Prepare for Drama... MO Gov. Parsons commutes sentence for Britt Reid

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I generally agree with this in philosophy, as long as you have enough of a punishment for the offender to cause them to never do this behavior again. I'm not sure that public service is enough, especially for a guy who leads a comfortable life due to family wealth. I don't know what punishment you'd add, but it needs to be equal or greater to the hardship that the family now has with a disabled child. Maybe you brand "Drunk Driver" into his forehead or something.

I think the bad look is that it was commuted for a "celebrity child". Would it have been commuted if he had been small-town barber Rufus McGinnity who had done the same thing? Did the sentences get commuted of everyone who has committed the same crime and is now in prison? I doubt it.

Exactly.

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I generally agree with this in philosophy, as long as you have enough of a punishment for the offender to cause them to never do this behavior again. I'm not sure that public service is enough, especially for a guy who leads a comfortable life due to family wealth. I don't know what punishment you'd add, but it needs to be equal or greater to the hardship that the family now has with a disabled child. Maybe you brand "Drunk Driver" into his forehead or something.

I think the bad look is that it was commuted for a "celebrity child". Would it have been commuted if he had been small-town barber Rufus McGinnity who had done the same thing? Did the sentences get commuted of everyone who has committed the same crime and is now in prison? I doubt it.

100% agreed. This is a very political decision based upon the “who” the offender is related to. But I generally don’t disagree with the decision as relates to any other person situated similarly. Except maybe we should change sentencing rather than leave it up to the executive to make a “political” decision.