Gunpowder Chronicle posted on August 20, 2008 7:43 PM | Rating:
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Continuing with my absolute outrage over the obdurate stupidity of judges in the State of Maryland that started with this post, today I want to highlight a "Tale of Two Defendants". In both cases, it is my firm belief that the entire judicial system is in a state of massive "charlie foxtrot"*.
Case #1
At 2:30pm on December 22, 2007, Jason Bukovsky of Columbia, MD was driving on Aviation Blvd in Glen Burnie when his car drifted to the right side of the road. He overcorrected, crossed the centerline, and struck a car driven by Soon Youn Livingston of Severn. She was killed, and her son was severely inujured. The 32-year old Bukovsky submitted to a blood alcohol test an hour later, and he blew a .39, nearly 5 TIMES THE LEGAL LIMIT.
For this, Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner sentenced the bastard to 10 years in prison, suspending all but 18 months. The five months of home detention he has served so far will count toward this time. And he has to pay $9,000 in resitution to Thomas A. Livingston (the husband of the murdered woman), serve 5 years of supervised probation, and perform 50 hours of community service.
Of Bukovsky, Hackner said, "He essentially drank himself to a state where the average human being would have been incapacitated or dead. The devastation he's caused is just unfathomable."
Unfathomable? Horseshit. This chickenshit, ratfucking judge wants to claim it is unfathomable, while sentencing this murdering little drunk bastard to a glorious 13 months in prison. It's good to know that in Maryland, a drunk can essentially get away with murder. Thanks to assinine judges like this asshole, Judge Paul A. Hackner. If what he did was so unfathomable, why shouldn't he spend the next decade in prison?
Judge Hackner, you are an unmitigated asshole. And the fact that Annoted Code of Maryland allows you diminish this woman's death by suspending this sentence down to what is essentially a 13-months sentence is appalling. That is what we get in this state for allowing so many ass clown attorneys into the General Assembly.
Case #2
Our second case takes us to Federal Court, where the cameraman of the notorious "Stop Snitching" DVD was sentenced to 30 years in prison for possession of 58 gelcaps of heroin and possession of a weapon during a drug trafficking crime.
Akiba Matthews-Bey did not hurt anyone, did not kill anyone. He had in his possession an absurd amount of illegal narcotics and an illegal weapon -- serious crimes to be sure. Matthews-Bey claimed that he was being singled out by Federal authorities because of his involvement with the DVD. Maybe, maybe not.
But what is clear is that the video did play a role in the judge's decision not to go below sentencing guidelines.
But how can we square 30 YEARS in prison for a non-violent crime with 13 months for a murder? How is it possible that our law enforcement priorities are so out of whack, that we cut a break to a murdering drunk, but drop the book on a stupid, dumbass drug dealer?
You can almost understand why black Americans think the court system is biased against them.
How do we possibly justify this? Why do we allow or legislators (Federal or State) to set up laws that are so out of whack? And why do we allow judges to vary their sentences so much?
This situation is demonstrably unfair, unjust, and stupid. No one sees justice achieved in any of this. Judges are just fooling themselves if they think that sentences like this are just, or right, or even useful. They are just making an absolute mockery of the notion of justice.
Because our criminal justice system is a terminal state of "charlie foxtrot".
* "Charlie Foxtrot" uses the NATO phonetic alphabet to abbreviate "clusterfuck", a term that first came to my endearing attention in the movie "Heartbreak Ridge", starring Clint Eastwood.