So this guy sexually assaults a young woman on a Spirit Airlines flight. He gets convicted for it, and while sentencing has not happened yet, it is possible this guy is sentenced to life in prison.
As serious as his crime is, is life in prison disproportionately excessive? Does the fact that this crime occurred on a flight add to its gravity - I mean if it happened on a beach would he still be sentenced to life in prison?
Do US juries have wide leeway in determining the quantum of sentences?
Well, if she’d killed him, I’d vote to acquit her.
In a country where everyone had to swallow a rapist getting six months, much as they despised it as unjust, this seems a little like the pendulum swinging the other way. Possibly also unjust.
But really, brown guy assaults white woman and gets overly harsh sentence. Is this really shocking news?
Per this document (pdf):
Prior to actual sentencing, one might equally claim to be outraged that he may theoretically face no penalty at all. The reality here is just that there is wide leeway in sentencing, but of course the journalist is making the story more dramatic by citing the upper limit on the range.
This. He in no way realistically faces life in prison.
I think life imprisonment (if there is no possibility of parole) is essentially tantamount to the death penalty and therefore should be reserved only for either murderers or perpetrators who have demonstrated that they are so incorrigibly violent or criminal that they cannot be rehabilitated.
So, yes, life imprisonment would be excessive in this case.
What a nasty little story. If the man meets the requirements I have no trouble with life in prison, no matter the racial classification of the victim.
Juries don’t decide sentence terms in the US, I don’t think.
I agree.
If this happened in the presence of children, that may account for the sentence.
Many crimes have “life” as the maximum allowable sentence. It’s not the* likely* sentence, or even the “guideline sentence.” It is something the guy might want to worry about, but I’d expect something in the range of 2 to 5 years (assuming no priors). If he gets life, then we can bump this thread and discuss whether it was an injustice.
It’s a Federal crime, which makes a difference in the sentencing rules. Further, the government does not take crimes committed in aircraft lightly. I doubt he’ll get life, but I hope he has several long, unpleasant years to contemplate his immediate expulsion from the country. What a sorry excuse for a human being.
What happening inflight did was put it under *Federal *jurisdiction. Had this happened on a muncipal public beach the case would have been prosecuted and tried under the laws of the State/Territory where it happened. And those State/Territorial laws vary in what penalties they impose and on how they define the different degrees of penalty, from no minimum to a hard mandatory minimum that may be higher or lower than their neighbor’s and from open-ended maximum to variety of maxima (again can be greater or lesser than the neighbors’) depending on aggravating or mitigating factors. So what in one state would be “up to ten years” in another one would be “no less than five years” and in another could be “from three to eight years” and yes, even “up to life”; and depending on the degree of offense it could variously include an exclusion from probation, or a temporary or permanent inclusion in the registry of offenders
As far as I am aware in US Federal Court the jury does not determine the sentence in non-capital cases.
In this case I can see prosecution seeking something at the lower end of the range, to be followed by deportation and permaban from the USA at first opportunity.
Probably the best punishment for such creeps would be to secure a non-bailable warrant for them back in the country of origin (in this case India) followed by an immediate deportation. Indian prisons are hellholes compared to American ones; he can enjoy his stay in the cesspool. Saves a bunch of taxpayer dollars, too.
…there are people in America serving life-in-prison for much-much less than this. The whole system is just plain fucked up.
Didn’t you only just kick this off by worrying that his punishment would be excessive in the US? What’s your primary concern, here?
The length of the sentence. Life sentences in India are rare (as they should be) and reserved for serious cases such as murder, rape, terrorism. BUT, as I said, Indian prisons are hell on earth, and no one is going to forget even a brief stay in there.
I couldn’t get into the OP’s article (WaPo subscription only) so I went and found a different one.
So, yeah. He’s guilty of digital rape on a sleeping person, (while his wife sat and watched, apparently. I hope they deport her, too.)
Does he deserve life in prison? Well, apparently that’s what he’d be sentenced to in India, where, according to mandala: “Life sentences in India are rare (as they should be) and reserved for serious cases such as murder, rape, terrorism”.
Well, guess what, dude’s a rapist and he committed a serious crime.
Not seeing the outrage here, especially since we all know he’ll be sentenced to something much shorter.
Oh. I missed the part about penetration. That makes it rape… surprised there is no mention of a mandatory minimum sentence then.
It does sound like the wife lied to prosecutors, too.
Nice try, but no one’s buying:
Naturally it’s different if you are a doctor:
“They’ll beat me if I don’t give them evidence they can’t use against me!” Makes perfect sense.