Tuesday 27 September 2011

Judge Hagen Has No Doubts…

…the rest of us might well have them, however:
When police went through CCTV footage, they recognised Hodosi, as did the shop manager, as he was a regular customer.
/facepalm
Joe Hodosi, 25, has been jailed indefinitely because he is considered a "substantial" danger to the public following his third firearms offence.
Yes, though the first two relate to an air rifle, this is clearly a man who isn’t firing on all cylinders…
In police interview he said he was in a "blue haze" at the time because he had taken valium, drunk half-a-litre of Southern Comfort, and could not remember the robbery.
You’d think that sort of thing would stick in your mind, wouldn’t you?
Mitigating, Ramin Pakrooh urged Judge Carol Hagen to impose an extended sentence, instead of an indeterminate one for public protection saying his client had never seriously injured anyone, either during his latest crime or previous offences.

"There cannot have been a great deal of thinking," Mr Pakrooh said. "It's such an irrational offence, given what there was to gain and what there was to lose.

"He's never done anything on this scale before."
Oh. Well, we’ll just wait until he does, shall we?
"It's quite apparent to me, not only from your letter but from the pre-sentence report, that you had an unimaginably hard and difficult childhood and upbringing and I have no doubt that is one of the reasons that you adopted the lifestyle that you did," Judge Hagen told Hodosi.
No, it’s one of the excuses
She passed an indeterminate sentence for public protection.

He cannot be considered for parole until he has served six years.
Not sure what 6 years is going to do that his current 25 haven’t, mind you.

9 comments:

Captain Haddock said...

"It's quite apparent to me, not only from your letter but from the pre-sentence report, that you had an unimaginably hard and difficult childhood and upbringing and I have no doubt that is one of the reasons that you adopted the lifestyle that you did," Judge Hagen told Hodosi ...

One can only marvel at the sheer fortitude of those millions born & brought up in 1930's, 40's & 50's Britain ..

That so many of us managed to live our lives without falling into the ways of criminality ..

I wonder .. might we be in line for some sort of award ?

James Higham said...

never seriously injured anyone, either during his latest crime or previous offences

LOL.

Captain Haddock said...

"never seriously injured anyone, either during his latest crime or previous offences" ..

I should imagine the underwear of his victims suffered grievous injury ..

I know mine would if someone shoved a shotgun, loaded or not in my face ..

Twenty_Rothmans said...

Not sure what 6 years is going to do that his current 25 haven’t, mind you

We'll get a 31-year old gun-toting Hodosi. What's not to like?

Roue le Jour said...

I'm sorry, air rifles are 'firearms' now? I must have missed that memo. What about crossbows?

Anonymous said...

I lost faith long ago. I've just finished a book on miscarriages of justice. The chapter on Hanratty ends on the not guilty T-shirt side, but I think the eventual DNA suggested he was lying. Overall I end up thinking we need something better than forums for half-baked argument like this in our courtrooms. I've no problems with this sentence except worse get less.

Mr Ecks said...

"In all the trains and banks they robbed, they never shot anybody, which made our two latterday Robin Hoods very popular with everybody except the Banks and the Railroads..."

Joking aside, indeterminate sentences are plain wrong. The state should NEVER be able to lock someone up and throw away the key. Better to shoot the bloke.

John Pickworth said...

"I'm sorry, air rifles are 'firearms' now?"

I'm afraid that in the eyes of the police (but not the law) they are.

Around these parts someone might phone the police to report someone with an air weapon of BB gun in the street but the police will nether the less dispatch an armed response unit - just in case the perps were actually carry AK47's.

Now, its fair to say air weapons shouldn't be carried openly on the streets but equally, the reactions of the police are plainly over the top too. You can't argue with them though because they'll just start spouting Raol Moat or Mumbai examples at you.

JuliaM said...

"One can only marvel at the sheer fortitude of those millions born & brought up in 1930's, 40's & 50's Britain .. "

Quite!

"We'll get a 31-year old gun-toting Hodosi. What's not to like?"

And he'll be fitter!

"I'm sorry, air rifles are 'firearms' now? "

Yup, as JP points out.

"Overall I end up thinking we need something better than forums for half-baked argument like this in our courtrooms."

But what? Our justice system has served us well up until the last 30 years. Why throw the baby out with the bathwater?