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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| 74-year-old veteran living on Social Security spends 71 days in jail for two hot dogs |
| 2007-04-16 |
| Hear about the guy who spent 71 days in jail for stealing two hot dogs from a Wichita QuikTrip? Wait. He didn't steal the hot dogs, he just forgot to pay for them. Twelve people took two days off to serve jury duty last week, heard the evidence, and found the guy not guilty. "It was stupid," said presiding juror Krysti Mason, 21. This is no joke. The case of Thomas M. Wimberly, a 74-year-old veteran living on Social Security, highlights both inconsistencies in the law and the experiences of poor people in the criminal justice system. Wimberly sat in jail unable to make bond, $100,000 at one point, charged with a crime that -- even if he'd been convicted -- brings no time behind bars, only probation. The hot dogs cost $2.11, "with tax," assistant store manager Jeff Dalke testified. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #10 This old guy didn't intend to steal, tried to make it right, and got more time in jail and worse punishment than a cocaine dealer gets. If the guy was sick and cannot hit his cross town appointment, then thats not jumping bail and the response is far too harsh. You try being 74, living on social cecurity and fialing thelht - and then try making appointments across town with no car and no relatives. Good luck you hearltess twits. You guys are a pack of self-righteous assholes. Stalin would have loved you guys. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-04-16 21:00 |
| #9 Sheesh. He kills a 10 year old girl driving drunk but you'd think he was great guy just because he admitted it and set a fine example for those kids who think he's such a great example setter that they won't speak to him. He ended up divorced from his wife of 38 years and estranged from his two grown children. While bouncing between homes and odd jobs, Wimberly was convicted of petty theft in 1994 and again in 2000. He doesn't sound like a senile old man to me. He sounds like a serial liar, ner do well. But the way this article is written it seems all of his bad luck was because he was such a stand up guy, admitted his guilt and his life was ruined when he did his time. I'm sure this was not his fault, but things just "ended up" that way forcing him to "bounce around" and steal stuff so often that he got caught twice. If you ask me, the story here is the ridiculous way his case was handled. Other than that, this guy is a disgrace to the uniform and payback karma is a bitch. |
| Posted by: Angaiger Tojo1904 2007-04-16 13:28 |
| #8 Twelve people took two days off to serve jury duty last week, heard the evidence, and found the guy not guilty. This is why the Founding Fathers immediately amended the Constitution to add - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,... If as Jefferson wrote in the Constitution that the power of government is derived from the consent of the governed, so too are its laws. This is literally the law in action. It comes from the people. It's not perfect, but I'd rather this than deal with DAs who's only constraint is fellow lawyers and judge brethren who hold that only they are the rightful priests of the temple of law. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-04-16 09:57 |
| #7 74 means he's propably semi-senile. Exactly. Nonetheless we haven't heard the other side of the stories, and I too am sure there is another side that is a bit less generous to Mr. Wimberly. The real crime is that after making work for all our valiant civil servants, they simply put him back out on the streets to fend for himself. Not even an Old Soldiers Home for guys like him. That's the disgrace we all share. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-04-16 09:15 |
| #6 "A bill tied up in the state Legislature would clear up a law that leads to cases like Wimberly's and frustrates prosecutors." There’s the motivation for this obvious slanted story. Chances are the proposed legislation is not about fast tracking petty crimes through the courts but rather repealing the repeat offender laws. And about time…right? After all shouldn’t the “QuikTrips” of the world be required to pass out free hot-dogs to the poor anyway? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2007-04-16 08:28 |
| #5 last year I went into one of my local stores [know everyone] picked up an item and began talking to a friend for a few minutes. Well when we were done talking I walked out without paying. But.. luckily I caught myself and went back in and paid for the merchandise. The brain cells are beginning to flag a bit so I hope I never get "caught" repeating the same dumb stunt again. apparently Wichita has extra tax-payer money to burn. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-04-16 04:52 |
| #4 Gromky, 74 means he's propably semi-senile. And, anyway, charged with a crime that -- even if he'd been convicted -- brings no time behind bars, only probation. And the guy is a a veteran. Charge of the Light Brigade, anyone? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-04-16 04:50 |
| #3 I don't have a lot of sympathy for thieves. Typical media bias. Just another soft-on-crime advocacy story. Reading the article, we see that he didn't spend time in jail for two hot dogs, he spent time in jail for stealing, trespassing, and failure to appear. Any of which would land any of us in the same situation. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-04-16 04:36 |
| #2 Not to mention the $hit-for-brains low-on-humanity a$$holes who think that charging him for trespassing when he goes back to make amends makes them right. Obviously these idiots have probably peaked in their "professional" careers, if they haven't overreached already. And what about our Constitution that says no unusual punishment? Anybody ever heard of that part? If I were king, heads would roll for this one if it's anything like what's written. Time and time again I hear about this kind of shi+. Isn't there somebody who isn't autistic following the holy procedure who can step in and say "whoa" or something? These idiots need their professional contact details plastered all over the internet so people can give them a heaping of feedback because they are just divorced from reality. They make drugs for this kind of thing. Maybe some counseling would help. Or stick their a$$ in the pokey for 71 days and see how they like it. I wonder why they call it the pokey . . . . |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-16 03:55 |
| #1 There is a special place in HELL waiting for the Judge and the District Att. and those businesses going after him. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-04-16 01:22 |