May 29, 2005

Justice Was Served?

In a day when dangerous sexual predators, attempted murderers, pedophiles and other criminals are given a slap on the wrist, this story seems so incredible to me:

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) - After 35 years in prison for stealing a black-and-white television set, Junior Allen is a free man.

Allen, 65, walked out of prison Friday, ending a case that attracted widespread attention because he remained in jail while other inmates convicted of murder, rape or child molestation were released.

"I'm glad to be out," Allen told supporters outside Orange Correctional Center. "I've done too much time for what I did. I won't be truly happy until I see a sign that says I'm outside of North Carolina."

Allen was a 30-year-old migrant farm worker from Georgia with a criminal history that included burglaries and a violent assault when he sneaked into an unlocked house and stole a 19-inch black-and-white television worth $140.

Some state records say Allen roughed up the 87-year-old woman who lived there, but he was not convicted of assault.

Instead, he was sentenced in 1970 to life in prison for second-degree burglary. The penalty for the offense has since been changed to a maximum of three years in prison.

He got life in prison for second-degree burglary which is now a maximum of three years?  What an illustration for how the system has changed!   

The state Parole Commission decided last year to release Allen if he behaved and completed a transitional work-release program. He worked at a restaurant washing dishes and floors and had no prison infractions during the past three years.

He did so well he was released several months early - on his 26th try at parole.

I wonder how much 26 parole hearings cost?  I imagine more than the TV did!

His parole could last up to five years, meaning he could gain complete freedom by age 70.

Rich Rosen, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor who took up Allen's case three years ago, said it was a shame that Allen had not been released decades ago. "At least he's got some years left," Rosen said.

Allen did not meet with the parole commission until January 2004. Prior to that time, his record was reviewed regularly by the commission and denied.

Rosen said the parole commission "hasn't been able to articulate a reason that Allen wasn't released."

"He wasn't the best prisoner, (but) he wasn't the worst," Rosen said.

Once outside the prison, Allen got into a car with two friends who were driving him to Athens, Ga., where he planned to meet relatives and return home to Georgetown, Ga.

Enoch Hasberry, the programs director at Carteret Correctional Center in Newport where Allen went through work-release, said he worries Allen might not adjust well to life on the outside.

"For a black-and-white TV, how much do you have to pay?" Hasberry said. "We've got an in-house joke here: How much time would he have gotten if he had stolen a color TV?"

Now think about this case and think about the case of John Couey, the sick, pig of a human being that murdered Jessica Lunsford.  An exerpt from Fox News on his criminal record:

Couey has an extensive criminal record that includes arrests for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. In 1991, he was arrested in Kissimmee on a charge of fondling a child under age 16. Records don't show how the case was resolved.

During a house burglary in 1978, Couey was accused of grabbing a girl in her bedroom, placing his hand over her mouth and kissing her, Dawsy said. Couey was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was paroled in 1980.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I understand that times have changed, but there's something seriously wrong when you look at these two situations side-by-side.  TV stealing conviction gets 35 years and 26 parole hearings.  Man convicted for fondling underaged girls, one in the act of burglary, gets a 10 year sentence, but paroled 2 years later.  These crimes were committed a mere 8 years apart. 

If Couey had remained in prison for the crimes he committed (what I have above is but a snippet), we may have a beautiful young girl still with us.  I can't firmly say what would have happened in the great black-and-white TV stealer's life, after all there is suspicion that he may have assulted the woman in the home he took the TV from (but was not charged for it).  I don't believe, though, it would have been too bad if he had gotten out and stolen another black-and-white television, do you?

I also can't help but ask one big, lingering question.  Where is the ACLU?