Dane County Circuit Judge John Markson [said] that it is possible that he will pose no danger to society if he leaves prison in 20 years.
"The greatest punishment is not what I do but having this on your conscience," Markson said.
How much, exactly, do such things weigh on the mind of a man who says, "I am sincere when I tell you that I don't remember what happened at that moment"?
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If he doesn't remember doing it, how can it weigh on his conscience? Mark me down as thinking life in prison or the death penalty would be the greatest punishment.
A lot of women get off easier, like Mary Winkler in Tennessee. No time at all.
"The greatest punishment is not what I do but having this on your conscience," Markson said.
It’s the judicial equivalent of a Gypsy Curse.
Pure boilerplate.
It's not easy coming up with fresh material for every sentencing.
I see plenty of cases where there is no jail time at all for murder. I read that Texas (largely due to prison overcrowding) gave probation to over 120 murder cases.
What a country. Let's kill the babies and free the murderers. Pathetic.
Judges with crippled intellects like this need to be summarily removed from the Bench.
I remember a case in Montreal, where two 16 or 17 year olds broke into an elderly couple's house and beat them to death with baseball bats. The beating was so savage that blood and viscera were splashed on the walls and ceiling. The crime scene was described as having shocked into catatonia the veteran Montreal homicide detectives at the scene. But in court, the judge spoke to defendants and said, "...you're not bad boys....".
So why did Julio Marin-Garcia get the minimum sentence for murdering his wife?
In the land of Ed Gein and Jefrey Dahmer, butchering only one person -- and not even eating her -- doesn't shock the conscience?
Maybe 20 years is the going rate -- look at the kid who fired a warning shot into another kid's heart:
Teen gets 20 years in prison for Beloit killing
The Capital Times — 2/05/2009 9:36 am
A 19-year-old who shot and killed a teen on a Beloit street a year ago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Carlos L. Salas was sentenced in Rock County Circuit Court on Wednesday, a year to the day he shot and killed Fernando Berrios-Linarez, 17, at Dewey and Keeler streets early in the afternoon on Feb. 4, 2008.
Salas told officers at the time he didn't intend to kill the teen but was only trying to scare him.
Five shell casings were found at the scene. Berrios-Linarez was shot in the heart.
Marin-Garcia's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Jon Helland, asked that Marin-Garcia be allowed to petition for release in 20 years, also noting that as an illegal immigrant Marin-Garcia will be deported to Mexico when he leaves prison.
Well isn't that precious. I wonder how much we're footin per year on Mexico's criminals.
Salas told officers at the time he didn't intend to kill the teen but was only trying to scare him.
Even that is a better excuse than "I don't remember" when you consider that Marin-Garcia made himself a digital voice recording of the murder.
Could spidercrunch's post be removed? It offends my sight.
Hoosier Dad asked "I wonder how much we're footin per year on Mexico's criminals."
A LOT. California spends the most. Hmmmm, I wonder how that is affecting their budget?
"The U.S. Justice Department estimated that 270,000 illegal immigrants served jail time nationally in 2003. Of those, 108,000 were in California. Some estimates show illegals now make up half of California's prison population, creating a massive criminal subculture that strains state budgets and creates a nightmare for local police forces."
Trey
Hoosier and Tmink: I'm sure those immigrants only commit crimes that Americans do not want to do.
Montreal Case mentioned above.
FLS:
LOL. That was a good one!
Just remember what Jon Stewart taught us--
You have a better chance of serving prison time for being governor of Illinois than for being convicted of murder.......
Hoosier and Tmink: I'm sure those immigrants only commit crimes that Americans do not want to do.
Yes of course. I mean the idea that we shouldn't feed, house and provide medical care to Mexico's criminal element is probably racist and unChristian.
"While she begged for her life . . . ."
It would take an awful lot to convince me that this guy did not remember.
Plus, if he can forget that, it probably won't be too hard for him to forget that he is supposed to be weighed by conscience.
The God I believe in is, unfortunately, not a god who takes a personal and specific interest in the lives of particular humans. That makes prayer seem futile and even conceited. However, in this case I am praying that God take notice of Julio. And of his victim.
I know Judge Markson, and I am very surprised by the sentence. It makes no sense in light of the reported evidence (i.e., that he did an audio recording of the murder). I also can't disagree more that this guy would pose no risk 20 years from now.
While it is true that there plenty of people who kill once and never kill again, how can that be assumed for a person who doesn't even remember killing the person?
I wonder if he'll remember being in jail?
What's the matter with us here? We need to help this victim of sudden memory loss (SML) which is a disease like other well known Mental Illnesses. Harsh treatment of Julio to seek revenge is not the way of an enlightened society. Besides he may only have been dreaming of an abortion, which is a protected right, and mistook his wife for his foetus. If poor Julio could only remember, then I am sure he would tell us.
The residents of Dane County got the justice they voted for.
Question for Judge Markson. What if Julio Marin-Garcia doesn't have a conscience?
One illegal from Mexico cold-bloodedly kills another illegal.
OK.
Sometimes we strike a deal when one American overseas or across our land Borders kills another American in another country - that they will be brought back to serve sentence in a US prison so they are close to their Loi-yahs and relatives.
We should be strongly looking at reforming the legal system so we can get rid of illegal alien criminals.
Explain to their native government that illegal criminals will not be eligible for parole here, for example...but if they volunteer to be deported and serve some minimum time in their native country's jails then the native country can decide if parole or commutation is appropriate..
But.....
In agreeing to be deported, the alien understand that if ever caught in America illegally again, whatever part of the sentence they didn't serve in their native land will be served to completion in America, where initial trial and sentence happened.
IE - We get rid of Marin-Garcia with a 20-year sentence on him for killing a Mexican to Mexico. They jail him 8 years then release him. He knows if he ever illegally goes back into America and is caught, he has a mandatory 12 years in jail awaiting him.
Or Maria Lopez is caught with 3 kilos of coke in Los Angeles - something she was doing as a member of MS-13. She gets 30 years and has an option of doing it in America with no possibility of parole or other things happening to cut her sentence. Or go to El Salvador, serve 6 months and have gang members bribe officials to get her freed after that. Despite her tears that she was in America since age 4 and has a right to stay and 3 US citizen spawn to care for....she gets a choice. Leave as an undesirable alien, or greet her kids as a free woman again in the year 2039.
Come on people, murdering family members is all part of the Pelosi-reduce-the-population-reduce-expenses plan. Just think of them as really late abortions.
Here's a better plan; summarily execute fucks like this along with that bitch in Texas who murdered her daughter. Forget lethal injection and all that shit; use a traditional firing squad without all that chicken shit fake bullet stuff.
I see sentences such as this and wonder about the judge. Does sympathy for the husband reflect his hostility toward women? Does his wife ever sport bruises? How many date rapes are in his past, that sort of thing. Perhaps I just watch too much TV.
Formerlasstudent, I laughed out loud. Honest!
Trey
Life imitates a Criminal Minds episode. Again.
"The greatest punishment is not what I do but having this on your conscience," Markson said.
I think you guys are reading this the wrong way.
What Markson is saying is "the sentence I'm giving you is so half-assed that your *conscience* will bother you more". :)
Its a glass half empty/half full thing.
Your harsh sayings and cavalier remarks trouble me greatly.
Isn't there some drug for childbirth that doesn't kill the pain but you don't remember it?
This came up in the 60s.
Probably it was invented by a husband, I thought would be an explanation for the reasoning.
Perhaps someone will not remember killing this guy in prison. I'll forget to hope for that.
"The greatest punishment is not what I do but having this on your conscience," Markson said.
Markson must belong to the Geithner/Daschle/Richardson school of jurisprudence.
FLS, haha.
(This looks strange to me: I prefer to avoid "lol" at all costs, but is "haha" any better?)
Stories like this are just depressing. Every one is in itself a good reason to support the death penalty.
Hoosier Daddy asks: I wonder how much we're footin per year on Mexico's criminals.
From the LAT just recently: There are roughly 19,000 illegal immigrants in state prisons [note: he only means CA state prisons], representing 11% of all inmates. That's costing $970 million during the current fiscal year. The feds kick in a measly $111 million, leaving the state with an $859 million tab.
BTW: Bush repeatedly tried to veto states from receiving that money.
I don't cover the sensationalist crime side of things, but I've got thousands of posts about the wider issue if anyone wants to learn all the things the MSM and mainstream bloggers like Insty won't discuss.
"Perhaps someone will not remember killing this guy in prison. I'll forget to hope for that."
We don't have the death penalty in Wisconsin, but I remember when Jeffrey Dahmer got the "Wisconsin death penalty."
Dane County Circuit Judge John Markson [said] that it is possible that he will pose no danger to society if he leaves prison in 20 years.
Or maybe he'll have another murderous fugue.
Blogger DADvocate said...
A lot of women get off easier, like Mary Winkler in Tennessee. No time at all.
Few things have made me angrier than that case did. What an astounding miscarriage of justice.
Perhaps someone will not remember killing this guy in prison. I'll forget to hope for that.
And if it happens, together we can forget to mourn.
This is what happens when judges get empathetic, envision what it's like being in someone's shoes. This is why I prefer judges to be logical and pragmatic and leave emotion at the door.
The quote that constitutes the title of your blog post comes from the ADA. I wouldn't exactly be surprised if he *exaggerated* his claims. And when you get into multiple-decade sentences, the only measurable effect is that it costs taxpayers more money; recidivism and deterrence rates don't change at all. Walter Dickey (as much as he irritates me) has the statistics on this, and I'm sure if you swing by his office, he'll pull them out for you.
You know, skimmimg the page real fast, with "butchered" on one line and "begged" on the next below, I keep picking it up as "buggered."
I thought Titus might like to know that.
Loaves!
Hey, I have a modest proposal.
Call it a stimulus package.
Seal all US jails and prisons watertight.
Fill with water to top.
Wait 30 days, topping off as needed.
Drain. Bulldoze. Landfill.
Remember too late you forgot to evacuate the turnkeys. But they would have just been unemployed.
What effect on the country, the economy, the society, would occasion with the one-time removal of what, 2, 3 million criminals? (And a buncha corrections officers, too. Maybe some lawyers with luck.)
I submit arguendo that it would be terribly helpful.
Oh, and give any survivors a reality show. Or let them run the bulldozers.
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