Posted on 04/06/2018 12:41:30 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
An Alabama teen who had turned down a 25-year sentence in a plea deal laughed and smiled in court on Thursday as he was sentenced to 65 years in prison for felony murder and other charges.
The judge even overheard Lakeith Smith saying "I don’t have time for this" as he was waiting for his case to be called, according to WECT.
"You got plenty of time for this," Judge Sibley Reynolds told Smith as he sentenced him to consecutive terms in an Elmore County courtroom. "When I called the case earlier you said you ain’t got time for this, so I didn’t know if you had time for this now?"
At that point Smith laughed, according to the station, and said he did not know the judge had heard him.
"You just don't get it do you?" Reynolds said, according to WECT. "He hasn't said I'm sorry yet. He hasn't acknowledged to this court that he shouldn't have done, shouldn't have come around, in fact, his attitude toward this court and life, in general, has been sour."
Smith was one of four suspects charged in the death of accomplice A'Donte Washington, who was fatally shot by police. All four were charged with felony murder in connection to the state's accomplice liability law, according to WECT.
The five suspects had broken into two homes in Millbrook in February of 2015, according to the Montgomery Advertiser, when they were confronted and chased by police. Washington, who was 16, had pointed his gun at an officer when he was shot, according to the Advertiser.
The 19-year-old Smith was the only one not to plead guilty, turning down an offer of 25 years.
"I don't think Mr. Smith will be smiling long when he gets to prison," chief assistant district attorney C.J. Robinson told the Advertiser. "We are very pleased with this sentence. Because the sentences are consecutive, it will be a long time before he comes up for even the possibility for parole, at least 20 to 25 years."
Smith was given 30 years for felony murder, 15 years for burglary, and two 10-year terms for theft, according to the newspaper.
His grandfather asked the judge to show some leniency. "Give him a chance to tell you he's sorry," he said to the judge, according to WECT.
"He’s had every opportunity," the judge responded. "I've asked two or three times today."
"Are you sorry?” the grandfather asked Smith, according to the station. The teen said he was sorry for what he did and for his "homeboy," a reference to Washington, according to the station.
I have a problem with the mental gymnastics involved in charging someone with murder who did not in fact commit murder. Charge them with the crimes that they actually committed, no less, no more.
/s
They were charged with being an accomplice to murder. Yes, that’s a thing.
Savages.
Maybe not if you’re using “afrocentric” math
Personally...I think they should hang um.
65 years at roughly $30,000 / year = $1,950,000
That is housing costs alone. No medical, no legal, no rehabilitation, no education, no training, nothing “extra”. Just housing this low life. Should have given him the death penalty but the only problem with that is that it is even MORE expensive.
Our legal system is seriously screwed up.
He committed Felony Murder.
From Wiki....
There are two schools of thought concerning whose actions can cause the defendant to be guilty of felony murder. Jurisdictions that hold to the agency theory admit only deaths caused by the agents of the crime. Jurisdictions that use the proximate cause theory include any death, even if caused by a bystander or the police, provided that it meets one of several proximate cause tests to determine if the chain of events between the offence and the death was short enough to have legally caused the death.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule
Typical feral loser. What a waste of taxpayers’ money to keep him alive.
Looks like biggdogg is about to become *sunglasses* little bitch. Yeeeeeeeeeeah
As Whoopi Goldberg might say, it's not murder murder.
But I don't think these boys were innocent.
And this dumbass showed us...what he thinks of law and order...such as it is.
Keyword... http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/felonymurder/index
Seems to be plenty of articles where “teens” are guilty of felony murder. Even if they didn’t pull the trigger.
LOL!!!
Just the fiscal cost to our society for this kind of dysfunction/feralness is astronomical. And it’s the gift that keeps on taking as it’s passed down from one generation to the next.
“I have a problem with the mental gymnastics involved in charging someone with murder who did not in fact commit murder. “
Hey cool it...we got a four-fer out of it.
My understanding of their law is that the dead kid was with this kid and 3 others all committing a burglary when the cops showed up. Dead kid decided to go out shooting and fired at the cop who put him down. Because this kid died during the commission of the crime, the other kids were charged with murder.
Do I think its fair? No, but they explained the law to him in the plea bargain but his lawyers either couldn’t get him to take the deal or they said they would be able to beat that rap. I’m sure it was a public defender.
I would have brought up that each party was acting in their own self interest during the burglary and when confronted by the cops gave up except the dead kid. The actions of the dead kid were his alone and he knew the possible outcomes. Another point is if it was murder than how did the cop get off, since the cop didn’t murder the kid but used justifiable means to stop the threat.
But at the end of the day, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time...
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