I bet St. Thomas (Fl) is proud to claim Judge Barbara McCarthy as an alumnus, but after reading this article, I have to wonder what the hell she learned there in three years.
To sum up, this wealthy 36-year old "suburban brat" had over 50 previous moving violations and was on probation when he was drag racing his Porsche, killed two businessmen from Britain, and fled the scene. Florida law provides for up to 45 years in prison for this sort of reckless manslaughter. His sentence?
[He] was sentenced by Judge McCarthy to a mere two years of house arrest — in one of his wealthy parents’ luxury oceanfront condos — after agreeing to write big checks to the victims’ widows.
In clearly defining that the rich have their own criminal laws in this country, Judge McCarthy had this to say:
The need for restitution does outweigh the need for prison.
That's a record-scratching admission from a criminal judge, isn't it? Apparently, the guy made a deal with the widows to pay them off immediately so they would go to the judge and ask her to only give him house arrest. The judge's job in this case is to laugh, politely decline, and actually put people like in jail. If restitution outweighs the need for prison, why don't we just saddle people with non-dischargable civil judgments and call it a day? No jail at all - just pay back whatever victims!
Because there is and was no need for restitution to have anything to do with the criminal sanction. They should generally have much to do with each other. We put people in prison to incapacitate them so they can't do this reckless shit to anyone else. We put them there as non-monetary punishment for bad behavior, to deter others from doing the same behavior.
Besides, there was less risk of the victims' families not getting paid here than there normally is. If he doesn't settle the civil suit immediately and the judge throws the book at him, the widows grab a contingency lawyer and sue the shit out of the guy. It will, of course, take more time and may prove difficult to collect, but that's why you buy life insurance. In any event, the guy's family has an incentive to settle the civil case since he's the heir to a jewelry fortune and I can't imagine they'd want either the bad publicity or the hassle (clearly, they didn't even want the hassle of actually raising a child).
What was really needed here was social deterrence, not restitution. This idiot had already spent six months in prison for drug charges and violating his probation. Looking at this, what, exactly, is going to stop the wealthy from trampling on the peons? What about the societal value in having a justice system that applies equally? We have criminal law to help control anti-social behavior. The entire purpose is blown if we let the elite buy get-out-of-jail free cards. That, Judge McCarthy, is worth more than restitution to two families who have a clear and obvious remedy in the civil system.
So to sum up, if you're poor, you will treated like dirt and often sentenced to prison for lower crimes, like petty theft, low-level drug charges, prostitution, etc. One reason California's prison system is so overcrowded is because their "3 strikes law" is a convenient way to saddle poor people with long jail sentences for habitual "lesser" crimes.
But if you're rich, you can rack up minor violations, drug charges, etc. and mow down people while driving a Porsche and YOU, because your family is loaded, get to watch TV for two months in mom and dad's crib instead of going to jail for 5 years. Maybe play a little X-box, too, games like Grand Theft Auto (Why play the game? He could probably do the real deal and get like a year, max).
It begs the question why Florida even wasted public resources prosecuting the guy when they could have been hammering those evil, evil pot dealers and hookers who can't make a good living doing anything else. Why not just let this Thomas Crown wannabe write a check to the officers?
When McCarthy ordered LeVin at his sentencing hearing to take the gum out of his mouth and make a statement, he turned red and blubbery and said he felt shame, but he never actually apologized.
Why would he? Obviously, the elite parents here didn't know how to teach this jackoff how to act responsibly and in 35+ years nothing has made him figure it out. What does he have to be sorry for, exactly? Judge McCarthy's sentence basically endorsed his extreme recklessness so long as there was restitution. Because he killed two people acting like an asshat? So what? If he hasn't gained many socially-positive virtues in 35+ years, do you think he has any appreciation for the value of human life?
Honestly, what use does someone like that have for the criminal laws if they have no teeth to them? Meanwhile, you, I, and the other schlubs will be subject to the other set of rules. Of course, most of us never act like complete asshats because we know if we do, we'll actually go to the slammer.
It'd be nice if the hyper-wealthy could feel exactly the same way.