Such a lovely family...

[buckeye .45]

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.p...124-B1-03.html

Hoping the third time would be the last, victims of three German Village-area home invasions relived their pain in court yesterday.

Former Marine John Maransky described being hog-tied naked in his own basement and taunted with a weapon.

"It’s been 16 months, and it’s still hard to talk about," he said, choking back emotion.

Behind a wall of deputies, Melanie Pinkerton buried her head in her hands, crying and shaking.

"I want to make it clear," she said. "It was not about the stuff. Nobody once asked what the life sentence of the victims would be."

Cynthia Green cried as she hugged Maransky.

"Not a day goes by when I don’t have a flashback," Green told Judge Julie M. Lynch. "I’m sentenced to this reminder for the rest of my life."

The Franklin County Common Pleas courtroom was divided down the middle, with grieving robbery victims on one side and family members sympathetic only to defendant Louis D. Hairston on the other.

"He should have killed the b!%#$@s," one of Hairston’s relatives muttered as she left the courtroom in disgust after he was sentenced. "Love ya, Lou."

Hairston, 20, was the last of three men to be sentenced for the 2005 robberies. Lynch sent him to prison for 39 years.

Though he pleaded guilty to seven felonies in November, Hairston tried to withdraw his pleas yesterday. Lynch denied his request.

He later turned to the victims and apologized.

Defense attorney Stanlee E. Culbreath said he hoped for mercy because Hairston is so young. He came from a broken home and lived in five group homes as a youngster with epilepsy and a learning disability. As a teen, he scraped by with low-paying jobs and blood donations for cash, Culbreath said.

"I see this a lot on the streets, not just in the African-American community but also with the poor," he said. "I just wanted the victims and the community to know that."

But Lynch had the final say. She said she learned that Hairston chose which victims to attack.

"This is not the system’s fault," she said. "This is the fault of one young man. In my courtroom, you pay for each crime you commit."

Lynch levied sentences totaling 201 years against the three Hairstons involved in the robberies: 39 for Louis, 134 for his half brother Marquis and 28 for cousin Jovaughny.

In addition, all three were sentenced to prison for a similar robbery and shooting in Portsmouth in southern Ohio: 31 years for Louis, 59 for Marquis and 41 for Jovaughny.

The sentences are consecutive.

Though Marquis Hairston appealed his 134-year sentence as cruel and unusual punishment, the Franklin County Court of Appeals ruled last week that Lynch was within her discretion to give him the maximum sentence.

Now, the editing out of the curse word was my work, not the newspaper's mind you. Poor, poor him, the system screwed him, hes really such a nice young boy, blah blah blah.

When I read the quote from the female relative I just had to throw this up here for public consumption. What the heck is wrong with some people?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[P95Carry]

I am as I age ever less full of the fountain of sympathy ...... ''Do the crime - do the time'' ....... sorry folks, that's how I see it. This seemingly was no petty misdemeanor.

Mind you - I do still get cranked up at times when sentencing seems disproportionate - not here, but sometimes seem to see small cases get a defendant slammed and others where they seem let off way too lightly.

[robinsonre]

I agree with P95....although I don't think we can really call going easy on these guys "sympathy" or "compassion".


Sympathy is carrying in groceries for a widow.

Compassion is giving half your sandwich to the homeless guy down the street.

It doesn't apply to someone who, regardless of their upbringing, sticks a gun in your face, terrorizes your family, steals your possessions, or attempts to escape the law.

As my father once told me...

"No matter what your past is...no matter who you are or what you've done, before you do ANYTHING in this world you have to ask yourself one question...and that is 'Am I willing to accept the consequences for this action, no matter what they might be'...and that is the essence of being an adult"

[dunndw]

Robinsonre, your father was a wise wise man.
I have no sympathy for criminals period. If you commit a crime, you get caught, then you get what you deserve. You don't like it...DON'T BE A CROOK.
Sounds like the rest of his "family" are fine upstanding members of society as well.
Wonder what the family rap sheet as a whole looks like?

[Chorizo]

There is a huge difference between empathy and sympathy. It is a horrible thing to grow up ".... from a broken home and lived in five group homes as a youngster with epilepsy and a learning disability. As a teen, he scraped by with low-paying jobs and blood donations for cash." I have no sympathy for a criminal. Toss his tail in jail for the rest of his life.

[ccw9mm]

Sympathy and compassion? For callous and vicious attackers? There's a time and place for everything. Weeping commiseration with a violent attacker's lot in life is a misplaced emotion that clouds the mind of the reality of the horror inflicted on the victims.

I appreciate their problems came from somewhere. I have empathy for the rough path the little bugger has walked. But those problems land squarely in the laps of victims and will affect them for a lifetime. That is hardly society's doing. The crap that criminals pull is absolutely individual choice and lack of personal responsibility for their actions. They will take that responsibility, even if it gets shoved down their throats. If it can't be done at the time of the crime, then let it be done at the time of their sentencing.

[retsupt99]

...... ''Do the crime - do the time'' .......

I fully agree with P95...

No mercy...no regrets...

OMO

ret