A Hyde Park man found guilty last week of second-degree murder in the 2009 shooting death of an 18-year-old Dorchester woman at her birthday party was sentenced yesterday to life in prison, the Suffolk district attorney’s office said.Okay, that sounds reasonable. Dude kills someone, gets sentenced to life in jail. Why did I put justice in quotes? Because of the very next sentence in that article:
A judge ordered Ruben Sanchez, 20, to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years for fatally shooting Paula Castillo, who was four months pregnant, as she leaned out a second-floor window of a Hyde Park home, according to the district attorney.
Emphasis mine. Life in prison ≠ 15 years, possibly less if he keeps his nose clean, gets his GED, turns his life around, becomes an aspiring rap artist, etc. He and his buddies showed up at a party to which they had not been invited, and when they were asked to leave, he came back with a gun and opened fire from the sidewalk. He was not licensed to carry or even own a firearm; he had no compunction about committing an act that stood a good chance of harming or even killing another; and yet when it's sentencing time he gets what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
Make no mistake - if he serves more than 7 or 8 years I'd be shocked. In a few years he'll be little more than another statistic, and unless he makes a real nuisance out of himself in prison they'll be calling him rehabilitated and ready for re-entry into society before we hit the '20s. The kind of person who would decide that shooting someone dead over being kicked out of a party that they crashed has no place on the street; there are critical connections in that type of brain that are just not being met, and need to be.
But in MA, he deserves a second chance - to kill again - while folks who speak their minds or have their guns stolen get no such luxury.
That is all.
10 comments:
This is why I carry ALL the time. Because Monsters like this walk free, and know that even when you brutally murder somebody you don't even do hard time.
I need to comment on this...I know you advocate open carry,no permit concealed,all the gun rights stuff,to which I agree to a point.Here in Arizona,we passed no permit concealed,open carry,and allowed in bar's,as long as you don't drink...right! I don't know what this guy was convicted of,murder,manslaughter,negligent mansluaghter,whatever. But if they didn't have a charge such as a illegal weapon,discharge of a weapon in city limits,possesion,whatever,they took another charge away that could have added a few years to his sentence.I believe in LICENSED conceal carry! Not for any idiot to have one for kicks and grins.
Dean in az
The Fascist states most abusive to law-abiding gun owners are the ones most likely to fall all over themselves coddling criminals. Counting the days 'till I can leave this insane asylum. Until then, I carry.
Dean we have the right to keep and BEAR arms. Having to ask permission and pay a tax for that is simply criminal.
I get what you're saying, still the guy shooting a gun with intent to murder, and succeeded in killing somebody, and for a paltry reason of being asked to leave a party.
That should be enough to send a monster to the gallows for protection of all around.
PS...I assume the baby died,so why not 2 counts of murder?
Dean in az
Dean, I can see where you're coming from, but you're forgetting one very important thing:
Criminals don't care about permits and stupid people don't realize they need one.
Folks that shouldn't have guns get them; folks that have no business touching something more complicated than a hammer still get their hands on firearms. That's going to be the case no matter how many roadblocks the state puts up.
There should be draconian enough punishments for cold-blooded murder (which this was) that all the permit stuff is simply not needed. If we punished the egregious misuse of firearms - such as for shooting someone over being thrown out of a party - the way it should be punished (i.e. severely), then adding on would be pointless.
Hell, even in this case, there should be no adding on, because "life" is pretty self-explanatory.
Unless they wanted to add "with a swift kick in the nads twice daily"...
I've been appalled ever since I learned that in Massachusetts "life in prison" means 15 yrs. I do think there was some court case that determined this idiocy.
For "life in prison" to actually mean what it says, you have to add the magic words, "without possibility of parole."
I won't live long enough to know whether this past weekend's Wayland murderer, assuming he's convicted of murder 1, will be locked up 'til he dies.
I always fear that some weak-kneed Governor will commute sentences like these. The argument will be that he has served almost 60yrs and he has been a "good" prisoner.
Anyway, the creep in this article is unlikely to be out in 7 or 8 years. I think their first chance at parole comes at 12 years -- which is still too ridiculously soon.
15 years for 2nd degree murder?!
My, you could get that much jail time for having a rifle barrel an inch too short, or possessing the wrong kind of pistol magazines.
Since the article does not mention anything about a plea-bargain, I will assume the 15 years was part of that deal as was any add-ons, which get dropped. Prosecutors like to do these things to "save" money and avoid an expensive trial. When the real trials come up like in Florida they lose because they cannot reach a "deal" and are forced to actually work.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court who recently told the state of California it was to inhumane to have "crowded" prisons and ordered releases and that decision will effect other states, I suspect he'll be out in 3-5 years with good behavior and all.
Ruben Sanchez will then no doubt go to some acquaintances house and a party will ensue. Drinking/Drugs/Sex and after awhile he'll need a gun for revenge you know.
The surprising thing will be the wackos in the statehouse, etc. will be shocked when he commits another crime.
I am not certain of the laws there, but if I am not mistaken, I believe the minimum sentence he will have to serve is the 15 years. I do not think good behavior plays into that figure.
So with good behavior and all he won't be serving life, but he will have to serve the 15 year minimum. That's what is usually meant by possibility of parole.
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