God Bless the US Justice system....Man Gets Life system for spitting..

[Living-In-Clip]

Man Gets Life in Prison for Spitting                
                                    Thu July 3, 2003 07:53 AM ET
                                                OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma man arrested on  suspicion of beating his wife faced year in prison and a fine.  But when he spit in an arresting officer\'s face, he got a life  sentence instead, officials said on Wednesday.

 John Carl Marquez, 36, was convicted of "placing bodily  fluid upon a government employee," a felony that can carry a  life sentence because of the possibility of transmitting a  potentially deadly disease.

 State judge April Sellers White sentenced Marquez this week  even though Marquez and the officer tested negative for any  communicable disease.

 Marquez also was convicted of assaulting a police officer,  and a jury recommended the maximum sentence because he had  previous convictions.

 Marquez, arrested several months ago, could have received  one year in prison and a $3,000 fine for wife beating,  according to the Creek County court clerk\'s office.

 His lawyers said they plan to appeal.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=3032296

Let me get this straight. I can go kill someone and maybe get 15 years, but if I spit in a cops face in the heat o f the moment, I get a life sentence?

Further proof the US system is going down the toilet.


Thoughts?

I saw it yesterday in a mexican channel (Primer Impacto) and I must agree with you in that the USA system is pathetic.

[Kurt Angle]

That\'s pretty stupid, it\'s not as though he jizzed on him.

and even if he did..life????????

WTF is wrong with this picture.

#1 thats not the US system, thats the oklahoma system

#2 spitting in someones face is attemped homicide

someone spits in my face?  kill him

mm, if the president of USA allows to keep under arrest a man who spites to a policeman in one of his states, that\'s not the Oklahoma law, but the USA law.

so, how did the president get involved in this?

The guy was prosecuted in a state court for breaking a state law.  It doesn\'t have anything to do with Federal law or George Bush.  This is particularly true, given that Bush is always arguing for shrinking the Federal government and increasing state\'s rights and responsibilities.

With that shift in responsibility comes some risk, because you put more power into the hands idiotic state legislatures that pass absurd unconstitutional laws.  Reactionary governors appoint underqualified state judges who like to like to hand out maximum sentences because it makes them look like they\'re "tough on crime."  The real fault in this case however was the jury.  The defendent probably couldn\'t afford a good attorney, so he couldn\'t afford the time to do a good jury selection.  The jury hears "wife beater" and "previous convictions" and "assaulting a police officer" and they think this is their one opportunity in life to GET EVEN WITH THE BAD GUYS.  So they give him life.

That\'s the way our justice system works now.  Juries hand out sentences not based on what you actually did in this one situation, but what you did before (and were already punished for) or what they think you\'re going to do in the future.  It\'s all driven by fear, packaged and hyped on the evening news every night.

Life might be harsh but the scumbag is a wife beater and probably has other little gems on his record.

Ace

[videoholic]

You guys are passing judgement and all you know is this one small part of this mans life. This guy could have a huge rap sheet and they may have been trying their hardest to find something to pin on this guy to get him more than just a wife beating charge.  When this occured they jumped on it.

Don\'t just assume the guy only hit his wife and spit on a cop.

You\'re talking about prosecution and I\'m talking about sentencing.  I think it\'s fine to prosecute someone on a lesser charge if you can\'t get them on a greater charge for some reason.  But you\'ve got to sentence them based on the crime you\'re charging them with.  You can\'t charge someone with jaywalking and then give them life in prision because "oh yeah, we know you did that murder too."

Originally posted by Coredweller
You\'re talking about prosecution and I\'m talking about sentencing.  I think it\'s fine to prosecute someone on a lesser charge if you can\'t get them on a greater charge for some reason.  But you\'ve got to sentence them based on the crime you\'re charging them with.  You can\'t charge someone with jaywalking and then give them life in prision because "oh yeah, we know you did that murder too."

Originally posted by mm
#1 thats not the US system, thats the oklahoma system

#2 spitting in someones face is attemped homicide

someone spits in my face?  kill him

Wonders what world mm is from. Someone spitting in your face is deserving of death? I do believe G.W. and you would get along well. Shoot first, and too dumb to ask questions later. :burn:

could you do a better job then GWB?  no, then STFU please

Originally posted by mm
could you do a better job then GWB?  no, then STFU please

Thank you for your typical response mm.

Seriously, the U.S. is a strange place anymore. It is filled with idea\'s like this when our prison system is overcrowded to the point where they are releasing true criminals.

Dude would have got less time if he had killed his wife. There is somthing wrong with a system that allows this Bullsh*t.

So far as his wife. If she was beaten by him on a daily basis. Well that is her own fault. I believe in all this equal rights stuff. She is not a weaker sex. They are in the military killing people. Thus she should have the gonads to get her lazy a** up, and get out of that house. Lord knows she would have come out on top in Divorce court.

Last thought. People that are braggadocios tend to be pussy\'s in real life, and would not kill someone that spit in their face. IMHO