# The best justice system money can buy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 4, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299 "2011-06-04T11:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/1 "2011-06-04T11:33:51Z")
[This](http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/ct-met-levin-hit-and-run-2-20110603,0,7039906.story?page=1&track=rss) story is literally unbelievable. Some rich cunt with a long history of traffic violations and drug abuse drives like a maniac in Florida, mounts the curb and kills two British business men, fleeing the scene and then later blaming a friend. Apparently some back room deal is made between the victim’s families and the defendant before trial where unspecified sums are to be payed to the families of the victims. The guy then gets sentenced to two years house arrest at his parent’s villa. What the fuck? How is this even remotely justice? His crimes were not just against the victims but against the state. Him paying money to the victim’s families should be completely irrelevant when it comes to sentencing his vehicular manslaughter and traffic violations. The kicker, though: > [@](#): > > By comparison, a South Florida driver who pleaded guilty to a similar hit-and-run crash with one fatality was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. > > Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein called it another case of a privileged defendant receiving leniency from the justice system, something rarely afforded a common street criminal. > > “It is an outrage, and there should not be a single person in our community that is not offended by the fact that it is clear you can buy justice in Broward County,” Finkelstein said. "Our clients in similar situations, in every case, go to prison for substantial periods of time. It’s clear that this guy is a menace to society and should be locked up indefinitely. He isn’t even sorry for what he’s done: > [@](#): > > LeVin initially declined to speak in court, but the judge asked him to spit out his chewing gum, look at the photographs of the men’s mangled bodies and make a statement. > > Clearly nervous, his face red and glistening with sweat, LeVin said he was ashamed and tortured. But he did not say he was sorry. > > “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about this,” he said. “I feel complete shame and compassion for the victims. … My heart goes out to them. I would just like to say it’s a nightmare.” > > Bogenschutz said after Friday’s hearing that his client has learned his lesson and knows he could wind up in prison if he violates the terms of his house arrest or probation. > > “I think he’s grown up a lot,” Bogenschutz said. “He understands now how he has to stay out of trouble. I think this time around was a real eye-opener.” Apparently “this time around’s been a real eye opener”. Lets hope the “next time around” he actually gets a sentence concordant with the crime. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/2 "2011-06-04T12:31:21Z")
OH no, house arrest in Daddy’s VILLA? THE. HORROR. Now, if he were on house arrest with a [nagging bitch](http://www.paperchaserdotcom.com/profiles/blogs/man-under-house-arrest-begs) then I’d think it was proper. Nothing worse than having a bad cellmate. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/3 "2011-06-04T23:05:08Z")
Perhaps the light sentence is due to Illinois wanting him for violating his parole from a 2006 incident where: > [@](#): > > At the time of the crash, LeVin was on probation in Illinois for a 2006 case in which he had driven into a Chicago police officer and instigated a chase on the Kennedy Expressway. I’m amazed—though I shouldn’t be—that he ever got out of prison to begin with, if he did indeed commit vehicular assault on a Chicago cop. Who knows how much time he’s going to end up doing if Illinois gets their hands on him? But yeah, without that, this looks absolutely horrible. Though victim statements can mean a lot at sentencing. A case I’ve heard of in Texas involved a young lady who got absolutely hammered and ran her car into the back of a freight truck, killing her passenger. The passenger’s parents pleaded for leniency and she ended up getting probation. My favorite quote from the article—besides his attorney asking for the Porsche back—is, “He can exercise in the building’s gym, attend church and does **not** [Emphasis added] have to wear an electronic monitor to ensure his whereabouts.” Because he’s trustworthy, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/4 "2011-06-05T03:55:28Z")
Poor LeVin, he was already suffering from hitting that cop. He must be overwhelmed by killing two more people and destroying two families. He is the REAL victim.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/5 "2011-06-05T05:50:39Z")
Ewwwww. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/6 "2011-06-05T21:38:36Z")
This sort of ‘restorative justice system’ is quite common in some parts of the world, where blood money is paid to the relatives. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/7 "2011-06-05T21:53:17Z")
Reminds me of [this charming rich man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjeev_Nanda). (I had been driving down the same street in Delhi an hour before it happened.) According to the papers at the time, a friend got the butler to power wash the blood and tissue off the car. He blamed his sister. And was initially acquitted, though convicted a decade later, but is yet to be sentenced. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/8 "2011-06-06T18:06:17Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > This sort of ‘restorative justice system’ is quite common in some parts of the world, where blood money is paid to the relatives. Yeah, but its usually the parts of the world where the wife comes with a dowry of goats and chickens. This is America, Jack. I don’t understand the judge’s reasoning at all. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/9 "2011-06-06T18:22:19Z")
It’s Florida. It’s like Chinatown, only dumber. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/10 "2011-06-06T18:28:31Z")
Yeah, I don’t like seeing money as leverage against jail time, but if the victims’ families and the judge are on the same page regardless if the defendent is or isn’t, then I hope the cost was severe enough for a change of lifestyle. If you do see it from the POV of the victims’ families, the money could do a lot of good for securing the future of the widows and kids which would seem more of a necessity to the widows than the whether or not the guy is behind bars. Again, I don’t like to see it happen, but then again, I’ve never been in any of their shoes. The evil part of me would love to hear a story 10 years down the road where LeVin got ran over by one of the kids of the victims in a $500k sports coupe that was from the settlement…but that’s just a fleeting guilty pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/11 "2011-06-07T02:03:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s Florida. It’s like Chinatown, only dumber. FTFY: Forget it, Ridley; it’s Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/12 "2011-06-07T02:14:39Z")
This doesn’t make any sense at all. > [@](#): > > “The need for restitution does outweigh the need for prison,” Broward Circuit Judge Barbara McCarthy said. He’s already rich! We’re not talking about Vince Neil needing to record another platinum album to pay restitution. He can go to jail _and_ pay fucking restitution. That said, it’s South Florida. The crazy rednecks are in the north. The flat-out crazies are in the south. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/13 "2011-06-07T02:15:24Z")
What’s especially odd is that the argument put forward by LeVin’s lawyers is that the widows of the two Brits were in great need of restitution and that by not sending him to prison LeVin would be able to make restitution. Well, here’s the thing. If LeVin had been ordered by the judge to pay restitution **and** go to prison for 30 years he would still be paying restitution, he would not have to option to not pay. Additionally, the pending civil case which the widows settled as part of this, would have been slam dunk after his criminal conviction. So I don’t really understand how the judge can logically get behind the argument that “these women need the money so this guy should stay out of jail.” This guy has substantial assets, those assets can and should have simply been seized and restitution doled out as appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/14 "2011-06-07T11:56:34Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Yeah, but its usually the parts of the world where the wife comes with a dowry of goats and chickens. This is America, Jack. Precisly because it is America: a free capitalist market after all, where money can buy everything and rich people are not really bad. > [@](#): > > I don’t understand the judge’s reasoning at all. He paid money, so things are okay. People’s life, esp. foreigners like British, are not as important - there’s compensation, hurray! What more can the victim’s families possibly want??😕 [end sarcasm] ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/15 "2011-06-07T13:22:07Z")
The following was posted on Reddit as a “Telling Juxtaposition” The picture speaks for itself (the boy in question dropped a box off at his high school with a blow up doll in it as a prank…bomb squads were called and the kid faces felony charges): [![](https://i.imgur.com/2EW2g.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/2EW2g.png) ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/16 "2011-06-07T13:50:23Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > But yeah, without that, this looks absolutely horrible. Though victim statements can mean a lot at sentencing. A case I’ve heard of in Texas involved a young lady who got absolutely hammered and ran her car into the back of a freight truck, killing her passenger. The passenger’s parents pleaded for leniency and she ended up getting probation. My favorite quote from the article—besides his attorney asking for the Porsche back—is, “He can exercise in the building’s gym, attend church and does **not** [Emphasis added] have to wear an electronic monitor to ensure his whereabouts.” Because he’s trustworthy, I suppose. There was a case in Long Island several years ago around Thanksgivingtime. A bunch of kids were fooling around in a car on the highway and one of them threw a frozen turkey out of the car window. The turkey went through a car windshield and hit the driver in the face, horribly and painfully injuring her. The whole city was up in arms and the prosecutors had every intention of throwing the book at the kid and locking him up for years. Then the victim intervened strongly on behalf of the kid…I recall her saying that her tragedy would only be compounded if she had to live with the fact that the incident had ruined another life. He got a really light sentence because of the vitims intervention. [http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-141824.html](http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-141824.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/17 "2011-06-07T13:51:58Z")
Here’s one I read yesterday on Naked Capitalism regarding Cisco enlisting prosecutors to charge a whistleblower with 97 criminal counts to silence him. [http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/corporate-police-state-cisco-enlists-prosecutors-to-impede-whistleblower-law-suit.html](http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/corporate-police-state-cisco-enlists-prosecutors-to-impede-whistleblower-law-suit.html) America, land of the free, as long as you don’t get in the way of the rich and their money. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/18 "2011-06-07T16:14:08Z")
Shit, what’s the point of being rich if you have to deal with the same laws the same way as the pee-ons? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/19 "2011-06-07T19:03:30Z")
According to [this article](http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/fl-levin-sentence-mayocol-b060711-20110606,0,304445.column?page=1), LeVin’s attorney, David Bogenschutz, was the deputy treasurer for the judge’s 2010 election campaign. It’s good to have connections. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299/20 "2011-06-07T19:38:46Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Some rich cunt … The guy Tip: cunt is better reserved as a slur applied to a female (yes, it _can_ be applied to a male, but best practice). I was a bit confused when you started calling the subject a guy since that’s what I was set up to expect. In the future, please refer to the following list of derogatory slurs for appropriate male counterparts: Asshole Douchebag Jackass Jack-off Fucker Fucknugget Cocksucker Dick Motherfucker Etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-justice-system-money-can-buy/584299.md?page=2)