sentence is served in hours, or a few days due to overcrowding. And people who don't understand that are outraged. The Sheriff has to keep going out and explaining that due to overcrowding everyone gets released early with time served. He has to keep explaining that everyone does it and it was not done just for Lindsey Lohan.

The reality of the situation is that two judges in three different hearings have given the same sentence. Normally Judges are infuriated by sentencing guidelines. Sometimes they are angry that they can't add time beyond the guideline, and other times they think the minimum is too severe. I just think it is wasteful to keep going back time and time again for someone who already completed the sentence, including the probation.