Blog Post 1
Garrett Thrash
PS 101
Dr. Jenkins
3/8/2022
Blog Post 1
In the small corner of rural Northeastern Alabama, a small community atop Sand Mountain by the name of Dekalb County rarely experiences many political disturbances. However, during the fall of 2021 a judge’s ruling on a criminal court case triggered an outcry from the public. An arrest of two twin brothers that were previous teachers and basketball coaches in the county for sexually assaulting their players. The twins’ actions were reported by one of the victim’s mothers leading to an arrest of the brothers, but they were bailed out within hours of arrest on the condition that they maintain their distance from all victims as well as the school. Parents were in the community were in distraught about the low bail set by district judge Andrew Hairston with many of the parents blaming it on the corruption in the judicial system that occurs in small communities with everyone knowing each other. Once evidence was established against the twins, they were taken to court to be charged with multiple accounts of a myriad of sexual assault charges including sodomy and rape. Sadly, the district attorney and Judge Hairston agreed on a plea deal allowing for both twins to escape their actions with as little as six months in jail along with small stipulations such as probation, multiple restraining orders, and termination of their academic jobs as part of the deal. Of course, the God-fearing, “gun-lovin”, and majorly conservative parents of the area were in outrage over the ordeal with many threatening to take the corruption of the court into their own hands. While nothing has happened yet, many citizens have spoken of taking legal action against those believed to have been involved in the corruption. Others believe using the civic right of voting those in office believed to have connections to the trial is the only thing to do; however, they all agree that this corruption through-out the judicial system in the area posed a dangerous risk to all members of the surrounding communities.
The main concern many younger citizens raised was the severity of the punishment compared to committing other crimes in the area. For example, many members of the community have family members sentenced to over 15 years for simple crimes legal in some parts of the country, such as possession of drug paraphernalia or marijuana possession. Much of this controversy stems from the older generations deep rooted strictly conservative values encumbered on today’s population. Even the sale of alcohol is prohibited in the county except for the larger towns who have passed legislature to turn “wet” for revenue reasons. The citizens believe the corruption in the areas judicial system allow based on who they know in power. Many parents fear for their children at school due to the light sentencing the twins met. Who knows that could happen to their children since known child molesters were allowed to walk free? Just a few weeks ago, a well-known wealthy man in the community got into an altercation with one of his employees shooting and killing him,but did not get arrested and was let go on the basis of self-defense.
Although there are not a wide variety of viewpoints regarding the attitude towards the judicial system of the area, many do disagree on the steps taken to ensure this catastrophe does not happen again. Many parents close to the victims of this crime want to take matters into their own hands and deal with the pedophiles themselves. Others want to prevent the same mistakes from happening by asking the judge and district attorney to step down to prevent further plea deals from forming. While I do agree with the emotions held by the parents who wished to deal with the pedophiles on their own, this rash decision would only get somebody with good intentions landed in jail for life. It is quintessential that a new judge as well, as a district attorney, to put an end to the current administration committing such atrocious acts. However, to solve the problem in the long-term the true character and moral of all future candidates for election need to legally be placed under a microscope to ensure that thoughts of similar plea deals never matriculate. Without a firm, moral background the office only contains a law-degree holder chasing high prosecution rates leading to a high paycheck, which in many humble opinions from the area does not deserve the title lawyers. An honest district attorney leads to safer environments for the kids in the communities, less severe punishment for non-violent crimes in the area, and a holistically safer community to live in.