Justice For One = Justice For All

LtCol P- Good to see you back online. With the way things are being reported here in the States, no comms can be an ominous thing.

Interestingly, the Stebbins opinion is an extremely well-written one that thoroughly throws not only the book, but the entire Library of Congress at him. The opinion delivered by the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (USCAAF) (which is the equivalent of the Federal Appeals Courts across the country), spells out both the factual and legal bases for their approval of the Criminal Court of Appeals upholding of Stebbins' extremely harsh sentence.

The only court above the USCAAF is the Supremes themselves. The opinion is mostly written for them, in order to prevent an appeal to SCOTUS by Stebbins. As a hint, do a search for the terms, "conclude," "conclusion," "hold," or "held," while reading the opinion to quickly get the USCAAF's ruling on each of the issues.

Fear not, Pvt. Stebbins will spend the rest of his life as a guest of Federal government. With any luck, another prisoner has turned Stebbins into his very own RealDoll.

On the other note, Polanski falls into the same category as the rest of the artists who express themselves in rather odd ways (e.g. Michael Jackson or Vincent Van Gogh)

I agree with VFRMarine on both guys - lock them up and throw away the key. I take exception to this comment:

"With any luck, another prisoner has turned Stebbins into his very own RealDoll."

The guy is not being sentenced to torture or to sodomy. Indeed such sentences would be unlawful cruel and unusual punishment. Prison rape is no joke. Toleration of it by government agencies is, eventually, going to cause all sorts of problems with civil liability and with effective efforts to keep bad guys off the streets.

So, I say stand down with these comments. It hurts our side of the incarceration argument.

jej

ps - I am ex-Army enlisted, and ex-civilian prosecutor.

I have no trouble with the comment. Lt. Col. P is merely expressing the extent to which he hopes the prisoner is suffering. An opinion he is entitled too and which I agree. If his wife caught Stebbins raping his little girl and she shot him dead would that constitute cruel and unusual punishment or swift justice? I vote for the latter.

Change the law and make it a death penalty offense. Fine by me and it might pass constitutional muster.

Have the wife catch the bad guy in the act and use deadly force to prevent rape. Fine by me and it passes constitutional muster. Life in prison without parole is fine, and the conditions need not be pleasant. That is all different from what commenter VFRMarine was suggesting. Perhaps he meant it in jest, but as I say, prison rape is no joke. It creates all sorts of civil liability issues. It supports claims of improper prison conditions that support the sort of idiotic liberal arguments that lead recently to a Federal judge in California ordering the release of many state prisoners due to overcrowding and supports claims made at sentencing all the time that punishment is unduly harsh.

I am not arguing about the attraction of the "eye for an eye" retribution. I am just saying that the argument, and any government tolerance of it, supports opponents of law and order and stiff sentencing. Don't help those guys.

From what I've read of Polanski, he is a serial offending scum and deserves the full weight of the law. If what I've read is true, then he is without excuse. Even if he'd since devoted his life to the poor in Calcutta, that does not obliviate the justice that has been delayed.

JEJ- Glad you agree with most, if not all of my comments. I agree with you that Stebbins was not sentenced to torture or sodomy. However, no one sentenced MS to a lifetime of pain, suffering, emotional disturbance, and possible other physical problems due to Stebbins' actions. Unfortunately, our justice system is sometimes inadequate to match punishments to crimes. Consider Bernie Madoff as a separate example, does any prison sentence truly punish him for his crime?

Whether you agree with this form, or type, of retributive justice is not altogether relevant. We can both agree to disagree, without degenerating into the mud-flinging which permeates some parts of the blogosphere.

Nevertheless, there is only so much our agencies can do to prevent this type of behavior in our prisons. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, our prisoners are generally treated enormously better than their counterparts elsewhere. Frankly, Stebbins is co-located with others of his ilk, namely violent criminals. Behavioral aberrations are more the norm in that environment. Whether we tolerate it or not, we would be ignorant and naive to begin believing a regulation or statute would wipe it out of existence.

p.s. Thank you for your double service. Most of us are aware of the difficulties in being military; however, prosecutors are subject to the highest ethical standards and some of the most limited budgets.

p.p.s. I to am an esq.

VFRMarine
Yes, I do agree with most of what you post, and I share your notion of fairness. I just disagree on how to get there on this one issue.
I don't intend any mud flinging, and do not sense you or any others here do. I'd not have posted if I thought that was how op-for rolls.
As far as punishment and retribution goes, as you know, there is a lot a victim can do with a civil suit following a criminal conviction. I encouraged many victims of crimes to pursue civil damages when the criminal court processes left them without being made whole on monetary damages, or for pain and suffering and the like. It was an exercise in frustration - not many victims pursued civil remedies. Maybe, the criminals had no resources that could be reached in a civil suit - not many bad guys are O.J.Simpson or Bernie Madoff.

About prisons - law and regulations already prohibit rape. I was astounded when the California Attorney General [a few guys back, not the current one] said in a press conference pretty much the same thing you did in your first post. Those sentiments have widespread support. I've said my piece on the subject, and I'll move on.

About my double service - thank you, but I always give pause when someone says that to me. My Army service time and my deputy district attorney service time were both very much what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it and how I wanted to do it. I came out ahead on the deal. My Army service time changed my life for the better. I feel indebted, not the other way around.

Prison Fellowship got some prison rape law passed recently (year ago?). IIRC part of it includes keeping statistics on it in an effort to then reduce it.

Any parent with girls can only support one view; prosecution and punishment for all who would violate the law.
Anything less and you will see a lot of Dads out there taking the law into their own hands.

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