Here are the undisputed facts: on January 20, 2016, a criminal jury trial occurred in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County (Case no.: 22-K-15-0603). The Defendant is a 42 year old, single, white male.
At the time of the incident, he was struggling with some issues, including homelessness. At the time of the trial, he was doing better in many ways and was working a full-time job in construction. His criminal record, over the course of the last 20 years, includes prior convictions for theft. He has never been convicted of a felony or any crime of violence.
On June 27, 2015, the Defendant walked into Giant and took 5 steaks and a 30-pack of Coors Light (Total value, according to Giant, was $107). The Defendant is spotted walking out of Giant by Giant employees. The Salisbury Police are called. The Defendant leaves the food and beer outside the door and runs. He is quickly spotted by the two police officers, and a foot chase ensues. As Defendant is running, he takes off his shirt, shoes and hat and leaves them on the ground. The Defendant is caught near the railroad tracks behind Giant. He is tackled to the ground by one officer. The second officer arrives shortly thereafter and punches the Defendant in the head. The officers claim that the Defendant did not allow himself to be handcuffed, and the punch to the head was unintentional. The Defendant claims he was punched in the head immediately and viciously and for no clear reason.
The Defendant is charged with 6 crimes: 1) Obstructing and Hindering; Disorderly Conduct: 2) Failure to Obey a Lawful Order; 3) Disturbing the Peace; 4) Resisting Arrest; 5) Littering; and 6) Theft (Misdemeanor; under $1000).
At trial, the State does not prosecute ("nol pros") counts 1 (Obstructing), Count 3 (Disturbing the Peace) and Count 5 (Littering). Count 2 (Failure to Obey) is dismissed by the Court at the conclusion of the State's case. The jury finds the Defendant not guilty of Count 4, Resisting Arrest. The jury finds the Defendant guilty of Theft.
The Court then proceeds to sentencing. The Defendant is sentenced to 5 years in the Department of Corrections (prison). All prison time is active; there is no suspended sentence or probation.
Based on the facts above, is the sentence fair? Should a man, under the circumstances, be sent to prison for 5 years for this crime? Should it be more? Should it be less? What are the alternatives? As noted above, there are no "right" answers.
On June 27, 2015, the Defendant walked into Giant and took 5 steaks and a 30-pack of Coors Light (Total value, according to Giant, was $107). The Defendant is spotted walking out of Giant by Giant employees. The Salisbury Police are called. The Defendant leaves the food and beer outside the door and runs. He is quickly spotted by the two police officers, and a foot chase ensues. As Defendant is running, he takes off his shirt, shoes and hat and leaves them on the ground. The Defendant is caught near the railroad tracks behind Giant. He is tackled to the ground by one officer. The second officer arrives shortly thereafter and punches the Defendant in the head. The officers claim that the Defendant did not allow himself to be handcuffed, and the punch to the head was unintentional. The Defendant claims he was punched in the head immediately and viciously and for no clear reason.
The Defendant is charged with 6 crimes: 1) Obstructing and Hindering; Disorderly Conduct: 2) Failure to Obey a Lawful Order; 3) Disturbing the Peace; 4) Resisting Arrest; 5) Littering; and 6) Theft (Misdemeanor; under $1000).
At trial, the State does not prosecute ("nol pros") counts 1 (Obstructing), Count 3 (Disturbing the Peace) and Count 5 (Littering). Count 2 (Failure to Obey) is dismissed by the Court at the conclusion of the State's case. The jury finds the Defendant not guilty of Count 4, Resisting Arrest. The jury finds the Defendant guilty of Theft.
The Court then proceeds to sentencing. The Defendant is sentenced to 5 years in the Department of Corrections (prison). All prison time is active; there is no suspended sentence or probation.
Based on the facts above, is the sentence fair? Should a man, under the circumstances, be sent to prison for 5 years for this crime? Should it be more? Should it be less? What are the alternatives? As noted above, there are no "right" answers.
When I studied this case I thought, wow, 5 years for $107.00, that's amazing. In my experience I have witnessed many honorable judges deliver a harsh sentence but it is usually followed by 5 years but reduced to 2 years. This means the person is expected to serve the 2 years but IF they get into trouble again during their probation the balance of the 5 years kicks in and is added to the new sentence.
Nevertheless, we're interested in your thoughts.
40 comments:
I would be curious who the Judge was, along with his prior record. There is more to this story.
Who knows, he may be homeless because of his crimes or other actions.
The sentence does seem excessive based on the facts presented.
IN Somerset County this month, a Muslim received probation before judgment and a $900 fine for interstate smuggling of nontaxed cigarettes and he had the wrong tag on his vehicle.
This criminal stole from multiple states and law abiding convenience store owners. I bet if the guy had been white, his sentence would have been much harsher.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Man why did he take steaks? May if he had taken hamburger. We don't eat steak.
Would be interested to know if this was Giant foods. That area is REALLY having trouble with theft and the homeless and have been really cracking down on crime. I, for one, have difficulty paying for everyone on the take to eat steak. Really is annoying and makes even the honest hard working soul wonder why they struggle when the world is handing everything to others. For the justice system to come down easy on an adult male for stealing is to tell him (and everyone else) that it is OK to steal and the justice system has been doing that for many years. Maybe this is the only way to send a message that it has to stop. I have compassion for his plight....but not for his stealing.
A very harsh sentence for what he stole.
However , if you do the crime , expect some time.
Seems harsh and excessive for misdemeanor theft with the property recovered and no previous felonies. I would agree with a 1-2 year suspended, 2-3 years probation with community servce of 300 -500 hrs. It seems the judge handed down the max in this case and the max was not meant for this but for repeat offenders.
We imprison more people than any other country. This should have been 3-6months and probation afterwards period. Why would we as tax payers pay about 150,000 dollars to protect a retail store from a 100 dollar theft.....how could that be deemed Conservative?
The people that need the message won't get the message. I'm surprised the cops showed up within one half hour. I witnessed a purse theft a few years ago and the culprit walking out the door. The cops were not there when I left over 15 minutes later. Must have been at Mr. Donut. Sentence seems excessive. At least he will have a warm bed at our expense for a theft of some meat and beer. I'm surprised Giant even showed to press charges. Sounds like cops got a few licks in to send a don't run message.
sentence is harsh and someone should help this man have it reduced. 2 years under supervision; no jail time. he must have a full time job and report to someone if he loses his job so he can get another job. period.
He is a theft.
He could have been very disrespectful in court. circumstances folks.
2:19, The EBT Blogger really should go back to school.
As for the name of the Judge, it doesn't matter, nor will I provide the name.
There is a point to this whole story, agree or disagree.
As for a criminal background, read the post again. I believe I explained things pretty well.
This is what happens when you have a public defender!
No, this is what happens when you steal. If he wasn't really out to defraud, only to survive, why steaks and beer? Why not bread, milk, Bologna? Sounds more like he just wanted to eat well on someone else's dime.
It all comes down to "who you know" in this area. I've wondered why certain criminals are not brought to justice or get "nol pros". Criminals who steal LARGE amounts of money and barely get a mention on the news, if at all. Two local thieves; City of Fruitland's George Calloway (probation) and home builder Bryan Adkins (served 4 months). In Calloway's case; the City could not even get the true total because it went on for so long (years). Adkins; stole more than 1/2 million dollars and only had to serve 4 months (for a FELONY conviction); then he files bankruptcy and doesn't have to repay his victims. Adkins was only charged for 1 of his victims; why not the others? Then we have all the inside banking thefts and NOTHING happens.
As much as I dislike the Obama administrations DOJ, I think they need to pay a visit to our states attorneys office.
Joe, I would love to see you do an in depth article regarding the injustice in this area. Put their names out there; their crimes and sentences. Our local MSM will never touch it. Apparently some people here are…….UNTOUCHABLE…….even when they commit major crimes.
He's a repeat offender and still relatively young. Are there sentencing guidelines for such a person? Perfect candidate for the prison labor force regardless.
Don't know if it's just but at the average cost of $38,000 per year to house an inmate, that $103 misdemeanor will cost $190,000.00 if he serves his full five year sentence plus the cost of court and attorney fees. Is this really good for the average taxpayer?
I agree with 3:57.
I skipped thru all the comments to ask this simple question.
How much should this man steal to be considered "serious"?
Stealing is stealing and this guy should be sent to prison!
453 yes you're right. Let's send him to prison so he can learn how do better crimes. It's so much better when petty thefts become violent offenders as a result of being in the penitentiary system. If you want to put up with that plus the $38,000 bill per year to house him, be my guest. Have at it, chief.
4:56
That is why we need a 3 times and out law.
Habitual criminals need to be put down!
501 you mean you'd be willing to pay $950,000 to house a three time offender to be incarcerated for twenty-five years? I want YOUR job. You're a big spender.
It comes down to who you are! State's attorney Ruark drunk driving loaded gun in car he gets one hundred and40 fine and now the state's attorney in New Mexico it all depends on who you are!
Absurd when they let so many druggies and DWIs off.
If someone came in my house and took Steaks and beer I would shoot them, so I say he got off pretty light.
A thief is a thief $107 or $7 or $1007, the fact that he intended to steal it was the crime.
As much as I agree with some of you I also would like to kick some of you in your a!!. I (FEEL) it was a bit hard but then look at it like this, you are so ready to put this person in jail for many years yet you maybe getting ready to vote for woman that did so much more. Look what was done is wrong and yes he should get some time or community service. map
This is not Jean Valjean from les miserbles stealing bread for his sister's kids folks.
He was grabbing steaks and beer.
I agree, but this country is not falling apart because of homeless guy stealing $500 in steak. It is falling apart from banksters and fraudsters who aren't even being brought up on charges. The cost of housing this guy for such a small dollar amount is not worth it. We are going to take a formally homeless guy getting on the right track and give him 5 years of 3 hots and a cot and then put him back out on the street unemployable because of his criminal background. It's just not in the best interest of the tax payer.
The reason he was stealing steaks is so he can sell them real cheap to someone he knows and take the little bit of money to go buy crack. That's probably why he's homeless is because he has a substance abuse problem. That's what drug users do when they're out of money- they go shoplift expensive meats like steaks or crab legs and they sell it to someone they know who'll buy it for cheap and they go get drugs with the money. He got the beer for himself to come down with when he's done smoking the crack.
The city is giving more harsh convictions to people who create crime mainly for theft which is like 1500 of the 2100 crimes committed in the city
he was stocking up for the 4th of July. give him a break
product of wicomico county school TEACHERS!
The state prosecutes the case, giant is merely the victim in the crime. As far as the sentence goes, the state can make a sentence recommendation based on priors and often during sentencing will be allowed to read them into record. Now the comment regarding police misconduct is a joke, once again the law enforcement is in the wrong and the criminal who put themselves in that position is a victim. Quit giving criminals an excuse or join the force to see what they have to do daily.
Yeah, I wonder how any, or all, of you would feel, if he stole $107 from you. I'll bet it wouldn't be so minor, then. Also, this sentence could have been meant to send a message, to deter further theft from a store that is already a regular victim of theft.
Understanding that Giant is really sick and tired of the constant flow of homeless around their store and the shoplifters going through it, it has no governance as to how harsh the penalty should be for one person vs. another. Neither should this influence any judge's decision on the same.Each individual human being needs only be judged on his or her unique circumstance and actions.
From what is presented here, yes, 5 years mandatory for a $107 theft is cruel and unusual. However, I was not there to witness all the circumstances during the theft and arrest, nor the thief's attitude displayed in court and in the jail, therefore I cannot judge on this.
You can't put a monetary figure on a punishment. If you continually look at it like this you will eventually free every convict because its cost prohibitive to keep them incarcerated. You are effectively putting a price public safety - once again. (Not you specifically)
No YOU'RE right 4:56. We should give them 60 days out of the cold weather and three meals a day with two years probation (where should the DPP send their mail....under the Rt. 13 overpass?) and a $500 fine (that thay can't pay with no job). Then they can get out and torment local businesses again. I have a better idea. 5 years suspend all but 2 years local time with three years probation. During that two years mandatory attendance to drug and alcohol counseling. AND mandatory attendance and successful completion of in house vocational training for a vocation to which they show aptitude through initial testing. Upon completion, the program would be set up to assist with job placement with a mandate that the convict would maintain continual employment for the entire probationary period or go prison for the three years hanging over his head.
Shouldn't his parents take that hit?
Laws are for everyone. Not laws for those we feel sorry for and laws for those we do not feel sorry for. You commit the crime, you pay the consequences. No matter who you are. Unless your an illegal. Even though it does not always work that way. Some people commit crimes and get off because of who they are or who they are related to. He committed a crime and has to pay for it. Too many crybabies around here.
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