Judge lets robber off from 13 year prison term

[Salty]

Did the judge make a good decision letting this man off?

 

[church mouse guy]

No. There was not only the robbery but also unlawful flight.

 

[Winman]

No. There was not only the robbery but also unlawful flight.

I saw this on TV yesterday, and according to them there was no unlawful flight. Anderson was expecting to be called by the court to report to jail, but because of some sort of mix-up he was never called. He started a business under his real name, got married, had children, became an active member in church, all in the open.

When the court discovered their mistake, Anderson did serve nine months before he was released. So, it is not like he got off scot-free.

The judge was simply impressed with how well Anderson had lived all those years, he had became an honest and hardworking citizen.

 

[Salty]

No. There was not only the robbery but also unlawful flight.

Where did you get the ideal there was unlawful flight?

 

[church mouse guy]

Where did you get the ideal there was unlawful flight?

Oh, I only comprehended half of the sentence--He was supposed to report to prison in 2002 when the appeals process ran out--and I thought that he was supposed to surrender himself. You are right--the government made a clerical error. He technically had no need to surrender himself.

 

[Salty]

Often a headline can be misleading -
As I like to say - I want to hear all three sides of a story.

I do commend this man for turning his life around. The article did state he was active in church. I would like to think that he found the Lord and He was the reason for the change.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

I saw this on TV yesterday, and according to them there was no unlawful flight. Anderson was expecting to be called by the court to report to jail, but because of some sort of mix-up he was never called. He started a business under his real name, got married, had children, became an active member in church, all in the open.

When the court discovered their mistake, Anderson did serve nine months before he was released. So, it is not like he got off scot-free.

The judge was simply impressed with how well Anderson had lived all those years, he had became an honest and hardworking citizen.

Not only that, but he and his attorney had repeatedly asked the Mississippi County Sheriff's Office -- the county is in the Bootheel, astride the New Madrid fault, which believe it or not explains a whole lot all by itself -- when he should report for transport to Fulton, the diagnostic and intake center for Missouri DOC back then. They never gave him an answer. MoDOC didn't discover the error until his release date came up on state computers and they realized he'd never reported. He never reported because Mississippi County never told him to.

It's bizzare. In the Fox4KC story -- [edit: sorry, I see now it's in Salty's too] -- Missouri A-G Chris Koster said:

“From the outset, I have proposed a solution that balances the seriousness of Mr. Anderson’s crime with the mistake made by the criminal justice system and Mr. Anderson’s lack of a criminal record over the past 13 years,’ he said. “(Monday’s) outcome appears to appropriately balance the facts as we understand them.”

It was Mississippi County's fault. But those Bootheel folks are a "wee tad different" anyway. :laugh: