Not Much to Work With
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports a sad tale that has a classic defense counsel quote:
“A Lubbock County jury on Friday sentenced Isaac Jones Jr. to four 15 year sentences for having sex with a teen girl in 2008 — 15 years for each count the same jury convicted Jones on Friday morning. Judge Brad Underwood ordered that two of the sentences run consecutively for an effective total of 30 years.
Jones must serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
“The jury’s conviction of sexual assault and their sentencing the defendant to 15 years on four counts, and also the judge’s decision to stack two of those counts, is representative of the commitment within our justice system to protecting children from sexual exploitation,” prosecutor Barron Slack said.
The jury convicted Jones in about 20 minutes but spent more than three hours determining his punishment.
“I honestly think the jury rendered a fair verdict given what they had to work with,” said Fred Stangl, Jones’ attorney. “I respect them for that.”
Jones didn’t give his attorney much to work with, either.
— DRJ
Too bad Jones didn’t just flee to Europe.
pdb (9cf098) — 5/21/2010 @ 9:03 pmWhy have only two sentences run consecutively; why not have all four run consecutively, meaning he wouldn’t be eligible for parole for thirty years?
The curious Dana (3e4784) — 5/22/2010 @ 4:05 amThe sexualization of children proceeds apace. I just think back to when I was 14. We weren’t ignorant. We certainly had fantasies but nobody acted on them. This is 50 years of debasement of the culture. Now, kids are “sexting” messages to each other. Some of it is the sexual revolution that was brought by the pill. The big losers, in my opinion, are girls. I have three daughters who seem to have negotiated their teens OK but I did a lot of worrying.
Mike K (82f374) — 5/22/2010 @ 6:46 amGreetings:
I’m moved by Texas’ embrace of the progressive zeitgeist. I guess that the days of “Someone get a rope,” are gone forever.
11B40 (6b148f) — 5/22/2010 @ 10:18 amAmazingly, this is not as heinous as the crimes of the chalet prisoner.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 5/22/2010 @ 1:00 pm