Don't cry for Bundy. Here is a real judicial travesty...

TIDE-HSV said:

I have never seen the felony murder rule applied to someone not present. Only in Florida, I suppose. Given this conviction the guy who sold the gun to Zimmerman must have been quaking in his boots. If Zimmerman had been convicted for murder, then he could have been sent up for life also. Come to think of it, I wonder if the gun dealer in this case is serving a sentence...

LINK

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My goodness, Earle, that's insane. I can see sentencing the getaway driver of a robbery but this? Must have been a prosecutor really out for blood or something.

That is insane. What kind of Jury convicted this guy.

Just to re-iterate what others have said, that is insane. That needs to be overturned.

Absolutely insane that something like this could happen.

If there is indeed a settling of affairs after this life, I would hate to know I had to answer for this one.

TIDE-HSV said:

He's just been denied clemency again, although many are working to try to free him...

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I just don't understand how a prosecutor could even bring charges like this against someone or judge allow a trial to go on knowing that it's morally reprehensible.

I was called for jury duty once and they were going to charge the guy with some bogus charge that, under the law, would have given him life imprisonment. It was something similar and I during the voir dire I told them there's no way I could sentence him for life for that, and if that was the only option, then I'd hang the jury. Needless to say, I wasn't picked. I meant every word of it though. Just because it's the law doesn't make it right.

BamainBoston said:

So the girl was the daughter of the marijuana dealer the guys used. Three of the friends told him they were going to go over to his house and rob the dealer, because they knew he kept money there. They knew the daughter was the only one there, so they told him they'd just knock her out. He gave them the car to commit the burglary. They went over, beat the girl's head in with a shotgun, and robbed the place. Sounds like felony murder to me.

In short, I got no problem with the sentence.

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I didn't see where he knowingly leant them the car to commit the crime. If so, then yes, I would agree with you, but I didn't read that he knew they were going to commit a crime when they borrowed the car.

BamainBoston said:

So the girl was the daughter of the marijuana dealer the guys used. Three of the friends told him they were going to go over to his house and rob the dealer, because they knew he kept money there. They knew the daughter was the only one there, so they told him they'd just knock her out. He gave them the car to commit the burglary. They went over, beat the girl's head in with a shotgun, and robbed the place. Sounds like felony murder to me.

In short, I got no problem with the sentence.

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Where did you see the part in bold above? I didn't get that from the link provided.

Bamaro said:

Where did you see the part in bold above? I didn't get that from the link provided.

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Bamaro,

(Not picking on you, you just asked) - it's right here near the bottom:

But Mr. Holle did testify that he had been told it might be necessary to “knock out” Jessica Snyder. Mr. Holle is 25 now, a tall, lean and lively man with a rueful sense of humor, alert brown eyes and an unusually deep voice. In a spare office at the prison here, he said that he had not taken the talk of a burglary seriously.

“I honestly thought they were going to get food,” he said of the men who used his car, all of whom had attended the nightlong party at Mr. Holle’s house, as had Jessica Snyder.

“When they actually mentioned what was going on, I thought it was a joke,” Mr. Holle added, referring to the plan to steal the Snyders’ safe. “I thought they were just playing around. I was just very naïve. Plus from being drinking that night, I just didn’t understand what was going on.”


==============


Look, I have no problem with sentencing the getaway driver of a car who was knowingly involved in a crime. I understand how "the law" reads but this still seems a stretch to me. Now I guess I'll ask the next question as this is what it smells like: who was the prosecutor and what political office was he/she running for when he/she decided to prosecute this?


EDITED AFTER GOOGLE:

Ah, he's a judge now.

That's nice!!!


He was appointed by Judas Iscariot Crist and later elected unopposed.

TIDE-HSV said:

Given those facts, I'd say a sentence would be in order, just not a life w/o parole...

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No real problem with that. And a plea bargain was offered. Maybe he felt he could/would get off because it sounded so atrocious.

selmaborntidefan said:

Bamaro,

(Not picking on you, you just asked) - it's right here near the bottom:

But Mr. Holle did testify that he had been told it might be necessary to “knock out” Jessica Snyder. Mr. Holle is 25 now, a tall, lean and lively man with a rueful sense of humor, alert brown eyes and an unusually deep voice. In a spare office at the prison here, he said that he had not taken the talk of a burglary seriously.

“I honestly thought they were going to get food,” he said of the men who used his car, all of whom had attended the nightlong party at Mr. Holle’s house, as had Jessica Snyder.

“When they actually mentioned what was going on, I thought it was a joke,” Mr. Holle added, referring to the plan to steal the Snyders’ safe. “I thought they were just playing around. I was just very naïve. Plus from being drinking that night, I just didn’t understand what was going on.”

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The link must have changed because I still dont see it here
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...e-sentence?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

Bamaro said:

The link must have changed because I still dont see it here
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...ou-life-sentence?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark

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You're looking at Earle's link. BiB put up a NY Times link from 2007 a page back.

Here, Bamaro

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/us/04felony.html?pagewanted=all

TIDE-HSV said:

Yes. He was offered ten years. With time off for good behavior, etc., the actual time served would have been much shorter. But, he was a very young man and ten years probably sounded like the rest of his life to him...

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Well yeah. He'd have probably done about 3.5 (am I close?).

What irks me about this is I had a friend killed in 2008 by a drunk driver. Her mother opted for a plea because she wanted to ensure he at least did some jail time and had a record as a felon. (He killed her daughter and the daughter's fiance). So she plea agreed to two concurrent eight year sentences (Arkansas) and he got out after about 19 months.

So much did he learn that he's about to go on trial again for hitting someone else while drunk (they didn't die). The notion this kid who loaned his car got more time is what irks me.