Friday, May 26, 2006

Short people get no prison

A judge in Nebraska believed that the defendant standing before her, convicted of sexually assaulting a 12 year old girl, deserved a long prison sentence. But she declined to impose it because he is only 5'1" and, in her view, would have had a hard time in prison.

I have to confess that some years ago, on a much less serious offense, I got a shrink to testify at sentencing who essentially said, through a lot of psychobabble, that my client did not like black people and would act like a jerk and get himself (probably justifiably)stomped in prison. It worked, but I thought that took huevos grande.

I can just see where this will lead. Guys used to pretend they were gay to get out of the draft, now it'll be a sentencing strategy. Look, your Honor, what happened to Vito on the Sopranos. Guys will be going on starvation diets. Look, your Honor, I'm a 99 lb weakling. I'll be toast.

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