Am I just too liberal?
How can this be a good thing. Now a whole family, and friends, are going to suffer a loss. I see no gain or benefit to society at all. None.
Peace,
mangeorge
Won’t you sleep better tonight knowing she’s not terrorizing the streets?
Score another point for the war on drugs.
:rolleyes:
If it were something like murder then I would have no problem with the outcome. But come on, drugs? If she’s kept her nose clean all these years then I can see something like community service for a long time but don’t tear apart her family.
No you’re not, that is well and truly fucked up.
The fact that she falsified her identity, lied to everyone she knew, and is a fugitive isn’t something you people have a problem with? 10-20 years isn’t a sentence given for simple marijuana possession either, she must have been doing something excessive. Don’t be retarded, her ass should be in jail. The benefit to society is that we won’t tolerate the BS, you can run and hide, but eventually you will answer.
:rolleyes:
Excuse me, but back in 1976, it may well have been something we now would consider relatively minor, possibly even as simple as marijuana possession. Some places have had some seriously draconian drug laws in the past.
Unfortunately, the article does not elaborate on what she had been convicted of.
Police arrested her when she was 19 for taking $600 from an undercover officer during a heroin drug sting in Thomas Township on Feb. 20, 1974, court records show. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a charge of conspiracy to deliver heroin to agents Jan. 8, 1974.
Link
Does that sound like a sting where the cops sold to her and were going to buy from her, too? 
After I read it again, no.
I don’t know about Michigan but back in the bad old days people in Texas received 99 year sentences for possession of less that a half-ounce of marijuana—for all I know, they still do. No, I don’t have a cite but I do have certain memories.
At nineteen, people do some idiotic things; the woman in question should be held accountable for the jail break but the original sentence seems way too harsh for the offense. If she has been a law abiding good citizen since her jail break I think the original sentence should be wiped out or whatever the correct legal term is.
This is the kind of attitude that resulted in people receiving 99 year sentences for possession of less than a half ounce of dope. My guess is that you not only voted for George Bush but that you will vote for John McCain and that you think Sheriff Arpaio is everything a lawman should be. A real humanitarian.
Ah, yes, of course; the very fact that she was given a harsh sentence is all the evidence we need in order to conclude that her harsh sentence is justified. The kind of protest the OP is engaging in, the claim that some action carried out is not the ideal one?: why, such paradoxical concepts boggle the mind!
QFT
She sold $2800 in heroin (today’s money). Certainly not the biggest fish in the sea but she was a dealer of hard drugs. Lots of people have died from heroin overdoses. Her sentence was 10 to 20 which means she would have served…what, maybe 5. I feel for her family more than I feel for her.
I was surprised they got fingerprints from her driver’s. Never heard of a state fingerprinting driver’s licenses. The smart thing to have done would be to remove her prints. Not sure how she’s going to get leniency at this point even though she’s proved she can live a normal life.
I voted for Bush and will vote for McCain, don’t know who Sheriff Arpaio is, am a real humanitarian (but not a knee-jerker), and I think what happened to her then and what’s happening to her now is ridiculous.
You see, that’s the problem with jumping to conclusions and blatantly espousing stereotypes…they’re often wrong.
The saddest thing reading that story is that her cohort, the guy who was sentenced to serve the exact same sentence as she was, for what reads as a more serious crime, was paroled about a year after her escape.
I don’t know where justice lies on this case: 600 nineteen seventy-six dollars worth of heroin doesn’t seem like a small amount - and argues against the idea that she received a draconian sentence for a harmless amount of pot. I don’t know what the amount of drug was, and would like to know that before I make a final judgment, but for now, it seems a bit more than a personal use stash. But, looking at how her cohort was dealt with, I can’t say that the State of Michigan was very concerned about it. I think community service, or even time served, should be the answer to her original sentence.
Which just leaves her escape.
The problem I see with letting her off completely for that is that it would seem to send the message that if you stay hidden long enough, you’ll be fine. But, like the OP, I can’t see what benefit locking her up really is going to have. It all comes down, I think, to whether rehabilitation is more important than punishment.
I hope that there’s some way that mercy can be found in this mess.
I might get flamed for this, but no matter what the conviction was for, she needs to be held accountable for it. She might have some recourse throught the legal system now, but society can’t give the message that your legal problems will just go away if you ignore them long enough.
I note from carnivorousplant’s link that her co-conspirator–the drug dealer* she was living with at the time–received the exact same sentence on the exact same day, and was paroled two years later. So her escape was a stupid, stupid move, and not holding her to account now only fosters the same kind of stupidity amoung younger people facing the same kind of troubles today.
*Lest anyone think she was nabbed for toking up with a friendly bunch of free-living hippies: the guy she was living with was a herion dealer and was found murdered execution-style another three years after his own release.
ETA: or what the guy above me said.
Lots of people have died from high cholesterol, heart attacks, obesity, and the like. Shall we put McDonald’s on the stand, as well? That’s neither here nor there, though, but if you want to open it in GD, go for it.
I feel bad for her, but even moreso for her family and friends. I don’t know her, but it sounds like she’s not a danger to society at this point. Certainly not a good use of taxpayer money, at the very least. I’m not sure how to handle it, though, beyond saying that I agree that she should answer for the escape.
My comments were directed exclusively to Colaborator; since he/she lists Scottsdale, Arizona as his/her location, I’m sure he/she knows who Sheriff Arpaio is. Based on Colaborator’s comments, I don’t consider that I jumped to any conclusions regarding him/her; if you wish to apply the comments I directed to Colaborator to yourself, that is your choice but it wasn’t my intent to apply my comments to anyone else. Jumping to conclusions is often a mistake, I agree.