it's good to be white in amerika - kill two black children, drive off,

[KG]

hire a lawyer, don't turn yourself in for 5 days - get house arrest.

With two dead, is sentence fair?
Jennifer Porter won't go to jail, and some, including the mother of two dead children, wonder if race was a factor.
By AMBER MOBLEY, JUSTIN GEORGE and REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published November 6, 2005

TAMPA - One judge.

Two dead black children.

One young white woman, a former elementary school dance teacher.

Fifteen and a half hours of testimony from more than 30 witnesses.

Early Saturday morning, the judge imposed sentence.

Jennifer Porter will serve no prison time after pleading guilty to charges arising out of a March 2004 accident that killed Bryant Wilkins, 13, and his brother Durontae Caldwell, 3, and injured Aquina Wilkins, then 8, and LaJuan Davis, then 2.

Instead, Judge Emmett Lamar Battles sentenced Porter to two years of house arrest, three years of probation, 500 hours of community service work and ordered her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

That sentence is being labeled right by some, racist by others, such as the boys' mother, Lisa Wilkins. She wanted Porter to be punished and Saturday morning's sentence wasn't enough. MORE>>>

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/06/Tampabay/With_two_dead__is_sen.shtml

be sure to clink link at top to get whole story.

[Judi Lynn]

1. How can the judge do this? He needs to be removed.

On Friday, Porter's father said he regretted not notifying authorities earlier, and said he wiped blood off her car and stored it in the family's garage to "buy time," and that he was "trying to do whatever I could do to protect my daughter."
(snip)

"She made four phone calls after leaving the scene of the accident," Seace said. She drove herself to her dance studio. She may have gone home that night "absolutely suicidal" but, the next day "she went back to work to teach children."

"For 27 hours, they weren't going to tell. She wasn't going to tell," Seace said.

It wasn't until a day later, when the news reported that authorities were no longer looking for a white van but a Toyota Echo that the Porters discussed another course of action, Seace said.
(snip)

Unforgiveable.

[KG]

2. yeah, the girls parents need to see the inside of a jail cell also.

[arewenotdemo]

5. At least her father should.

No mention of whether or not those children could have been saved by her calling 911.

[China_cat]

6. Isn't obstruction of justice a crime?

And wouldn't hiding the car and washing the blood off it make her father and accessory after the fact?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. Now that is an "activist judge."

The lady should have received 25 years minimum.

[booksenkatz]

8. Those who so easily wipe the blood of children from their cars...

those are the same people who are unmoved by photos of dead Iraqi children. I can't imagine being as soulless as that, can you?

This entire story is breathtaking.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Found a photo of the drive.Now I've got a pouty face to fit the story.

Poor, poor thing. Has to suffer the indignity of house arrest.



There's a video clip on the link showing the little 3rd grade sister giving a statement. She's really precious. Very sad.
I think this is the clip (commercial first):
http://www.tampabays10.com/video/player.aspx?aid=22780&sid=20819

This article was prepared for the tv station before the verdict, it appears, but it'w worth checking:

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=20819

[arewenotdemo]

3. Agreed. Under the same circumstances a black male would no doubt

end up in prison.

[saigon68]

14. If HE WERE BLACK he would get this

[bluestateguy]

4. This does not surprise me

I would only add, however, that class also had something to do with it. If this woman did not have a good job and a supportive family and if she grew up in a trailer park, then maybe she would have been sentenced more harshly. I also think had she been a man she might have been more likely to face jail time. But yes, her being white and the kids being black helped to keep her out of jail.

Does anybody here think that if that had been a young black male from the ghetto and the kids had been blond, blue eyed children from privileged families that the outcome here would be very different?

[ErisFiveFingers]

10. The racist problem...

In her case, it looks like she was sentenced based on her situation.

I think the general problem is that any white (and I actually wouldn't say she is, as she's certainly no "mayflower") person is given benefit of the doubt, but darker-skinned persons are not...

So, from what I see, it's still good to be white in america, because the darker the skintone, the less leniency is granted.

The racist angle was that she was "white-ish", and thus got a fairer trial.

Disclosure: I'm "dark" polish. Often categorized, on sight, as Mexican/Latino, Italian, etc.

[Skittles]

12. I think often, the notion is that white people can be "saved"

whereas people of color are routinely written off

[ErisFiveFingers]

13. How do you mean? n/t

[Skittles]

15. I think due to racism, white folk are more often given second chances

and third and fourth chances that minorites are routinely denied

[wakeme2008]

11. One of Jebbie's friends

" A retired U.S. Army colonel, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Emmett Lamar Battles, 54, began hearing felony cases in April.

He was assigned to general civil cases from May 2004 to April 2005, and for two years before that, Battles presided over juvenile delinquency cases. He was appointed to the bench in 2002."

Before Jebbie appointed him

"Before becoming a judge, Battles served as assistant general counsel for the Florida Department of Transportation's District 7 office, which oversees Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties."

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/31/Tampabay/Porter_will_face_judg.shtml

[rosesaylavee]

16. AND SHE WAS/IS TEACHING CHILDREN????!!!!!

This is wrong. Period. The judge needs to be removed and the prosecution needs to demand a new trial.

[Cats Against Frist]

17. Well the article doesn't tell the whole story, namely

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED. That was a SHITTY article. Anyway, I know it's not your fault. :) The girl should have gotten a little real prison time to scare her -- six months or something. It sounds more like that she was coddled, not just because of being white, but by being a white, pretty, young girl. I bet a boy of any race would have gotten more time.

**Edited to add: I think with three years being the maximum sentence, that six months is OK, simply because it was an accident, and I believe that jail time should be given largely in regard to recidivism and rehabilitation -- particularly for something like this. Six months would be long enough. I also think that the father, who should have known better, should be given a longer sentence. He's the one IMHO, that steered the girl wrong, and was more responsible for the coverup.

I have a feeling that the GOP, for all their "tough on crime" shit, would definitely have a society where the white and privileged were given more leniency for their crimes. Sad, but true.