Originally published at: Man who tried to strip off clothes on a plane faces 20 years in prison | Boing Boing
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Seems like his crimes are not on a par with child sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell, yet his sentence would be identical to hers.
That makes no sense to me.
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is anybody expecting me to offer an opinion about US sentencing? I’m sure you don’t.
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If a jury can nullify a law, cans they also limit a sentence?
If the prosecution said “we want this bonehead to serve 20 years”, I’d vote not guilty out of principle. But if the evidence proves he was guilty, I’d be OK with a one year sentence.
He’s also got a lifetime of misery ahead of him as a felon. The US is a shitty place to be with that rain cloud always following you around.
Regardless of the criminal outcome, I do think he should have to repay the airline for the cost of the extra landing they needed to get rid of him. That’s thousands of dollars in wasted fuel alone.
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It’s almost always a dude. Always. The sample is so dude-skewed. Why even take the kids to the zoo anymore? Just fly round trip and try to catch the peanuts from the upended cart.
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Where’s this guy from? Like I said a couple weeks ago, fuck Auburn. The only good thing about Auburn is the donut shop for when you’re headed to Crystal.
Anyway, that -200 looks so dinky for some reason.
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I believe that juries are not allowed to know the penalties, for just this reason. I’ve certainly heard of jurors who later said “If I’d known he was facing 20 years I’d have voted differently.”
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Sounds like he was psychotic, not criminal in his actions. I feel bad for the guy. Why would he plead guilty? An insanity plea sounds reasonable in this case.
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Massive fraud, trying to influence the US election—20 months. Lucky for Lev Parnas he didn’t take his clothes off.
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or drunk.
or meth.
or a total asshole.
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parnas is getting even less time than the texas woman who cast a provisional ballot because she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to vote
our sentencing laws are wildly screwed up. a twenty year sentence for what could well have been a mental health episode doesn’t do society any favors
we have to pay for his imprisonment when treatment and motoring would be orders of magnitude cheaper. ( and even if he did it maliciously, prison still seems the wrong tool )
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Psychotic people can certainly seem to be assholes. Meth and coke make people psychotic. He certainly seemed to be hallucinating and delusional. This is something that implies a need for medical treatment, not incarceration.
There are other explanations, you know.
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Sentencing is done separately and after determination of guilt. It sounds like he hasn’t been sentenced yet. You should also basically ignore the statement “faces up to 20 years”. That is the statutory maximum for “interference with flight members and attendants.” A judge could do that, but is much more likely to follow the federal sentencing guidelines, and especially when the defendant pleaded guilty.
I’m not an expert and I don’t know what the details of the case or the person’s prior criminal history that would affect the “crime score”, but my guess looking at the guidelines would be that he would fall in the 0-6 or 6-12 months range of sentences. If indeed mental health, substance abuse, or other circumstances affected him – which trying to strip naked suggests but I don’t want to assume – the judge is also allowed to prescribe treatment in lieu of imprisonment.
Again, the judge could still do basically whatever they want, but the “up to 20 years” or whatever you see in news articles is basically meaningless.
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As long as there’s more to it than “America sucks har har,” then go ahead …
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Being that my coworkers and I often get assaulted by people on methamphetamines and/or drunk, their psychotic behavior goes away when they sober up. But I am of the opinion that they should still have to be responsible for their behavior while on those drugs. After all, “I was drunk when I crashed my car into your toddler” is no excuse, why should “I was on meth when I punched the nurse” be an excuse?
I don’t think long imprisonments do anything to reform people. Is prison for punishment only? Is it to keep the rest of society safe from dangerous people? And yet, would mental health counselling do anything to assist the meth using person who bit the good samaritan while running down the street naked?
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“[person] faces X years” is one of the worst phrases in crime-related journalism. It’s actively misleading, because it means very little, yet people reading it come away with what they think is information.
He hasn’t been sentenced yet. 20 years is the maximum of all charges added up. He could get very little prison, a fine, a suspended sentence, or even be released for time served. Who knows.
However, I agree that maximum is rather on the ridiculous side for what he did. This man sounds like he could use some mental healthcare, not prison. I don’t mean to speculate about his mental health- that would be inappropriate and against forum rules as well. I’m just saying if he is mentally ill, I would hope he would get care for that instead of being put away for 20 years for an outburst and knocking over some drinks on a plane.
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It isn’t supposed to be punishment at all, though Americans in particular very much view it that way, in my experience.
Basically yes. It’s supposed to be society’s last resort safety valve to protect itself from problematic/dangerous people. Rehabilitation is also a stated goal, though I think we all agree it doesn’t work very well for that. We haven’t figured out that part yet, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good goal that we should continue to strive for.
If he was experiencing potentially fatal hypothermia, I would expect to see more of said behavior on the same flight.
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