Misjudgement

When a defense attorney describes his or her clients as “good people” who made “an error in judgment” it’s not too often that anyone agrees. People like killers, rapists and thieves have been coined, “good people” by defense attorneys.

It seems like only the clients agree.

But here in Oregon, District Attorney John Haroldson agreed with that characterization of John Wallace and Anton Maxwell. The two players had been nothing but cooperative with police thus far and the two were willing to take responsibility for their actions.

They ended up with two intermittent weeks in jail, a year of probation and 20 hours of community service.

Not bad for two guys originally charged with criminal mischief and unlawful use of a weapon – both Class C felonies. Not bad for guys who were taken into custody for shooting cans off of a neighborhood fence with a .22-caliber gun. Not bad for two guys who were dubbed monumentally stupid. It would almost sound better if alcohol were involved.

They have some good lawyers.

“With first-time offenders, we don’t often let them see the inside of a jail,” Judge Locke Williams told the aP. “We may be doing them a disservice. If you haven’t already had a wake-up call, this will be it.”

You’re right Your Honor. We are doing them a disservice. But then, why only 15 days?

Consider this Your Honor, what if they would have hit someone in that house with a .22-caliber bullet? What then? What if it was a child? What if it was your child?

Understandably, the “what if” game cannot be played at every turn, but when it come to gun crimes, it’s hard to turn a blind eye. The two young men can apologize, call it a mistake and plea bargain until their wallets run dry but they should spend more than two intermittent weeks in jail.

And talk about plea bargains. The typical plea bargain involves prosecutors successfully exchanging felony charges in return for guilty or no-contest pleas to misdemeanors or lesser charges.

Recently, it seems like student-athletes get off a little easier, too. Remember Jeremy Stevens? How about Peter Warrick?

Stevens was charged with a misdemeanor hit-and-run and was sentenced to 240 hours of community service. Then he was even pulled over for DUI while on probation and only got five days in jail. Warrick went to a department store and received heavily discounted merchandise to the tune of a charge of grand theft, to which his response was, “It’s not like I killed the president.”

The two Oregon State players weren’t that dumb. Then again, they were shooting cans off of a fence in a neighborhood. But the two will be in jail for only a few days at a time and seemingly get to serve jail time at their leisure.

Wallace and Maxwell were ordered to report to the Benton County Jail on July 16 and stay through July 21 when they were released for four days before resuming their sentences.

The request to break up the sentence was granted due to scheduling conflicts that the judge deemed appropriate.

I doubt that anyone in the general population of the United States has that freedom. I bet Venus Chand wishes he did. Same with Zachary Harris. Both were convicted of similar charges and spent consecutive months in jail.

Unlawful use of a weapon is defined by Oregon State statutes as one who “intentionally discharges a firearm, within the city limits of any city or within residential areas within urban growth boundaries at or in the direction of any person, building, structure or vehicle within the range of the weapon without having legal authority for such discharge.”

It comes complete with up to a five year prison sentence. And if your name is John Wallace or Anton Maxwell and you play for back-to-back national championship baseball teams, the sentence is lowered to 15 days.

It’s ridiculous that these two can plea bargain out of being convicted, to a respectable extent of the law, for the crime they committed. This isn’t about whether or not these young men were willing to work with police, were cooperative or even wanted to take responsibility. The real issue here is they endangered the lives of others and should be penalized for their actions – intention or not.

Any person wielding a weapon, in this case a gun, inside city limits and discharging it inside city limits should be punished to the same degree of the crime they committed.

Letting the young men serve that punishment – in essence when they aren’t busy – is absurd. When teaching someone a lesson, that lesson can’t be administered when it is convenient or else the message is lost.

Judge, I know you are a good judge, you just made an error in judgement.