Justice is Served (Cold)

My blog is early this week for two reasons. First, the Oregon-UCLA football game is Thursday night and I don't want to be distracted from watching the Bruins get their hats handed to them. Second, something happened today that was a long time coming; the thief who broke into our storeroom (there's that dopey storeroom again) was finally sentenced.

I wrote about his breaking in (twice) last July if you want to get the complete background. I was quite surprised when he was caught so quickly but had no idea it would take so blasted long to give him his just desserts. I lost track of how many times I traipsed down to the courthouse for one postponement after another. All the time waiting for my turn to speak.

Another surprise for me was that in this case, and all the others I witnessed while waiting for his turn in court, I was the only victim who sowed up. Today the judge even said that hardly any victims ever appear in court. I really wonder why they don't.

We had to wait for a while today because his lawyer (Barney Fife in drag) was late. After reading all the counts, convictions , reimbursements, etc. The judge thanked me for coming so faithfully and said it was my turn to speak before she passed sentence. Holy cow! I've had all this time, what the heck do I say? Thumpity-thump-thump goes my heart. Which also surprised me too because I'm usually quite a ham.

Once I started, the thumps stopped. Basically I told the court, and him, that it had been a long time since our chat in my back yard before he drove off with our stuff. "I told you then that I understand how hard it is to support a big family and I would help you get a job." "That offer still stands." "I am a Christian man and have forgiven you." "I hope and pray that you will use the time you serve in prison to improve yourself and come out a better person with a new line of work." "You need to know though, that you didn't just take things from me and my family." "You took our feeling of safety and security." "That is extremely difficult to get back."

I then thanked the court and especially the judge for the way she handled the case and the courtroom and I would definitely vote for her in November. Her name is Terry Chandler so if you live in Pima County, please vote for her.

He got to speak next and was nervous but well spoken. He was very apologetic and seemed sincere. It turns out someone broke into his place not long after our theft, so he does have an idea of what it feels like. Barney Fife, bless her heart, got him to the right psych Dr. who has him on the right meds. He does appear to be headed in the right direction (prison).

Judge Chandler listened but told him she'd heard it before. She admonished him to indeed use his prison time to improve and to take me up on my offer when he gets out. On to the sentence!

Here's where it gets confusing. He got six-and-a-half years for the burglaries he did the same day as ours (there were seven others); four-and-a-half years for three on a different day; and two-and-a-half years for attempted robbery in a shoplifting gone wrong. If my Atomic City math serves me that's 13.5 years. BUT, the 4.5 is to be served concurrently with the 6.5 and he got credit for 480 days served. That should work out to about seven years which, with good behavior, comes to five or so.

He should have plenty of time to read so I plan to send him a Book of Mormon. Maybe I'll see him in 2015.