Does anyone on this list believe that a black man would have gotten the same sentence?
Joanna
jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>On 4 May 2006 at 12:50, Jordan Hayes wrote:
>
>
>
>>Sometimes I don't know why I bother with stuff like this, but ...
>>
>>
>>
>>>To consider that a "robbery with a weapon" is to make that
>>>phrase meaningless.
>>>
>>>
>>It's already meaningless: robbery is ALWAYS VIOLENT. It's in the
>>definition of robbery. Look it up! You got charged with it, you ought
>>to at least know what it means. Adding a firearm to the mix is just an
>>aggrivating circumstance. This has nothing to do with whether you had
>>your gun with you; it has to do with why you were charged with robbery
>>instead of something else. I'm sure one of the lawyers on the list
>>will pop up, but this has got to be a law school level mistake: there's
>>no robbery if there's no person.
>>
>>Are you sure you got charged with robbery?
>>
>>
>
>I should have been charged with misdemeanor stealing since the top was valued at about $280. It was only
>a type 121 after all. Barring that, felony stealing. Since the upholstery was vinyl and had been rained on
>many times before it wasn't ruined. If it had been ruined and needed replacing then felony stealing would
>have been appropriate in a legal sense. It was robbery because the car was in his drive and he was home.
>The prosecutor likened it to stealing from his house while he was home, a robbery. An incorrect comparison
>but hey, it wasn't mine. The weapon should never have figured into the equation. You are being very
>charitable calling it a mistake. I prefer institutional racism as a better explanation. Maybe Andie would care
>to comment? The case is ancient history now. In the end the judge really wanted me to serve time but my
>lawyer convinced him that the state would lose on appeal and it would cost the taxpayers too much money
>over what amounted to nothing. I got a huge fucking fine and community service out the ass. The judge
>actually recommended to the community service board that they give me "physically demanding labor" and
>specifically recommended shoveling elephant shit. Unfortunately for his punk-ass I knew the woman
>working there assigning jobs and she gave me a cushie one sitting on my butt at the art museum as a
>guard. Which is of course the perfect job for someone with a recent felony robbery conviction, right?
>Password, keys, the works.
>
>One of the boys I mentioned with the pickup sporting a rifle rack was charged with felony theft, nothing
>else. He stole that stupid fiberglass dinosaur from a Sinclair station. I don't know what he was planning to
>do with it. The point still being that if my crime is labeled violent, this surely is too. Neither is of course. I
>read your reply as agreeing the crime was violent not dumb. There are really very few non-dumb crimes
>however. He didn't know what he was going to do with it but it was still a prank.
>
>
>
>>>There was absolutely nothing violent about my stupid college prank
>>>
>>>
>>Ahem. A prank is when you give it back and everyone laughs. Or allow
>>your 'victim' to come into your house and see it on display like the
>>rest of your friends. And then you all laugh.
>>
>>It sounds like what you did wasn't a prank.
>>
>>/jordan
>>
>>
>
>What else if not a prank? I didn't steal it to sell for money or to use myself. There was no "paycheck" in it for
>me. It was revenge for a slight. In time it would have been probably dumped back on his front lawn. It was
>spur of the moment and not thought through. I didn't say it was a friendly prank, just a prank. When I was
>about 10 I liberated a neighbors stone fruit basket from in front of their home. Damn that thing was heavy.
>My brother and I painted it to accurately represent the fruit and put it on their front porch on Xmas eve,
>roughly 6 months later. This was a prank as well. Your 'victim' doesn't have to think something is funny for it
>to be a prank only to be a friendly prank.
>
>I'm guessing you were not a prankster when you were younger? It really isn't that hard to go too far once
>you've done several really good ones. You have to keep outdoing the previous one after all. This was a
>prank, pure and simple. The reality is if his father had not been a judge and I had not been a Native
>American I might not have been charged at all and if I had it would most likely have been for the
>misdemeanor stealing. It's instances like this that make me regret mentioning being NA. Not to anywhere
>near the same degree here as elsewhere, but if I was just another white frat boy named JT no one would
>think there might be more either more to the story or that I simply have a chip on my shoulder. At least
>that's my perception, since you can never truly know what's in another man's heart.
>
>John Thornton
>P.S. I'm trying to use more apostrophes in my emails. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do. Sorry
>Doug, I think this makes 5 for me today.
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
>
>
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