For as long as I remember, I believed that if you were a member of the wealthy class in the United States, law enforcement treated you differently from those of us who had far less financial resources. It has proven to be one of the absolute truths about our corrupt judicial system. The ability to afford expensive attorneys and “experts” almost always results in a lesser sentence than an individual which must rely on a public defender. We need only to look at the much publicized case of O.J. Simpson to prove that fact; and there are thousands of others.
A more recent case is that of Ethan Couch. As a teenager, he was driving while intoxicated, slammed into a vehicle, killing all four passengers. The prosecution asked for a 20-year period of incarceration; a corrupt judge gave him 10 years of probation.
In December of last year, Couch disappeared after a video was exposed where he appeared to be intoxicated at a party, in violation of his parole. Later it was discovered that his mother took him to Mexico to avoid prison time.
But one of the greediest and most murderous men in America has virtually been exonerated of the responsibility for the deaths of 29 miners in West Virginia as the result of a coal dust explosion has been sentenced to only one year in prison. Donald Blankenship will also be required to pay a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger convicted Blankenship of a misdemeanor, requiring the maximum sentence. His crime was ignoring mine safety requirements to increase coal production for his personal profit.
“It’s important for everyone to know that I am not guilty of any crime,” Blankenship told Berger. “There’s no direct evidence that I committed any crime.”
Blankenship has no concern for the 29 victims of his negligence, or their families. His company, Massey Energy, has been previously charged with multiple safety violations.
Is this justice? Once again it is evident that money trumps justice. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have called for a complete examination and overhaul of our justice system, but Republicans deny that the need exists. Companies which produce coal contribute heavily to the campaigns of GOP candidates. Mitch McConnell would not be destroying our system of government today if the dirtiest industry in America failed to support him.
It’s time for a system which requires mandatory sentencing. No longer should the punishment be a variable decision available to judges or juries.
The United States has five percent of the world’s population. It also has 25 percent of individuals incarcerated throughout the world. The vast majority of these men and women previously existed in lower income employment or lived below the poverty level.
If wealthy individuals are ever convicted of a crime, they are sent to luxury prisons and never forced to receive adequate punishment.
FOX Noise pundits Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity continually deny that law enforcement and the judicial system treat black men and women differently than whites. As a propaganda machine of the Republican Party, this is not a surprise, but it cannot be acceptable.
Justice is not blind; it’s eyes are wide open when a member of the wealthy, white class is accused of a crime, and it ignores equal protection under the law.
Op-Ed
By James Turnage
Photo Courtesy of Janet Lindenmuth
Novels by James Turnage are available on Amazon’s Kindle app.
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