15 Days for Assault

Back in 2005, Joel Olavarria-Rivera copped a plea deal with prosecutors over an assault on his girlfriend. He served a whopping 15 days.

Now he's been charged with her murder.

Ten Years for Attempted Murder

In Michigan.

A Flint man who told an exotic dancer to close her eyes so he could give her a Sweetest Day gift but instead bashed her head in with a hammer pleaded to an assault charge.

Austin M. Schmidt, 21, faces prison when sentenced Dec. 4 before Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph J. Farah.

Schmidt pleaded no contest today to assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder, a 10-year felony.


He was originally charged with assault with intent to murder, a life felony, in the Oct. 22, 2006 assault on Abbie VanAmburg.

...

At an earlier hearing, VanAmburg, 23, said she was severely beaten with a hammer, receiving more than 30 blows to her head and arm that required 25 staples in her head and 50 stitches on her face and arm.

She said about 30 of those stitches were required to reattach her left ear, which was nearly severed in the attack.

And he'll most likely be out of prison before he's 30. Lovely.

A History of Injustice

Just check out the partial criminal history of this guy:

- 7 1/2 years of a 14-year manslaughter plea.

- 5 months of a 16-month sentence for fighting cops.

And now he's facing charges of third degree robbery. I guess the good news is he's been downgrading his crimes. Bad news is he'll probably get off with yet another slap on the wrist for this nonviolent offense.

Plea Bargain for Two Time Killer

In Ohio, a man's received a 15-year sentence for the murder of a young woman.

But this man's already killed. He was convicted of 1st degree murder as a juvenile less than a decade ago.

I understand that prosecutors don't have enough staff, and that plea bargains can represent an easy way to get garden variety criminals behind bars for a few years. But if you can't marshall the resources to go after a two-time killer who's just 24-years old... there's something seriously wrong.

Cracks in the System

In Boston and New York, heinous acts of violence committed by people who should have been behind bars.

And once again, Mayors Bloomberg and Menino say all this could go away if we only had more gun control laws.

18 months for armed robbery

In Maryland.

A 17-year-old girl was sentenced to 18 months

in jail today for helping lead a teenage armed robbery spree, allegedly to get money for stylish athletic shoes.
A judge found Tia Moore guilty in July of two counts of

conspiracy to commit armed robbery and one count of attempted armed robbery. In January, she and four other young people took part in the 90-minute crime spree, targeting a fast-food restaurant, a pizza delivery man and an ice-cream shop where two of their Frederick High School classmates worked.
Prosecutors asked for four to 16 years according to state

sentencing guidelines. Instead, Frederick County Circuit Judge Julie Stevenson Solt sentenced Moore to 18 months in the county jail and suspended another 14 and a half years of prison time.

Well, that'll teach HER!

30 Years for a Double Murder

In Delaware.

The lead prosecutor in the case, R. David Favata, said after Young embraced the plea bargain that, with trials of two co-defendants pending, he could not comment on how the prosecution came to offer the plea bargain.

However, he described the outcome as “a just result under the circumstances” and took issue with the families’ position that Hamilton’s sentence was much too light for killing two men.

“Thirty years in prison is not a mild sentence by any stretch of the imagination,” Favata said, noting that Hamilton was formally sentenced to 53 years -- albeit with 23 years suspended.

“We spent hours with the family discussing the plea and the reasons we decided it was the best course of action,” Favata said.

“We were aware that they were unhappy with it, and we made that known to the judge and the senior staff of the Department of Justice.”

Thirty years in prison isn't mild. But is it the appropriate sentence you'd like to see if your children were the ones who had been murdered?