Congresswoman's son sentenced for slashing GOP tires

CNN ^ | 4/26/2006 | AP/CNN

[tobyhill]

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- A congresswoman's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004.

The men pleaded no contest in January to misdemeanor property damage. A fifth worker was found not guilty.

"This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation for the four men.

[Publius6961]

Tires have party affiliation now?

[TommyDale]

These slimes actually received jail time? A miracle!

[RexBeach]

Should not the congresswoman say how disappointed she is in her son for taking part in such an act of thuggery?

[tobyhill]

LOL, The Republican Tire Party.

[Kenny Bunkport]

LOL...I'm sure most tires are registered to vote Democrat, and their turnout on election is nearly 110%.

[dead]

Jail time?! I'm impressed, Milwaukee.

These losers must have had the worst lawyers ever, though.

[lwd]

Don't drop the soap!

[tobyhill]

"Democratic campaign workers"

Last week it was Culture of Treason and this week it's Culture of Vandals.

[from occupied ga]

A congresswoman's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004

One can hope that pretty soon the headlines will read Kongresswoman McKinney sentenced to six months for criminal assault on a capitol police officer.

[Just Lori]

"This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan

A judge who gets it.

[EagleUSA]

Oh, I thought this guys' name was McKinney...

[sandbar]

Aaah, she's raising a good little liberal. No thought, just FEEWINGS.

[Glenn]

who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation

There has to be more to this story. I'd love to know what it is.

[tobyhill]

If there's an opening I'm for this judge being on the SC.

[Paleo Conservative]

Sowande A. Omokunde

Congresswoman Gwendolynne S. Moore (D-WI)

[Mr. Jazzy]

I just LOVE how you have to read down to the 5th paragraph in order to see who the mom is, and how she is "proud" that her son fessed up.

Not a word from her on the mean spiritedness of the actions of her son and the others!

No apology, just that she is proud of her son and supports him.

What a pile of crap.


As to the jail time? My money is on that they will be out in less than a month, because of jail over crowding.

[HamiltonJay]

Wow, jail time for democrats in Milwaukee... color me stunned.

[theDentist]

Probably a veiled threat from Mom, the Congresswoman.

[uncitizen]

Certainly if this was a Republican Congressmans son, his/her name would've been mentioned in the first sentence, and then again in the fourth paragraph.

[Tzimisce]

I expect an ACLU appeal on Free Speech grounds....

[Westlander]

'All were granted work-release privileges.'

To work at a local cutlery store ?

[Talking_Mouse]

Among those sentenced Wednesday were Sowande A. Omokunde, the son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisconsin, and Michael Pratt, the son of former acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt.

"I love my son very much. I'm very proud of him," Moore said. "He's accepted responsibility."

Omokunde was sentenced to four months in jail; Pratt and Lewis Caldwell of Milwaukee were sentenced to six months; and Lavelle Mohammad of Milwaukee was sentenced to five months. All were granted work-release privileges.

Accepted responsibility? My @$$ he has. Accepting responsibility would have been pleading guilty and turning states evidence -- without a lessening of the sentences.

[kayak]

ping

[mad puppy]

"Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes in the 2004 election ended up going to Democrat John Kerry."

Those votes would have gone that way had they not slashed the tires. I hope as they sit in jail they are bothered by the thought.

[beaversmom]

[tobyhill]

I expect they'll be running for office as a Democrat in the up coming months. Being from the ghetto they should easily get 50% of the vote and maybe even a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for youth political activism.

[Trust but Verify]

Whoa!

Kudos to this judge. He did the exact right thing. The prosecutor in Milwaukee county is a liberal who recommended no jail time for an atrocious assault on voter rights.

[rod1]

So the prosecutor wanted them to just head on home.

[Trust but Verify]

This is an exact quote from the Congresswoman during the trial,

"My son is innocent unless proven guilty."

[Gator101]

Strangely enough this doesn't seem to be a big topic on DU. I guess they're to busy discussing Diebold and other accusations of GOP voter fraud.

[tobyhill]

Jus impovised yuts!

[50sDad]

"This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation for the four men.

Actually, they would probably have been in the clear for probation...there isn't another election in the Congresswoman's district in the near future.

[stompk]

did they have to pay for the tires ?

[tobyhill]

To a Democrat admission of guilt is not real evidence of guilt, it must be accompanied by a statement from the murder victim.

[Robwin]

Totally agree. It would also be the lead story on CBS, NBC, et. al., and on the front page of the NYT (possibly even the headline story).

[UB355]

Hot Dog

[UB355]

Hot Dog

[NonValueAdded]

Jail time??? Wow, pigs really do fly.

[subterfuge]

The congresscritter should be apologizing for putting her punk kid up to it...right before heading off to jail herself!!!

[milwguy]

This judge is one of the FEW in Milwaukee County with the guts to give these losers jail time. Our pathetic DA McCann actually asked they get probation, so the fact the judge gave them near the max sentence allowed under they plea bargain to a misdemeaner is a pretty good outcome.

[albee]

"Omokunde was sentenced to four months in jail; Pratt and Lewis Caldwell of Milwaukee were sentenced to six months; and Lavelle Mohammad of Milwaukee was sentenced to five months...."

Ready?????

And a one...

And a two...

And a three...

HIT IT!!!

Oh-Mo-Kunde
Doncha cry for me
I'm goin' off to prison
With my switchblade on my knee"

[DevSix]

4-6 months in jail for this is a little absurd. Pay back damages done and community service would be more then enough (unless he has had multiple offenses for such behavior).

The reality is our legal system / court systems / police departments have becoming nothing but kingdoms which are used first and foremost for revenue enhancers.

Keep the court systems and jails filled up and in turn insist on more revenues as the only answer...

[The Sons of Liberty]

Maybe Cynthia McKinney can be their cellmate.

[Condor51]

****Tires have party affiliation now?****

Yep.

GOP tires are B.F. Goodrich, Goodyear & Uniroyal.
Dem tires are Bridgestone / Firestone
Pinko-Commie tires are Dunlop
One World Globalist tires are Michelin & Yokahama
Greens don't use tires

:-)

[Trust but Verify]

You have got to be kidding! They tried to subvert voter's rights! They didn't slash the tires of an ex-girlfriend, they slashed the tires of vans that they KNEW were to be used for Republican get out the vote activities.

I think that's more than enough justification for jail time. whose side are YOU on?

[Joann37]

No thanks to the prosecutor, who requested probation! Thank God the judge in this case had some sense.

[Verginius Rufus]

Kerry's margin of victory was a little over 11 thousand votes in the state...who's to say how many voters didn't get to the polls because of this vandalism?

The margin was even closer in 2000 (a bit over 5,000 votes) so the 'Rats had reason to run scared and use tactics like this.

The question is--what did the national Kerry campaign know about this? Was it just some low-level people in Wisconsin?

[printhead]

I'm not so sure; for the number of tires involved (I think there were 26 vehicles x 4 tires x say $100 per tire) 6 months jail time is probably cheaper for the perps.