In spring 2006, Scott Lee Sepulveda and six friends were arrested for an alleged conspiracy to murder two bookies, and an associate who informed the authorities of the plot.
Sepulveda was charged with several offenses, including three counts of attempted murder and conspiracy, then in an unrelated case he was charged and admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old girl after giving her alcohol.
Sepulveda and his associates took a plea bargain, which would allow them up to eight-year sentences as opposed to life imprisonment, which would have likely been the punishment had they been found guilty.
The conditions of the plea bargain for Sepulveda were that he would have to admit to conspiracy, but not to the specifics of the conspiracy. In addition, he would have to register as a gang offender, although he would not have to register as a sex offender.
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In a time when public urination is considered a sex crime, it is disappointing to see someone who admitted to a much more serious sex crime not even have to register as a sex offender.
It is not acceptable for people accused of crimes such as these to escape justice by making a plea bargain.
It is not even reasonable to offer a plea bargain unless some great good is obtained from it.
In this case, it appears that no good came out of it.
It appears that guilty people have escaped justice.
It happens every day.
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