May
2006
Judge Brennan Sentencing of Tire Slashers NOT Simple
I suppose it would be easy to lambaste Circuit Court Judge Michael Brennan for sentencing a few democratic activists to six months in the big house for slashing Republican tires. It would be easy to say that Brennan was just playing his partisan loyalties because of his alledged donations to the campaign of George W. Bush.
I can also appreciate the argument that Shepherd-Express columnist Joel McNally makes when he asserts that the vandalized rented vans which were supposed to take voters to the polls may have been used for shuttling around GOP operatives more than any interest in doing what is right.
But McNally misses a key fact: whether these voters needed help getting to the polls because they were elderly, disabled or just didn’t have transportation they do deserve to vote. Laying doubt on what the vans were or were not used for does not provide any sort of justification for intentionally slashing the tires. The GOP didn’t need and shouldn’t have to provide justification for what their vans were for. The fact is that they were their vans. This was not like Hurricane Katrina victims stealing bottled water from the store so their families wouldn’t die of thirst — it is more like those busy stealing plasma TV’s because they decided their rights to a wide screen TV were greater than those who owned the stores. What’s wrong is wrong.
But the fact is that these activists let their zeal get ahead of them. In doing so, they provided another challenge for them — getting to the polls. Tire slashers forgot that this was not about just an us versus them football game or soccer match, it is about the core of our democracy.
Interference with a basic right for those least able to excercise that right is more than just partisan meddling — it is a denial of equality; it’s sending a message that we are not all equal. That’s not a path any American should find acceptable.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan, Watchdogging Criminal Justice
RSS feed
Link
There are any number of problems with Brennan’s decision to put 4 young men in jail for foolishness.
First they were presented a plea deal which the judge was fully aware of and made no indication that it was unacceptable to him until after the young men had given up their right to a juary verdict.
Second what is really known about the “Kerry” outsiders?? How far back do we know them? What are and were the politics of their families? This is a key question and neither the Milwaukee Journal nor the Shepard Express have reserched this question. Lot on Milwaukee County going broke via the “Bradly Foundatio” but nothing on the “Kerry” outsiders.
THe Republican Party was abe to replace those vans with other vans and cars. It was a financial issue not an availabiltiy issue. Yes it was a pain but so are lot of other things pains.
Third Thousands of names were removed from the poll list in Flordia an NO one was held accountable.
Fourth No conclusion has ever been give on the 4000 more votes than voters in Milwaukee yet we are sending 4 young men to jail for a non-violent crime. It seems to me that who ever “stuffed” teh ballot boxes should be the ones in prison.
Judges are not supposed to tell a defendant what to plea to and are not responsible for telling a defendant what is acceptable to them.
Furthermore, who cares about the politics of the “Kerry outsiders” as you call them? Their leanings, although obvious, should have no bearing on the case. The facts are simple — they attempted to deny people the right to vote.
And what should it matter that the GOP was able to replace the vans? Yes, thousands of names were removed from the poll list in Florida but a wrong in that case does not make a right here.
Correct Jim. The plea deal is with the state, represented by the prosecutor, not the judge in any case. Sentencing is a judicial discretion, within the state sentencing guidelines for the crime for which a person is convicted.