Man jailed for 22 years for stealing TV remote control

[bigboxes]

Man you guys have a screwed up justice system. Cops murder people and get off scott free all the time, guy steals TV remote gets 22 Years. I dont even know what to say about that.

To put that into perspective. Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. Steal a remote? 22 years!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Only if I get to make the decisions on who gets tossed in.

There should be a special type of election that happens yearly and everyone gets a ballot where you can put the name of a person you want tossed in. First, middle and last name. And then some context about who the person is. Ex: a CEO, or politician etc just to make sure there is no mismatch with person with same name. The ballots are all tallied up and the top 10 people that come up are tossed in. Basically it would be a way to get rid of well known people that lot of people hate. This would be a country wide thing, so only the more powerful people would really be at risk.

Actually a movie around this premise could be interesting...

 

[Paladin3]

To put that into perspective. Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. Steal a remote? 22 years!

That's not perspective, that's selectively choosing facts out of context to support your narrative. I know you know the difference.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think he has a good point, pretty sad when an actual serious crime gets less time than a less serious one. Happens all the time too. I think stealing something small like a remote should be a small claims court thing, person should have to pay back all damages (including any done to the house/property etc) and then have to do a certain number of hours of community service. Jail time is just insane, especially 22 years.

 

[bigboxes]

That's not perspective, that's selectively choosing facts out of context to support your narrative. I know you know the difference.

What narrative is that?

 

[DaveSimmons]

I think he has a good point, pretty sad when an actual serious crime gets less time than a less serious one. Happens all the time too. I think stealing something small like a remote should be a small claims court thing, person should have to pay back all damages (including any done to the house/property etc) and then have to do a certain number of hours of community service. Jail time is just insane, especially 22 years.

It's not 22 years for stealing a remote, it's 22 years for multiple felonies, multiple probation violations, dozens of burglaries, on and on and on.

If Cosby had 20 separate convictions for sexual assault his sentence would be longer too.

 

[mikeymikec]

It's not 22 years for stealing a remote, it's 22 years for multiple felonies, multiple probation violations, dozens of burglaries, on and on and on.

If Cosby had 20 separate convictions for sexual assault his sentence would be longer too.

What's the point in them serving the other sentences when the logic you're adopting is that the punishment clearly doesn't fit the crime... but this time it goes way beyond the scale of the crime. It makes about as much sense as not sending him to jail for the previous convictions and then when he steals a Mars bar he then gets a jail sentence for all his previous proven crimes put together.

It seems to me that he wanted to go back to jail, and if true, that's a whole extra layer of fucked up that needs addressing rather than just putting him through the routine he's been through already.

 

[bononos]

not yet anyway. i can definitely forsee situations in the future, such as overpopulation plus extended lifespans, which could cause death penalty + organ harvesting for minor crimes.

like england did in the 1600's for overpopulation, but now with the added incentive of reducing health care costs.

Some more current movies like In Time, Eleysium suggest some interesting ways to thin the herd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdadZ_KrZVw

 

[brianmanahan]

Some more current movies like In Time, Eleysium suggest some interesting ways to thin the herd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdadZ_KrZVw

interesting, i never heard about that movie

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's not 22 years for stealing a remote, it's 22 years for multiple felonies, multiple probation violations, dozens of burglaries, on and on and on.

If Cosby had 20 separate convictions for sexual assault his sentence would be longer too.

But Cosby DID have 20+ separate incidents if you count each girl individually, it's just that they didn't bother convicting him of all of them officially or didn't have enough evidence. Kinda like how OJ got away with murder because even though he did it, they didn't convict him. But then he ends up in jail for stealing a baseball card lol. I guess theft is taken more seriously than physical violent crime in the states.

Even if the guy stole more than a remote 22 years is still way too much for petty theft. Now if he stole cars, or mugged people, or broke into people's houses while carrying a weapon, I could see, but it sounds like this guy was more into petty theft. Probably for the sake of it more than anything. Some people just like to steal just to steal. It's not ok, and does deserve punishment, but not decades in jail, it's just nuts.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I think the flip side of this story is that a man stealing a remote will now burden society with free room and board for 22 years. If I were that man, I might be cynical enough to laugh about it.

 

[highland145]

Think more like inmates working to support themselves and pay for the cost of their incarceration, rather than allowing some politician's buddy's company to use them as forced labor to flood the market with cheap products. That's why I liked the idea of jails being working farms, dairies, bakeries and overall self-sufficient. Any products they brought to market would have to be at fair prices, with any profit beyond what was need to support the prison going into education and job assistance programs for the inmates once they got out. Heck, if an inmate worked hard enough and was successful enough, maybe they could even leave prison with bit of money to help them get back on their feet.

But, as I said before, refusing to take advantage of society offering you a path back to law-abiding and self-supporting has to have consequences. We can't keep giving criminals breaks forever, or incarcerate them at our expense until they die or are too old to be a threat. At some point enough is enough and society has to think about how to protect itself from those who refuse to be law-abiding, i.e., finding ourselves a new Australia, leaving them on a deserted island, dropping them in a deep hole, 9mm to the brainpan out behind the courthouse...etc.

I'm all for being as compassionate as possible because it's in our own best interest, but there is a time to be firm and pragmatic about those who refuse to be law-abiding.

You have my vote.

 

[OutHouse]

who calls the cops on a missing tv remote?

 

[bononos]

But Cosby DID have 20+ separate incidents if you count each girl individually, it's just that they didn't bother convicting him of all of them officially or didn't have enough evidence. Kinda like how OJ got away with murder because even though he did it, they didn't convict him. But then he ends up in jail for stealing a baseball card lol. I guess theft is taken more seriously than physical violent crime in the states.

Even if the guy stole more than a remote 22 years is still way too much for petty theft. Now if he stole cars, or mugged people, or broke into people's houses while carrying a weapon, I could see, but it sounds like this guy was more into petty theft. Probably for the sake of it more than anything. Some people just like to steal just to steal. It's not ok, and does deserve punishment, but not decades in jail, it's just nuts.

According to snopes, it wasn't just for a string of petty thefts. He had aggravated kidnapping, sexual assaults, hijacking, armed robbery etc on his rap sheet.

OJ got a little screwed on that robbery thing. He robbed crooked dealers who were fencing his own stolen stuff at a hotel room. OJ's dealer friend told him about memorabilia dealers selling stuff that was stolen when his house got burgled and they confronted those dealers. I think people felt that he gamed the system and they were going to hammer him the 2nd time around. OJ got sentenced 9 to 33, got out after 9yrs.

 

[Zanovar]

nvm

 

[Paladin3]

Something we are forgetting is that Bill Cosby is 81 years old and everyone knows who he is. He is fairly likely to die in prison and if he does make it to parole, because of who his is and the publicity his case got, it's fairly unlikely he will have the opportunity to drug and rape again.

Conversely, Mr. Remote is 35 with a long criminal history, and utter contempt for the law as he proved at his most recent trial. He's in his prime and has proven he has no intentions of changing his ways whatsoever. He's pissed away every chance the justice system has afforded him.

Responsible judges look at factors like that in sentencing. I'd say both Mr. Cosby's and Mr. Bramwell's sentences were about the minimum necessary to protect society from the individual threats they pose.

Or you can just keep lying to yourself that someone got 22 years for stealing a TV remote, because, you know, America and her justice system suck. This is actually one instance where we got it right.

 

[JoeBleed]

Obviously you can spin things alot of ways, but there are enough cases with body cam footage you can watch for yourself, its hard to spin video evidence.

Like the drunk black guy in the hotel hallway they had on the ground and were playing simon says with before shooting and killing him for no reason.

Yes, but these are few and far between in comparison to incidents many people want to bring out. as for your incident, i don't recall this one. the one i'm thinking about was a guy and his girl/wife being given bad and confusing instructions that lead to the guy being shot. that cop was charged if i remember correctly.

 

[shortylickens]

Obviously you can spin things alot of ways, but there are enough cases with body cam footage you can watch for yourself, its hard to spin video evidence.

Like the drunk black guy in the hotel hallway they had on the ground and were playing simon says with before shooting and killing him for no reason.

he was white.

 

[dainthomas]

who calls the cops on a missing tv remote?

I'm shocked the cops didn't laugh and tell them to check the couch cushions. That's like calling the cops when you can't find your keys.

 

[Paladin3]

he was white.

White or black that hallway shooting was a really fucked up. I understand why the cop was acquitted, because he followed policy 100%. The cop gave clear instructions and the guy was stupid enough to reach back towards his right hip after being repeatedly told that was exactly what would get him shot. My guess is that the suspect was reflexively reaching back to pull his pants up or something like that, but it got him killed. I think he had been drinking as well, IIRC.

But we are wasting our time focusing our anger on individual cops. Hate cops all you want, call them corrupt and killers, but that's a very disingenuous way to look at this situation that won't change the system at all. Our law enforcement officers are, by and large, doing everything they can to do a good job. But the system and policies they are working with suck. Their training often has less concern for the safety of the suspects who find themselves at gunpoint than it should.

Cops are doing EXACTLY what they are trained to do, but it's a bad, bad policy. If a cop tells me to keep my fingers interlaced on my head and my ankles crossed and if I move I they will consider it a threat and "we will deal with it accordingly and you may not survive", well, fuck you I'm not moving a fucking muscle. You come get me and put me in cuffs because I'm not doing anything that will trigger your paranoia and violate your mandate to "make sure you go home at the end of every shift."

Cops need to understand that until they see that gun and it's pointed at them there is no cause to shoot. So do your best to defuse and deescalate situation so you don't end up on the verge of having to shoot. If they had just gone down and cuffed those two in the hallway that guy when he was on the floor, hands on his head and ankles crossed, it would have been over. Instead, according to and 100% within policy and training, he ordered him to start moving...moving!?!?...the very thing that the cop lectured him would get him shot. And it did. Why take that chance? They had plenty of guns on scene to move forward and safely cover that doorway while they cuffed those two.

We need to attack the system and the policy that are causing these shootings. Vilifying individual officers does nothing to change policy. And I'm not calling for cops to not protect themselves or anything silly like that. I'm calling for thoughtful, reasonable shoot/don't shoot policies that deescalate whenever possible.

And I'm also calling for the public to do their part. We need to respect the arrest process more, and, even if you don't respect the officer, respect that the cop has a job to do and that job is to take you into custody. If you are going to fuck around and refuse to follow lawful orders understand that may very well cost you your life.

The vast majority of officers are trying to do a good job, but they work in a system with policies and training that doesn't value the life of suspects as much as it should. And we owe it to them to remember that these kinds of shootings like the one in the hallway are the exception and not the rule.

Sorry for rambling and pushing this thread somewhat off topic.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm shocked the cops didn't laugh and tell them to check the couch cushions. That's like calling the cops when you can't find your keys.

yeah it's hilarious that the cops even pursued this.

Then again some guy got arrested a few years back for a VHS rental from 2001 that was not returned. So seems when cops get bored they'll persue anything.

 

[highland145]

yeah it's hilarious that the cops even pursued this.

Then again some guy got arrested a few years back for a VHS rental from 2001 that was not returned. So seems when cops get bored they'll persue anything.

If you owned the VCR business in 2001 and some dick steals your tapes, would you not have signed a warrant? Yes, you would have. I lol at these old warrants that pop up and bite deadbeats on the ass. I've got a bad check warrant on a thief from about 8 years ago. Sooner or later, she'll get pulled over on a traffic and get locked up for her bad check.

 

[Genx87]

3 pages in and nobody said

"If the glove doesnt fit, you must acquit!"

I am disappoint

 

[Paladin3]

3 pages in and nobody said

"If the glove doesnt fit, you must acquit!"

I am disappoint

Johnnie Cochran using that defense in open court was funny as hell, as was watching O.J. comically try to put those leather gloves on while already wearing latex gloves, right up until you realized it actually worked and the jury bought it. Then it was jaw meet floor time.

 

[Denly]

Good deal, if I were 18yrs old again I am going to steal a few garlic and onions. Go to jail for 20yrs and come out with a couple doctor degree for free.