Ohio woman's sentence includes Christmases in jail

Ohio woman's sentence includes Christmases in jail

news.yahoo.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A central Ohio judge has ordered a woman to spend the next five Christmases in jail as part of her sentence for issuing state ID cards and driver's licenses to immigrants who entered the country illegally.

Prosecutors say 44-year-old Betina Young — a former license agency employee — accepted payments from applicants to falsify records showing they had verified their immigration status. She has pleaded guilty.

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Having served in the criminal justice system for well over 20 years, I have seen judges do some crazy stuff... Ordering bikers to church, public service at an ice cream store etc.. But this may take the cake

How does Christmas equate to issuing Illegal Aliens identification cards?

I just can not get my head around that

??????

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by semperfortis


This is a weird one where it would appear the Judge has allowed personal opinions to influence sentencing - otherwise why spend just christmas's in jail, rather than all the days in between also?

Thanks for sharing this. As a Brit, i am not affected (even potentially) by this story but i do love a good tale of weird sentencing from around the world. Makes you appreciate that it isn't quite that bad here (yet!).

Didn't Jesus die on the cross with criminals, and he told them they would be saved? And isn't this sentence a little fascist? Im not down with the criminal, but i think both the actions of the defendant and the judge are a tad, shall we say, silly.

ordering that she spend a minimum of three days in jail each Christmas while on probation.

www.sfgate.com...

It's unusual, but certainly not cruel. I think in this case the punishment doesn't fit the crime. She has to serve a few days in jail? Sounds like a slap on the wrist to me considering she was falsifying records on illegal immigrants in exchange for bribes. She's doing easy time.

I cant believe this is true.

What an insane punishment! I was expecting some Christmas related crimes, perhaps a pedo-santa on the lose.

Can people expect bizarre punishments for anything in the future?

I really hate porn and women, so if i do a terrible crime please do not send me to a strip club for a number of hours a week, i would really really hate that. definitely punish me another way, this would be worse than prison. Honest.

There has to be some quirk or twist to this case that the Court is well aware of but the Media lost in the reporting. Has to be... The sentence is too odd and far too personal to just be a random selection of the Judge's 'Wheel of Fate' to pick for the next winner to cross the docket.

This sure will be a reminder she doesn't forget though. I can't think of a time of the year where someone would less want to spend a few days in jail as an annual ritual.

That is funny.

I mean really ironically funny. He took this woman's christmases away.

lol

I'm all for a punishment that would in anyway fit the crime... Don't get me wrong, I have seen FAR too many criminals walk away faster than I could start my patrol car..

I just can not even begin to understand how this is appropriate

I would imagine the sentence will be reversed on appeal

If she appeals

I approve.

I saw this on the TV news this morning and the first thing I thought was that this is the judges way of dragging out a sentence on the woman so that she won't forget about what she did wrong and so that the threat of 'real jail' will be hanging over her for a long while. If she breaks the law during this time, she goes to jail full time for real. The one day in jail a year .. the biggest holiday in jail away from her family .. is a reminder of what will happen to her every day in jail if she breaks the law over the next five years.

I thought it was clever.

(Hey .. my degree is psychology .. so I may be over thinking it .. but that's what my first thought was)

reply to post by semperfortis

Can a judge "order" whatever he wants?

You provided some examples but is there a limitation on their "power"?

reply to post by gladtobehere


There are absolutely limits on a judges power.. Most laws in the states I have worked in have the penalties, max and min, clearly stated..

I'm not sure that would cover this though

reply to post by semperfortis


It said she pled guilty...does that impact how creative a judge can get on sentence vs. the earned sentence of a lost trial and all that? I mean, is she giving up some of her ability to fight or complain about whatever gets thrown at her by the nature of her own plea?

Why not Black Friday instead? That probably would have been more punishing.
Anywho I don't think sentencing should have one single thing to do with anything religious. Neither forced participation nor barring.

So, on top of probation, she gets to spend the holiday, the days before and after in the clink?

What would a normal sentencing guideline for her offense be? I'll admit to ignorance on this...

reply to post by semperfortis


She probably is grateful for the sentence. I would be!!...not to have to spend time with drunken genetic throw backs with all the arguments, fist fights and crying children would be a blessing.

Christmas on the windblown plains of West Texas....I'd rather be in jail!

But alas... attendance at the family gatherings is mandatory.

It's a non violent crime, not like rape or murder or beating someone severely in a robbery. She should not be doing time, and if she has children or family, then anything like at Christmas time is punishing her children and depriving them of good family memories, the opposite of healing, in fact it makes the evil harshness spread into more souls.

The only purpose of anything is healing and helping.

reply to post by semperfortis


Good question - How many of those illegals that she helped committed crimes while in this country on those falsified documents? How many of those illegals that she helped killed a person in this country because of her actions?

Even if we ignore the speculation above, how many people who are going through the system legally have missed holidays with their loved ones while waiting for documents to get into the US?

To me this type of sentence falls into the category of "shock time" instead of actual punishment. Will this sentence act as a deterrent in the future? Who knows however I think it may cause others in the same positions to think twice before doing the same thing.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by semperfortis

 

This is a weird one where it would appear the Judge has allowed personal opinions to influence sentencing - otherwise why spend just christmas's in jail, rather than all the days in between also?

Thanks for sharing this. As a Brit, i am not affected (even potentially) by this story but i do love a good tale of weird sentencing from around the world. Makes you appreciate that it isn't quite that bad here (yet!).

It's not that bad here... Don't believe everything they rant about at the pub..

This sort of thing doesn't happen very often.. anywhere.. That's why it's post worthy.

reply to post by semperfortis


Strange ruling for sure. I know they can make a ruling that contains almost anything.

10 most bizzare judges in court..

Weird stuff, but that's the freedom of they get with the job.

-SAP-