Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Requiescat in pace, Amanda Marie Bishop

Amanda Marie Bishop, by AngerHangover
Blogger AngerHangover has identified murder victim #101 as Amanda Marie Bishop, age 22.
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8 comments:

John Galt said...

Because of recent discussions on jury nullification in Baltimore, I'm posting here a link to a paper on jury vs. nonjury trial for criminal offenses in Ireland (North & South).

Perhaps what we need here is something like the Prevention of Crime Act of 1882, which in turbulent Ireland suspended jury trial, replacing it with the judicial tribunal in times of emergency.

Thu Jun 26, 12:28:00 AM EDT
John Galt said...

So, what,.. you can shoot a guy dead, be sentenced to 5 years minimum, and be out among society on parole in the sixth ???

Seems like a pretty casual sanction to me. No wonder they think it's sorta kinda okay to do.

Thu Jun 26, 08:18:00 AM EDT
John Galt said...

And a Hopkins prof details what surveyed Balimoreans felt were the ten rudest behaviors.

Interesting. In my neighborhood, those are examples of the better conduct one will commonly experience.

Thu Jun 26, 08:26:00 AM EDT
bdshayne said...

Galt, do you really think the suspension of civil liberties is the right path to begin walking down?

Don't get me wrong, I am willing to consider drastic measures, but the removal of my rights because other people can't behave is not to my liking.

Perhaps the dissolution of Baltimore City's charter and its subsequent incorporation into Baltimore County would be a solution? Not that Baltimore County would have us, but we do seem to be having problems governing ourselves. And jury by peers would then include a larger pool of law abiding folk.

Thu Jun 26, 09:26:00 AM EDT
taotechuck said...

"was sentenced by Judge Charles G. Bernstein to 15 years in prison, the first five without possibility of parole. The judge suspended an additional 10 years, which he could impose should Simpson get into trouble again."

The wording is a bit confusing. I read it to mean that the judge suspended an additional 10 years on top of the 15 years. You read it to read 5 without parole, with the next 10 suspended. Which is correct?

Thu Jun 26, 09:32:00 AM EDT
ppatin said...

Chuck: My impression was that he got a 15 year sentence, 5 of which will be without parole, followed by 10 years suspended. Now, I'm not sure if that means he can be released after 5 years, or if he only begins accumulating good time credit/whatever other crap they use to decide when to release people after five years.

Thu Jun 26, 09:40:00 AM EDT
taotechuck said...

Weird. You and Galt both read it the same way. I hope I'm right, but my guess is you guys might be.

With the pending Sun buyouts/layoffs, I imagine we'll be treated to more vaguely worded articles written by "A Sun Reporter."

I really hope they have the sense to keep the good reporters, but something tells me that Linskey and Sentementes and Byckowicz cost more than Mr. A.S. Reporter.

Hell. Maybe the Sun management can just fire the whole local news department and replace them with bloggers.

Thu Jun 26, 09:54:00 AM EDT
John Galt said...

The point is, even at sentencing, we're bending over backwards to get him back onto the streets ASAP.

He's just murdered someone !

Doesn't that mean anything ??

----------------------------------

Shayne, I wasn't really recomending that solution, just throwing the Act out for consideration. This is not a unique and unprecedented problem.

It's been dealt with before.

You'll notice that the courts in Ireland almost 200 years ago had this same problem: in the presence of a criminal-sympathetic jury pool, judges resorted to easy plea terms.

A very decent solution could be to subject Baltimore criminal trials to the same jury plan used by the federal court for this jurisdiction, to wit:

U.S. District Court for the Northern Division of Maryland.

That's a jury of your peers, yet not a jury drawn fom the parole register, or Baltimore City, which is the same thing.

Thu Jun 26, 10:28:00 AM EDT

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