Man Gets Life in Prison for Spitting on Cop (1 Viewer)

[Rob Gardiner]

From Yahoo.

Domestic assault got him one year in jail and a $3,000 fine, but spitting on a cop got him a LIFE SENTENCE. Comments anyone?

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i doubt he will spend the rest of his life in jail, the appeal will see to that before he starts serving his sentence. this is why i hate these silly news stories, especially the 'oddly enough' category at yahoo. convicted murderers and rapists dont spend their lives in jail most of the time, i am guessing we arent hearing the whole story.

CJ

 

[Robert Ma]

I just read it also. I guess we are turning into a Police State!

Joking aside, the guy sounds like he deserves to be in jail. But for spitting! They should have locked him up for something better than that. Kind of shocking to me.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Christ,

This is not an "Oddly Enough" story, like the giant cheeto or other non-news. It is filed under "Top Stories - AP", "U.S. National", and "Crimes and Trials".


Here's a local version of the story which of course contains more detail.

 

[John Stone]

After reading that he's a convicted rapist, I can't say I feel too bad for him. Of course I was completely unmoved and stone-faced while watching "Dead Man Walking", so...

 

[Rich Romero]

This man is what you would call a repeat offender. He's getting it for not only spitting on a cop but for all the other things he's done. I say throw him in jail, get him off the streets.

 

[Chris]

It looks as though he's falling under the guidelines of something like a 3-Strike law.. multiple offenders get less leniency.

 

[Nathan*W]

Sorry, but spitting on someone is not an idle thing, it's assault. Not only that, but if he was HIV positive, that spit would be assault with a deadly weapon.

 

[ChrisMatson]

Although none of the articles mention it, this may be a case of a "3 strikes" law. 3 Felonies, and life in jail. As for spitting, it is gross, but there has never been a documented case of HIV transmission through saliva that I am aware of. Sounds like a stupid law to me.

 

[Tom-G]

Not only that, but if he was HIV positive, that spit would be assault with a deadly weapon

HIV can't be transmitted through saliva.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Sorry, but spitting on someone is not an idle thing, it's assault. Not only that, but if he was HIV positive, that spit would be assault with a deadly weapon.

Yes I agree that this should be treated as an assault. He was in fact arrested for domestic assault and got one year for that. This should be another assault, another year. The spit was not charged as an assault, though. There is a law against putting bodily fluids on a government employee that carries a sentence of 4 years to life. The purpose of the law is to prevent HIV of course. But I think giving a man the maximum, when he didn't even have HIV to transmit, is a gross misuse of the law.

 

[Nathan*W]

HIV can't be transmitted through saliva.

Not quite true.

The facts are that there has never been a case of HIV transmission via saliva alone. However, There has been a documented case of HIV transmission through saliva when blood was also present in the mouth. (Ironically, it was from a french kiss, not spit through the air) That's hardly the point, though.

For that reason, many state laws have taken a proactive approach on this issue to help protect first responders.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I think it's funny.

Cops are paid to save peoples sorry asses who one day will bitch about the cop that gave them a speeding ticket, like the cop is the one at fault, then the next day get in trouble and all a sudden the cops can't respond to their needs fast enough.

It sickens me that one day when cops save some innocent people, they are hero's. But then the cop that is just doing his job and writing speeding tickets, people talk about that guy like he is utter garbage. But when this cop gets shot on Peachtree street and all he was going to do was write a traffic ticket, everyone is all a sudden sad. Why act sad when the day before you were actually calling the cop an asshole for giving you a speeding ticket? Seems kinda strange.

In a perfect world police departments would have unlimited budgets where they could afford to put countless men out finding murderers and things like that. But they don't have the money. And if they put most of their men toward jobs like that, the public would say "oh that's great!", but then two weeks later would complain that everyone was driving like maniacs and they were not responding to accidents fast enough. And of course the city could always increase taxes to have a very large department to find all the murderers that people are always saying need to be found, but then the very next day will complain that they hate it when taxes go up and that we need a reduction immediately. The public is very fickle, I know from experience.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Steve,

I'm not quite sure what your post has to do with the subject at hand. But when I worked at a pizza shop in Seattle's skid row neighborhood, the police certainly were heroes to us when they came to break up fistfights that had gotten out of control or take care of drug dealers who openly marketed their wares on the sidewalk.

 

[Don Black]

In a perfect world police departments would have unlimited budgets...

Hardly. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need police departments. This is just another example of poorly drafted legislation. Sure, the guy is scumb. It doesn't make cruel and unusual punishment justifiable though.

 

[Nathan*W]

It doesn't make cruel and unusual punishment justifiable though.

I also have doubts about it being that cruel and unusual though seeing as how a jury of his peers had a choice of sentences ranging from 4 years on up, and those 12 people decided on life in prison (when the prosecutor even recommended only 25 yrs).

I guess they were fed up with someone like him living in their neighborhood. And I can't say I blame them.

 

[Keith_R]

I think life in prison for spitting on a cop is ridiculous. However, I do believe the sentence is fair if you consider the crimes he has already commited (rape and assault) and the possible road he could be going down if allowed to remain on the streets, possibly murder?

 

[Christ Reynolds]

oddly enough, that is where i read it. in yahoo's oddly enough section. link i'm not saying this guy shouldnt be in jail. if he is guilty of those crimes, he should be. i dont think domestic violence is taken seriously enough within the court. however, i didnt read anything about a three strikes case here. maybe there was, and him spitting put it over the edge. but what if i am walking down the street, and spit in someones face. sure its assault, but because it isnt a cop, i wont go to jail for life? this is why i said "this is why i hate these silly news stories" because if they dont tell you the WHOLE story, what is the point? its like they are saying "can you believe this story, a guy spit in a cops face, and he gets life in jail!" without telling you the rest of the story. and this is why i hate these silly oddly enough stories.

CJ

edit: i just checked out the local story, and what do you know, they tell you about his prior convictions. no wonder i am such a skeptic now, we all get lied to every day from the tv and radio. if its not a direct lie, its withholding of information like this story from yahoo. even the 'top stories' headlined story had more information than the abridged oddly enough story.

 

[MarkHastings]

Think about it. If your average person spits on a cop they wouldn't get life in prison! This is obviosuly a case of where the headline is making this mans crime seem more harmless than it really is.

It's all relative. Doing 80 mph is considered speeding, but if one guy is drunk and stoned whereas the other guy is completely sober, I'd tend to think they'd both be handled differently.

This "spitting" guy is not going to jail for ONLY spitting.


It's these stupid news reporters that try to make you read the articles by "getting your goat". Imagine some guy driving down the road, completely bombed, the cop pulls him over because he is doing 60 in a 50 mph zone, the guy gets out of the car with a gun and the cop has to restrain the guy and eventually beat him to let go of the gun.

I can just imagine the headline:
"Man Wrestled to Ground after Doing 10 mph over the Speed Limit"
:rolleyes

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i couldnt have said it better, mark. in fact, this was exactly what i was trying to say. leaving out important bits of a story is just as bad as fabricating a new story.

CJ