Does being eligible for parole in 10 years for this crime sound about right to you?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/142137.html

Soldier gets 110 years for rape, murder
'LOOKOUT' IN ATTACK OF IRAQI GIRL NETS LONGEST SENTENCE
By Ryan Lenz
ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT CAMPBELL --A Fort Campbell soldier convicted of rape and murder in the death of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slayings of her family was sentenced yesterday to 110 years in prison.

Pfc. Jesse Spielman was convicted late Friday night of rape, conspiracy to commit rape, housebreaking with intent to rape and four counts of felony murder.

Military prosecutors did not say Spielman took part in the rape or murders, but alleged he went to the house knowing what the others intended to do and served as a lookout.

The 110-year sentence was part of a plea agreement Spielman's attorneys had made with prosecutors that capped the number of years Spielman could serve in prison regardless of the jury's recommendation. Spielman will be eligible for parole in 10 years.

[OlderButWiser]

1. a 110 year sentence sounds

pretty tough, but being eligible for parole in just 10 years softens it quite a bit.

[NNN0LHI]

2. 61 years wasn't enough for a lot of people in this thread. Those people ain't saying much here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1461016

[madrchsod]

5. most people did not read this---

"In the days that followed, police and prosecutors trampled Heirens' rights, interrogating him for hours in his hospital bed, searching his dormitory room without a warrant and forcibly injecting him with sodium pentathol, so-called truth serum, to try to extract a confession, courts have found."

if that happened today those same people would be screaming to the high heavens....

i think the guy should be released....

[iamjoy]

3. Comparatively, His Sentence Is Too Harsh

"military prosecutors did not say Speilman took part in the rape or murders"

He served as a look out. I'm not saying that's okay, not by any stretch. Although I do wonder about his rank and whether he might have felt pressured into going along with it, that's no excuse - morally it doesn't fly and then there's also the Nuremberg precedent.

NO, here's what makes me think his sentence is not completely just:

"Spielman, 23, of Chambersburg, Pa., received the longest sentence of four soldiers who have been convicted in the assaults. Three other soldiers pleaded guilty under agreements with prosecutors for their roles in the assault and were given sentences ranging from five to 100 years."

Now, why should the lookout receive a longer sentence than the ringleader?

Speilman's sister blames the government, and in some ways I agree with her, although, I don't think that indemnifies Speilman.

"Spielman's sister, Paige Gerlach, screamed: 'I hate the government. You people put him (in Iraq) and now, this happened.'"

We are turning our young men (and women) into monsters by sending them to Iraq. When they commit illegal atrocities, they should be punished. However, to ignore the circumstances which triggered the transformation does not do justice to the innocent people of Iraq or our men and women in uniform.

Of course, illegal atrocities is hard to define since the whole frigging war is an illegal atrocity, but in this case I mean acts that violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice and/or Geneva Convention.

[madrchsod]

6. that`s what is really great about the federal system....

make a deal or face the wheel.....

[madrchsod]

4. he`s never going to get out of prison

eligible for parole is meaningless since the number of crimes he was charged and convicted on will never meet the standard for parole