Syracuse 15-year-old gets two to six years for 7-cent robbery

[cali]

Horrible miscarriage of justice, right? Well, maybe not. More of a case of a sensational headline.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 15-year-old Syracuse boy will spend the next two to six years in juvenile detention and the rest of his life as a felon as a result of his sentencing today for a robbery that netted him and an accomplice seven cents.

Onondaga County Judge William Walsh rejected a defense lawyer’s request to treat Anthony Stewart, of West Onondaga Street, as a youthful offender. That means his felony conviction will remain on his permanent record.

Walsh said he might have ruled differently if Stewart had pleaded guilty, as did his accomplice, Skyler Ninham, 16. Earlier this month Walsh sentenced Ninham as a youthful offender to one and one-third to four years in state prison. Stewart, who is not old enough for prison, will be sent to a juvenile detention facility.

<snip>

Stewart was convicted by a jury of first-degree robbery in July, two days before Ninham pleaded guilty. According to prosecutors, Stewart and Ninham ran up behind the victim Dec. 22 and knocked him to the ground. Ninham kicked the victim and Stewart punched him in the face, breaking his glasses, before the victim handed over the seven cents in his pocket, prosecutors said. The two teens had handguns, which Stewart later said were BB guns, prosecutors said.

<snip>

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/syracuse_15-year-old_gets_two.html

[malaise]

1. Get real please

The elite have private prisons to fill

[fxw]

4. Huh?

"Stewart and Ninham ran up behind the victim Dec. 22 and knocked him to the ground. Ninham kicked the victim and Stewart punched him in the face, breaking his glasses, before the victim handed over the seven cents in his pocket, prosecutors said. The two teens had handguns, which Stewart later said were BB guns, prosecutors said."

Yes, they are just poor misunderstood boys, out on a prank! Pat them on their asses, tell them to sin no more, and send them on their way.

[secondwind]

11. You think they got what they deserved? Really? You must be insane.

[secondwind]

12. I just saw the assault and battery portion. Ignore previous post.

[Maine-ah]

15. I have to agree with you.

[david_vincent]

25. I have to disagree with you

It's attitudes like yours that have resulted in colossal dysfunction in American society and a nation that incarcerates far more people per capita than any other on Earth. Are you seriously going to argue that this approach is working well ?? Don't make me laugh. Instead, all Americans seem to be able to do is focus on the moment and depend on out-of-proportion punishment to "fix" things.
What the judge did in this case was to create a career criminal. That kid will come out of prison with no future and will resort to crime again, as an adult. In what way does that fix anything? In what way does that save society any pain or expense? It's doing the opposite. Shortsighted people like you insist on punishment that will only make things worse in the long term -- but then again, Americans have a really, really, really difficult time of it planning for the long term, or even believing that there is such a thing. Which is one reason why, again, we have more people behind bars per capita than any other country. Everyone else is wrong and we're right, is that it?

Sheesh. Please tell us you're not a financial planner or a life coach, Francis.

[Rainbowreflect]

27. Sorry, violent offenders should be imprisoned.

If this was just a theft, NO, but it was a violent assault.

[cali]

7. You need to get real. They fucking attacked and beat on an elderly man

[michreject]

26. So you want lieniency for armed robbers

Before it's said that they were only BB guns, the victim didn't know that.

[Fumesucker]

2. That headline is misleading..

Their crime was assault and battery as well as robbery.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Yep, two to six

is not enough for these hoodlums, in my book. They're dangerous little assholes, who will no doubt pull this shit again when they're sprung.

[Orrex]

9. +1

It seems as though the assault was their primary objective and the robbery an afterthought.


If somebody had punched and kicked John Boehner and then stole seven cents from him, would we be hearing about the theft or the assault?

[trumad]

3. Seriosuly----

This is a solid case of robbery and assault. Doesn't matter if it's 7 cents.... or 700 dollars.

[rfranklin]

5. If only we could mete out punishment so surely for the white collar crooks...

who assault people with contracts and computers.

[Cirque du So-What]

18. I don't favor mollycoddling those criminals either

I recall reading some time ago that punishing white-collar crime has the greatest likelihood of deterring other would-be criminals, as opposed to those who commit, say, crimes of passion or drug-related crimes. You wanna take a bite out of crime? Publicize a few Wall Street execs doing the perp walk! Michael Moore suggested as much in one of his documentaries...can't recall which one right now...but it was like a white-collar version of Cops. Very funny, as I recall, and more than a grain of truth contained in it.

[david_vincent]

23. You nailed it

I'm still waiting for a couple dozen Wall Street banksters to get the perp walk... oh wait. Forgot what country this is... never mind.

[Selatius]

6. The headline is slightly misleading. Assault and battery with the purpose of robbery is serious.

If it were simply an issue of 7 cents being stolen, it'd be nothing but petty larceny, but they beat down an elderly person and then took the money off the person. There was bodily harm there.

[seabeyond]

10. took a long time to get to the actual crime. kick the shit out of someone, threaten with gun

what does the 7 cents matter

[FLPanhandle]

13. The headline should read "Juvenile gets off light for brutal assault & battery robbery"

Some editor was trying to stir outrage.

[Zywiec]

17. Not just an editor trying to stir outrage. n/t

[Vinca]

14. From the sounds of the crime it's probably a good thing he'll be locked up for years.

I hope he gets the help and guidance he apparently needs so the rest of his life isn't a repeat.

[izquierdista]

19. He'll get help and guidance, all right

Help on being a thug from all his cell-mates, and guidance on how to be a career criminal. Once he enters the correctional system, any hope for the rest of his life is gone.

[Cirque du So-What]

16. Quite possibly the most misleading article I've ever read

I too was feeling outraged...until I got to the part - tossed in almost as an aside - about the vicious assault connected with robbery. So WHAT that only 7¢ was collected? Utterly irrelevant! Of COURSE his lawyer tried to play-up the paltry amount they robbed...but it's shoddy journalism on the part of the so-called reporter to ignore the more serious part. IMO prisons should be populated by violent offenders, so I consider justice served.

[chrisa]

20. I agree with the sentencing because they beat the crap out of the victim.

Thugs.

[slackmaster]

21. Sentence is fine. Unrec for misleading subject line.

The money was obviously not the issue.

[Brickbat]

22. Yeah, that's a shitty headline, just like the ones that say "Man beats woman to death for burning

his toast." There's always more to it than that. However, it gives people a reminder about which case it was. "Is this the toast guy, or the seven-cent robbery?" It's just sloppy journalism to use it in headlines.

[Taitertots]

24. They certainly deserve prison, but they deserve a BETTER prison

They WILL be back on the streets at some point. If our prisons won't leave them any less likely to commit crimes we have done nothing to benefit them or ourselves. All our prisons do is worsen the mental state of the prisoners and exacerbate the problem of gangs.