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19 Sep 2011 20:50

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U.S.: Appeals court: Give this Jose Padilla guy a harsher sentence, already!

The al-Qaeda supporter, center, received a 17-year sentence in 2008 from a Miami judge. Now a Georgia appeals court says that’s too lenient, and ordered Padilla to get re-sentenced more harshly. That doesn’t happen often. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jun 2011 18:04

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Politics: Rapper Ja Rule sentenced to two years in prison on handgun charges

  • Out on my patio having my last free moment I love all my fans Pain is love!!!
  • Ja Rule  • A tweet by the rapper/actor (real name Jeffrey Atkins) about ninety minutes prior to his being sentenced to two years in prison. In 2007, police found a hidden semi-automatic handgun in his car following a traffic stop, which landed him the charge. Incidentally, the line “Pain is love” is the title of one of his albums, with “Pain is Love 2” slated for release this summer — and that, friends, is commitment to marketing. He reportedly spent his last day of freedom watching the new X-Men movie with his family, and is expected to serve 18-20 months, pending good behavior. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jun 2011 20:10

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U.S.: Convicted killer in Yale slaying receives 44-year sentence

  • Annie was and will always be a wonderful person, by far a better person that I will ever be in my life. I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I ruined lives, and I’m sorry for taking Annie Le’s life.
  • Former Yale animal-research technician Raymond Clark III • Speaking during his sentencing, during which he received a 44-year sentence for the killing of Annie Le, a Yale graduate student whose tragic murder turned her family’s excitement over her wedding into overwhelming grief. The sentence, which will keep the 26-year-old in prison until he turns 70, wasn’t enough for some members of Le’s family, who had hoped he’d receive a life sentence. If it’s of any solace to the Le family, he won’t get paroled early, because Connecticut doesn’t allow parole for convicted murderers. The case drew a large amount of media interest — due in part to the fact that it happened on a highly-secured part of the Yale campus that few people could get inside. Which meant that it was relatively easy to figure out that Clark, who accepts full responsibility for the crime, was the culprit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2010 11:20

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U.S.: Faisal Shahzad sentenced: Times Square bomber gets life in prison

  • 40 number of people Times Square wannabe bomber Faisal Shahzad thought his bomb would kill
  • life amount of time Shahzad will have in prison to think about what he almost did back in May source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jul 2010 20:42

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Culture: We admit, this Lindsay Lohan sentencing video broke us

  • We’re not completely made of stone. Heck, some might argue we’re made of softer substances, like flesh and bone. Those jerks would be wrong, but still, it’s worth emphasizing that seeing Lohan as a bucket of emotions is pretty powerful. Even constant tabloid subjects have souls.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jul 2010 20:34

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Culture: Lindsay Lohan sentenced to jail, but who’s getting punished?

This just in: Jail has been sentenced to 90 days of Lindsay Lohan.Tue Jul 06 23:53:33 via Twitter for iPhoneJoel David Moore
joeldavidmoore

  • The tall, lanky guy from “Avatar” gets it right. This is not a punishment for Lindsay Lohan. She’s so trashed that she won’t even notice what’s going on. The prison population on the other hand? They get screwed because they have to deal with Lohan for 90 days. Who wins? Twitter users sick of listening to Justin Bieber’s screed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2010 15:30

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Music: Real headline: “Lil Wayne Sentencing Delayed Due To Dental Surgery”

  • I don’t want this to get pushed back anymore. This is the last adjournment.
  • Judge Charles H. Solomon • Regarding the delay of Lil’ Wayne’s sentencing due to dental surgery this weekend. His tooth is cracked. So he remains out of jail until March 2. Most awesome excuse ever. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Mar 2009 19:04

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U.S.: An ode to New York’s Rockefeller drug laws. We won’t miss you.

  • What were they? Back in the 1970s, Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller, in an attempt to stem a drug-related “reign of terror,” got a series of laws passed that were the toughest in the nation at the time, and led to a controversial trend towards mandatory minimum sentencing. source
  • What were they? Back in the 1970s, Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller, in an attempt to stem a drug-related “reign of terror,” got a series of laws passed that were the toughest in the nation at the time, and led to a controversial trend towards mandatory minimum sentencing.
  • Their effect The laws often forced judges to sentence even minor drug offenders with the same broad stroke, filling prisons with first-time offenders getting sent there instead of rehab, which would often have made a lot more sense considering the nature of their crimes. source
  • What were they? Back in the 1970s, Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller, in an attempt to stem a drug-related “reign of terror,” got a series of laws passed that were the toughest in the nation at the time, and led to a controversial trend towards mandatory minimum sentencing.
  • Their effect The laws often forced judges to sentence even minor drug offenders with the same broad stroke, filling prisons with first-time offenders getting sent there instead of rehab, which would often have made a lot more sense considering the nature of their crimes.
  • Cost savings There’s a lot of reasons the laws are getting peeled back now, but the biggest reason is cost. Keeping prison in prisons isn’t cheap, and repealing this law would cut the prison population by thousands, making more room for inmates like Bernard Madoff. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2009 22:35

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U.S.: Who has no death penalty? A small (but growing) number of states

  • 15 states have no death penalty; more are considering ending it source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2009 22:32

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U.S.: New Mexico repeals the death penalty. Hey, why not?

  • Gov. Bill Richardson supports it, but says the courts are unjust. Richardson, who was urged by over 8,000 New Mexico residents to repeal the death penalty (and over 2,000 not to), signed the legislation because he felt that the court system was “inherently defective” – leaning heavily on minorities – when giving out death sentences. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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