Do we say that if you were in the commission of a crime, and you didn't kill someone but your buddy did, then you are guilty of that murder right along with him?
Do we say that if you were the passenger in the car, and the driver drove over someone, then that is not only murder by him, but by you, as well?
Well, we just did. We -- ah, Utah, no less -- sentenced a man who was but a passenger in the car when his buddy slammed into a police officer and killed him. The buddy was shot by police, and ended up dying, along with the officer.
Oh, don't worry. It's okay. Somewhere in this big book of laws, we're going to find a law that makes it legal.
"If the actor is engaged in the commission, attempted commission, or immediate flight from the commission or attempted commission" of a crime, and someone gets killed, it doesn't matter if that actor was the person who did the killing, according to Utah Code 76-5-203. Thus, the law says he is guilty of the killing, all the the same.
It's all legal, what we are doing, all legal.
Justice in America once meant just what the word suggests: Justice. But, these days, we've got some pretty messed up laws. And, we enforce them. And, we hold our heads up high and say he had it coming. We back these laws, and call them justice. After all, he was just a criminal.
No protesting in the streets for Jeffrey Don Black. Nobody yelling, "Justice for Jeff." But there ought to be. Tuesday, we sentenced this Murray man to up to 30 years in prison for crimes involved with the death of the police officer, David Romrell -- and Black didn't even kill him, didn't want him to die, and had no opportunity to stop the car's driver, Anthony Calata, from killing him. He's sorry to tears that it happened.
You weren't the guy that did it? Doesn't matter: guilty. This is America -- not the old America, but the new America -- and we've got a strange sense of justice.
Oh, and if you think 30 years in prison a dandy amount of time, consider that we let him off easy. Plea bargaining, you know. We told him, If you will just agree to plea guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, not only will we let you off for murder, but we will drop all these lesser charges -- obstructing justice, burglary and failing to stop for police. Yes, yes, yes, we've got all kinds of little trinkets here for you.
Can't beat this, can you? We're letting you off easy peasy.
So, we talked him into pleading guilty to a crime he never committed. We sentenced him to hard jail time for something he didn't even do. It's fair and all, I suppose, because he was a criminal. If anyone tries to stand up for him, they'll be lashed at for standing up for criminals.
Plea bargaining in America has wrought us this. We were once a much fairer nation. You had to be convicted of a crime before they sent you off to jail. You had to be tried before a jury of your peers before anyone could toss you in the can. Constitution set things up that way. In modern America, though, you can be convicted without a trial. Just plead guilty, and we'll take care of you. We'll make sure you get off easy.
Gotta plead guilty, though. Gotta plead guilty. I know you say you didn't do it. But, if you'll just say, Oh, now I remember, and I guess I was kinda guilty of manslaughter, then we'll make all the real bad stuff go away. Come on, it's for your own good. Just sign on the dotted line. There you go. There, that's it. Now, have a good time in the slammer.
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