The Supreme Court is making sure that Shawn Gementera will be wearing his punishment for stealing mail. Literally. The high court rejected Gementera's appeal Monday of a lower court's sentence that the San Francisco resident stand outside a post office for 100 hours wearing a sandwich board that reads: ``I have stolen mail. This is my punishment.''In February 2003, Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco added the sandwich-board penalty to Gementera's sentence of two months in prison and three years of supervised release. Gementera had pleaded guilty to charges that he stole mail in San Francisco and nearby city of Burlingame in May 2001. Gementera had argued that this sentencing caused cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment and the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.
Gementera's attorney, Arthur K. Wachtel, said he was disappointed by the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the case without comment. ``It's pretty rare that the Supreme Court has an opportunity to review a case involving appropriate punishment,'' Wachtel said. ``Especially now that our country is interested what is and what is not appropriate punishment.''
| Oh I think the Court commented allright; you just didn't hear it. Wonder when we can bring back the stocks? |