Courts

Judge Gives Prison Guard Who Violated Someone's Liberty Chance To Represent Country

Since when do you get to choose your punishment?

By  
on

Furiously angry judge waves gavel, shouts and points threateninglyWhat is with judges recently? Kentucky Judge Thomas Wingate recently gave former prison guard Brandon Scott Price the option of going to jail or re-enlisting into the Army after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting a sick, handcuffed inmate he was meant to transport to the hospital.

As reported by Business Insider:

“Though Price’s shift was near its end, Price volunteered to transport (the inmate) to the hospital,” the lawsuit said. “Price transported (the inmate) alone, in violation of Jail policy and industry standards and practices.”

Price stayed with the woman for five hours at the Frankfort Regional Medical Center while making “sexually-charged comments” to her and talking about his connections to someone responsible for parole decisions at the Kentucky Department of Corrections, the lawsuit alleged.

On the way back to the jail from the medical facility, Price pulled the van he was driving over and assaulted the woman, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges Price propositioned the woman with an offer to help her get an early release in exchange for a sex act and then assaulted her while she was shackled.

The thing that I really do not get is a sitting judge read this fact pattern and thought “Wow, this guy needs some leniency.” And this isn’t even my conjecture! During Price’s sentencing, the Honorable Justice Wingate minced no words, telling Price that he was getting “a big break.” Really? The original felony charge of 3rd degree sodomy got knocked down to a misdemeanor 2nd degree assault charge. The Judge thought “Hmm, what else can I do to sweeten the pot”… and then had the bright idea of sending the guy to the military? Where damn near 25 percent of service women get sexually assaulted by their colleagues? Him? The judge wanted to give him another uniform to harass people in and a rifle on top of that?

There is the procedural question of if the ‘go to the army instead’ route would have worked if Price opted in to it. That does not concern me. What I am concerned about is the impact of judicial leniency in cases where such actions are themselves an affront to justice. I wish that when judges gave sentences like that that are clearly discretionary, they had to give a clear reason on record why they chose to respond in the way that they did. I think that it would be helpful when nonsense like this, or when a judge decides to send a bunch of kids to jail over a crime that doesn’t actually exist happens again.

Judge Tells Ex-Prison Guard Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting An Incarcerated Woman That He Can Join The Military Or Go To Jail [Business Insider]

Sponsored

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

 

Sponsored

Topics

,