Two Recent Sentencing Terms for Burglaries

Photo by flickr user the_kid_cl

From MPD 3D:

1)Wayne Bridgeforth was sentenced to 4 years plus 1 year for his parole violation. 5 years is very good in that he’s received 1 to 2 years for previous similar crimes. We had 5 Community Impact Statements (last I heard). I went down to the sentencing hearing to testify this morning.

2) Craven Kemp got 22 months. He admitted to 12 burglaries. We got in 4 or 5 Community Impact Statements. I can’t say I find that as just; that’s less than 2 months per burglary. He does have a shorter record of convictions.

Thanks to the community members who allowed MPD to set up a sting operation in their house. Thanks to MPD for that effort and the rest of their efforts. Thanks to US Attorneys Anita LaRue and Stephan Rickard their efforts – especially in working with the Community Impact Statements. Thanks to CM Phil Mendelson for passing a provision in the last Omnibus Crime Act that allows continued minor offenses to be prosecuted as felonies. Lastly, many thanks to all those who wrote Community Impact Statements.

If you ever think dramatizations of court room scenes capture the real life drama, head to a sentencing hearings room next time you get called for jury duty. MPD makes over 50,000 arrest a year. That 15 minute sentencing hearing on the conveyer belt of justice is real drama particularly in the moments the judge hands down that sentence and the moment the convicted is lead off to jail.

One victim responds:

As a victim of a Burglary 1 where I was face to face with the burglar in my home, I am appalled by the sentencing of someone who committed 12 burglaries to just 2 months for each offense. My life and my health are forever altered by an individual’s actions crashing into my home. For such actions, a person would only get two months in jail makes me sick!