Fast Eddie Friday... Justice, fast and loose.....

Yesterdays post was just the tip of the iceberg. Judge John Torrence is no stranger to cutting breaks for those who deserve it the least. Torrence gave probation to Jarred Elwood, who committed an 8 year string of ongoing sexual molestation. Elwood molested a 6 year old child, and continued to violate his victim for eight years. Torrence deemed this freak worthy of probation. Remember Curtis Mertensmeyer? The over privileged cake eater from Mission Hills, who struck a young man with his car on Ward Parkway, killing him, then fleeing the scene. Torrence brought him back to court after shock time, and granted him probation. I've no doubt that Torrence has sent many people to prison for a hell of a lot less. Sadly, this isn't anything new. Deals are made everyday in our courts. For every undeserving scum bag who catches a break, there is an endless stream of less wealthy, or less white defendants who get more time than they can reasonably do. Many of them deserve it, but are they more deserving than the two douche bags Elwood let walk. We dole out what is tantamount to a life sentence to the young black kid slinging dope on the corner without even blinking an eye. Maybe that's a just sentence when you look at the repercussions of the initial crime. Families suffer, lives are lost, property crimes increase, the list goes on. Crack cocaine has devastated the black community, turned neighborhoods into war zones and killing fields. So it's not a victimless crime. But when the same judges who send young black kids away for life, or 20 years, or even 10, when these same judges allow the Mertensmeyers and Elwoods to walk away from their crimes, justice becomes tainted.

I once wrote about an older black career criminal I grew up knowing. In the twisted world of criminals, I had alot of respect for Willie. Sure he was a crook, so was I, but we were both from a different era of criminals. Willie had been at it for a long time, I was coming in at the end, when the rules and game were starting to change. In that post I mentioned how Willies son was mixed up in gangs and dope. About 2 years into my bit I met a guy from Kansas City, he went by the name Tadpole. He was the standard Hollywood stereotype of a black convict. Big, over loaded with muscle from an endless cycle of weight lifting, and an infinite number of push ups. I'd run into Tadpole out on the handball courts, where he was a big lumbering mediocre player. His saving grace was being able to hit the ball hard enough to bust it every now and again. Handballs are hard as hell, it takes a whole lot of strength to bust a handball.

Tadpole had a 35 year sentence, in federal prison that translates to around 30 years. Kingpin is a term that the feds toss around in drug conspiracy cases. Former KCFD captain Gilbert Dowdy learned that being a Kingpin is a bad thing. Gilbert rubbed elbows and made business deals with some powerful people in Kansas City. One of the main witnesses against Gilbert was a young black kid who firebombed a house back in the late 80's, maybe very early 90's. A couple of people died. I can't recall the kids name, but he ended up testifying against Dowdy for a reduced sentence. Dowdy really was a kingpin. He saturated Kansas City with cocaine, he owned major real estate, he even had property in Israel. Gilbert was a real Kingpin. Tadpole on the other hand was a kingpin by proxy. I helped him file some writs, typed up some stuff to send to the appeals courts. I read the transcripts to his case. The guy who ended up testifying against Tadpole was Willies son.

The way the feds built a case against Tadpole was pretty standard. They started out buying street corner rocks, busted the low level dealers, who in turn gave up their connections, and set up a few small buys. Those guys gave up their people, and on it went, until it got to Tadpole. By the time the deals were cut, and testimony was given, Tadpole was accused of distributing about 5 pounds of powder and a pound of crack a week. He lived in a shitty house on forest, drove a 5 year old mustang, and worked as a concrete finisher. He couldn't afford a lawyer when the indictment came down. The reality was Tadpole probably sold more like a couple of ounces of crack a month. He told me the guy he got his dope from, Willies boy, was the guy who gave him up as the Kingpin. Considering that Tadpole had no assets to seize, worked a full time job, and couldn't afford a lawyer, it doesn't take F. Lee Bailey to figure out he was a small time dope dealer. You don't get a break for giving up a low level dealer. The guy who testified against Tadpole was popped with 12 ounces of crack and a couple pounds of powder. The feds never had any tapes, buys, or hard evidence on Tadpole. They didn't catch him with a crumb of dope. He went to trial, and was convicted, his sentence was enhanced , and he went away for 35 years and a wake up.

I'm not defending what they guy did, he deserved some time, he admitted as much. But he didn't deserve what he got. And he got what he did because he couldn't afford a lawyer. He got what he did because he was an inner city black guy. No prior convictions, no hard evidence, not a crumb of dope, or a single undercover buy, 35 years. My point to all of this? We live in a time where judges will bury a guy behind a prison wall, with no criminal record, based on hearsay from witnesses of dubious character, and we call it justice. While Tadpole rots in the federal system, his children growing up without a father, probably repeating the cycle as we speak, guys like Mertensmeyer, freaks like Elwood, walk away from far more heinous crimes, unscathed and free to move about. Give it a name, but it sure ain't justice.

Thanks to commentor Extremus for letting me know that Judge Torrence was the judge who also set Mertensmeyer loose. I followed up on case net to verify it..

Have a safe weekend.