Man, I'm so fed up with the so called "Justice System" here in the United States. Everyday I see or read something that gets me even more upset. Our system is supposed to be set up based on the Reasonable Man theory. Someone please show me just one reasonable man! I strive every moment to be a reasonable person. However, life and emotions will ensure that I can never attain pure reasonableness status. As long as I'm human and alive, it will not happen. Yet, as a society, we continue this little charade.
What has me so upset is my own little personal story that fits right in to this subject. When I was 19 I was thrown in prison for 6 years for robbing a bank. My father, two older cousins, and a friend were all part of this robbery. I did my entire sentence of 6 years, my Dad did his entire sentence of 9 years, one cousin did 7, the other 3, and the friend did 5. This was the first time me or my Father had ever been in trouble with the law. The bank was robbed and we were captured in May of 2004. This time is significant because as many of you may remember this was the time of the sub-prime mortgage disaster. Guess what kind of mortgage my Father had at the time? Yep, sub-prime.
Now, as many people would like to point out, I know my Dad was partly responsible for assuming this loan in the first place. However, when me and my 3 siblings were able to move out of our trailer and into our "new" $60,000 house, I doubt my Dad cared about the terms.(It was a used home, but new to us). He was happy just to make us happy. He had raised all 4 of us by himself. He also had a good truck driving job at the time, so he did not think he would fall behind on payments. However, life happens.
My Dad was raised poor. He volunteered for and served in Vietnam in the late 60's and early 70's. After returning from the war he began driving semi trucks and eventually raising our family on his own. In the fall of 2003 he got into an accident, which caused his insurance to rise and the company he was working for to let him go, at least for a year until his points would recede from his driving record. At this same time I had just started my full ride to the Ohio State University. I was able to attain enough academic scholarships and grants in High School to pay for all of my tuition and room and board.
I cut my stay short and transferred to a smaller branch of OSU(Lima), so that I could stay at home and use some of the room and board money to help my Dad pay on his mortgage. Which by this time had ballooned from his usual $600 a month payments, up to $1100 because he had missed a payment. With the terms of his loan, even one missed payment would cause it to jump a certain percentage. Percentages that today would be illegal.
Long story short. We robbed a bank. Don't get me wrong, we weren't angels. I was still only 19, so just the thrill of doing it was good enough for me. We took every dollar out of the vault. We ended up getting $127,000. Even though the corrupt detectives and courts could never get the right amount. They would change in from $97,000 one day to 148,000 the next. This was due to the 20 to 30K that these detectives pocketed for themselves. Both detectives were fired for various illegal offenses during the ensuing 5 years. One for having sex with a 15 year old girl whose whole family had just been murdered by her brother. (All this stuff can be verified through just a little research.) (Trout and Garwood were the last names of the detectives.)
There was and is much more to this story, but I'm trying to shorten it up a bit.
What has me the most upset is the JUDGE. Judge Mark O'Connor. I'm so upset because I just saw last week a newspaper article from Logan County (same county we were sentenced in) showing he is still inept and should be removed from his post. I honestly did not think this man was even still alive. After being released in 2010 I have just been living my life and making up for lost time in society the best I can. So, I never even thought to check. He was very old and even fell asleep during my sentencing, so I never would have thought he would still be alive, let alone still judge!
But in this article he had just sentenced a 22 year old man for killing and shooting a 16 year old at a party. Now, remember I was sentenced to 6 years,( and was denied any early release) mainly based on what "could have happened had law enforcement arrived during the robbery." Even though they never did arrive and no one was hurt. My Dad, who had never been in trouble before, got the same speech and 9 years instead of my 6. Neither of us got in any trouble while we were locked up, and in fact, I received my Associates Degree and took many voluntary vocational and support classes. Yet we were both denied any type of early release.
In fact, when my Dad went up for his early release I was already out and even pleaded to the judge to let him out. Told him how unreasonable it would be to keep him in for his last 2 years. Denied. The judge didn't care. We took money and we had guns when we did it. It was also an election year and he literally said he was not going to allow any bank robbers in "his " county. One month after denying my Dad judicial release, the same judge let a child rapist out. A 30 yr old child rapists that was sentenced to only 3 years for raping a 12 year old girl was let out after only serving 6 months! (His name is Todd Hines) He did this with the girls mother pleading to the judge to keep him locked up. That it has traumatized her daughter for life. But apparently the reasonable and honorable judge O'Connor knows best. He even told the woman, "If he violates, he will go back to prison to serve the rest of his time." So, it's ok to take a chance on a rapists violating his early release but not these big bad bank robbers who actually had a pretty good reason for doing what we did. (Light years better "reason", than any reason a person can give for raping a child!)
This is steemit and I just wanted to release a little steam. I'm not really angry. I'm just more saddened. I love my life. I have 2 beautiful boys now. I had a factory job for the first 5 years I was out, but am currently unemployed since last November, in a large part thanks to the govt's takeover of healthcare! But that's another story lol. Also, it really is not easy getting a job with the type of felony I have still attached to me. It's the highest type of Felony in Ohio and it's also a violent one. So, I don't have a job, but it's not from a lack of trying. I find happiness in spending time with my children everyday. No money = No problem.
I just read that article last week and noticed O'Connor's name and what he sentenced this guy to and I couldn't believe it. I had to let this little bit of information out for my own well being. I am seriously contemplating how to take this judge down. Legally of course. I need to see if he is up for reelection this year. I don't have any $ funds to fight him with and all my time is spent watching babies. Or should I just let it go and forget about him and his injustice? I would like to know what some of you think would be the best approach.
If you've read this far, thanks. I didn't proof read, so I apologize for any misspellings and/or incorrect grammar. I want to wish you all the best.