« American Gunfight | Main | Socialists Say Orangutans Are People Too »
April 27, 2006
Climate of Fear Part 44
This is an important update to the climate of fear part 36 post. If you recall a Milwaukee prosecuter had reached a plea deal with the thugs who had slashed the tires of vans rented by Republicans to take people to the polls on election day. According to the plea deal most of the defendents would plead no contest and not serve any jail time. I wrote at the time:
So the lesson here: In Milwaukee it is ok to use violence to prevent hundreds of people from voting. You will not go to jail.
Looks like I was wrong! The judge threw out the sentencing part of the plea deal so the defendents who plead no contest will go to jail for 4 to 6 months. He also chewed them out for trying to disenfranchise voters. Good for him. JS Online reports:
Calling the vandalism more than harmless hijinks, Brennan admonished the four men, including the sons of two prominent Milwaukee politicians, for disenfranchising voters. The judge said he had received letters from Milwaukee County citizens upset over the crime.'They see you tampering with something they consider sacred and that's the ballot box,' Brennan said during a two-hour sentencing this morning.
Michael Pratt, 33, and Lewis Caldwell, 29, were each sentenced to six months in jail while Lavelle Mohammad, 36, got five months and Sowande Omokunde, 26, got four months. Each was also fined $1,000. They will be eligible for work release and were allowed to surrender to begin their sentences within two weeks.
Pratt is the son of former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt and Omokunde is the son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.)
Previous Climate of Fear post.
Posted by Pete at April 27, 2006 06:42 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.petetheelder.com/mt-tb.cgi/793