What a moments madness can do.

Well today I spent the afternoon in court. not as a defendant I should add. long story I cant give details
Anyway I arrived early so I sat in the appointed court room.
A different case was being heard when I arrived it was a sentencing hearing also it was my first time in a criminal court.

I will try to summarise the events,
On the stand was a 38 year old guy, father of two and divorced
He was well educated and employed, As stated in the court by his barrister.
The defendant had one minor assault conviction some Twenty years ago but nothing up to the night in question in 2014.
The judge stated the previous offence was not relevant due to the length of time between offences.
He was facing three charges of assault.
One of the assault charges was very serious.
Basically he assaulted his stepdad his mother and sister.
Ok I thought, at the time I hope the scum bag gets some jail time for this.
But then his barrister started to list the mitigating circumstance which led to the assault.
Here's where it gets complicated basically his parents had lied about who his father was all his life the guy he assaulted he thought Was his biological father. also when he questioned them about this early 2013 they still lied to him.
Till he tracked down his real dad and they admitted the truth this in his barristers words had a serious psychological effect on the Guy he turned to alcohol his wife left him because of this.
In turn this lead to many family arguments and eventually a complete breakdown of relations between him and his parents.
His drinking and drug taking escalated as a result.
I should state his family owned a pub on the night of the assault in the early hours of the morning he arrived at the Bar demanding alcohol his dad/stepdad refused to give him any. the defendant then punched his dad repeatedly resulting in his Dad losing the sight in one eye completely his mother tried to intervene he pushed her she fell also hurting her self,
His sister also tried to stop him hitting there dad he maintains his watch strap got caught in her hair resulting in her having a big chunk of her hair pulled out by The roots.
Since the night of the assault he has no contact with his family.
He did try to apologise he also showed remorse by stopping drinking and drug taking.
attending therapy and anger management training. His ex wife sent a letter to the court saying he had always been a good provider and father to his kids the probation report stated he likelihood of reoffending was very low.
but the impact statements from his family were pretty devastating
He had raised 10k to give his family some compensation. a letter from his family stated although they no longer wanted contact with Him they also did not wont to see him go to jail. the judge said he would take there view in to consideration but it was ultimately His decision.

I am not posting this topic for entertainment I am generally interested.
In what you guys would think would have been a fair punishment.
I fully realise I have not listed every fact and were not barristers/lawyer or do we have access to all the reports the judge had

His was sentenced to six years imprisonment with three years suspended because he showed genuine remorse and his family's wishes.
do you think this was harsh taking everything in to account.?
Remember to guy has lost his wife kids Mom/Dad sister home his job liberty.
Yes he deserved some time and yes a man lost his sight in one eye but basically this guy has lost everything because of that night.
I should imagine it will be near impossible for him to come back from this.

I'm guessing this is in the USA? I don't think people here in the UK would get 3 years for assault, even if it were to three people. It's hard to judge this case as the stepdad did lose sight in one eye but we can't really tell what the previous relationship was between the involved parties.

Personally, I never could understand what's up with "finding out the truth." Sure, the parents lied... but if he grew up thinking his step dad was his real dad, then that means StepDad was there all the time and RealDad was nowhere to be seen. Why look for someone who doesn't even care? Maybe if StepDad was abusive, I could understand, but this doesn't seem to be the case here?

I am close to someone who felt her life "was all a lie" because her father who loved her and treated her as his own turns out NOT to be her true father. She went off trying to look for her real dad and I kept saying "why look for the sperm donor?" It was obvious her mother did not want her to know, her father (stepdad) didn't want her to know, and both parents loved her (although her mom was kinda odd sometimes). I guess there's some unanswered questions like "why did you allow mom to leave you?" or stuff along those lines, but I cannot see how her life would've changed if she knew the truth earlier on.

Always assuming that everything said is true, and considering I have no idea about jail time vs charges where ever this was:

6 years seem to be too much for a guy that got drunk and punched another (albeit old) guy, wrestled with the wife and got in an altercation with his sister. Specially considering that according to everybody, he was a good guy just down on his luck.

More than jail that dude needs help. He'll come out of jail broke, alone and miserable. There is no way it will go better for him.

I believe marko is in Ireland.

Let me just add normally I would have said through away the key.
For assaulting his parents I am not liberal on crime.

After his case two scum bags in the twenty's no jobs and known drug dealers with records as long as your arm were facing series chargers
Including carrying a loaded shot gun ramming cop cars, they got a total of ten years but there sentences were concurrent with means they
Will not even do half that time so I am told. I would have given them life with out parole.
Even the most dumbest of criminals in Ireland knows what carrying a gun means in Ireland are police force is unarmed
I cant understand why the judge was so lenient with them and so harsh with the guy who under mental duress assaulted his parents.
As some of you guys stated I don't know all the facts I did not read the victim statements but even still his family did say they did not want a custodial sentence.

I'm actually gob-smacked he got 6(3) years. I would have expected a sentence of 2 years with 18 months suspended or some such rubbish that is normally handed out.

But then again this is also a country where you can be sent to jail for not paying for a TV licence. The Whole system needs to be torn down and redone.

Nate

People get less than 6 years for murdering people. Justice is typically a joke unless you get a rare judge.

Hi nate you may see it on the news there were some reporters there
It was in Naas court.

Clearly you didn't hear the whole case, and if (as it appears) you only heard his barrister speaking it's likely you were only getting one side of the story.

The Judge gave a pretty detailed summery I did not understand it all a lot of legal talk
but yes you are right I did not see the medical report etc.
The thing that got me the probation repot said the guy was very unlikely to offend.
Had he just been a drunk starting a fight looking for more drink with the result that a man lost the sight in one eye
Then yes six years would have been prober. its just my point opinion. I have no legal training

Oh one more thing, he pleaded guilty, so his family would not have to suffer the stress of a trial.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. *shrug*

Normally I would agree with you. but what happened to this guy could have happened to any guy
There but for the grace of god, I have been in a couple of altercations in my time. not proud of that but #%&*$# happens
But after what I seen today it would seriously make you think which I suppose that's was the judges reasoning there are still to many guys out there who like to talk with there fists. maybe the judge was sending a message.

If I had a dollar for every offender with a sob story...

I have no mercy for people who engage in violence outside of a defensive scenario.

If it could happen to any guy it'd happen a LOT more often than it already does. Alcohol or drugs don't turn you into someone you're not, they let the real you that's been hiding come out.

That guy's poor choices didn't start with that evening at his parent's bar. It goes back to choosing to let the revelation of who his real father is, bother him so much. Choosing to turn to alcohol and drugs is on him. From your description, it sounds like he was inebriated prior to going to his parent's bar. He had already had a complete breakdown of relations with his parents, so there was apparently no good reason to go to that bar. To then go in there, demand something he wasn't entitled to, and then get violent when it wasn't given to him... No, that isn't something that could have happened to any guy. A lot of bad choices led up to that moment of madness. He had a lot of opportunities to change course before that incident occurred. Many, probably most, would have chosen otherwise at some point along the way.

If you make bad choices, you frequently get bad results. If you make them frequently enough, it's virtually certain that you'll eventually get really bad results.

I used the expression it could have happened to any guy when referring to the punch that blinded his stepdad in one eye.
Most guys I know at some stage in there life be it a school yard fight or fending off a bully have thrown a punch.( I have)
Obviously the punch hit his stepdad where it did the most server damage to his eye .
I have heard of cases where just one punch was thrown which led to the death of somebody

I am certainly not saying the guy did not deserve to be punished I am just questioning the severity of the punishment due to the mitigating circumstances. did the punishment fit the crime. I suppose if I were the guy who lost his sight in one eye I would be screaming for justice, in his stepdads victim impact report a section of which was read out in the court his stepdad did state it was a life changing injury. his mother also stated she had trouble sleeping for a long time after the incident.
and had her self turned to alcohol to help her sleep. but the family were coming to terms with what had happened
but again they were prepared to forgive but not forget they did state that he should not be jailed in there view
But I did note they were not in court. a face to face appeal may have encouraged the judge to be more lenient.

What is the point of locking him up for three years (which will actually be less pending good behaviour etc)?

No one wanted him locked up. He had shown remorse and had started to work out his issues. Yet the judge locked him up?

What he did shouldn't have happened but it did. But now, the Judge has just made him someone elses problem for the next three years.

Mailman

I would add the defendant did not raise his head once through out the proceedings.
The guy showed no emotion when sentenced it was if he was well and truly beaten.

Punishment.

Exactly. You don't get to just hang your head, slump your shoulders, and look miserable, and get let off the hook. It happens entirely too often nowadays, and too many people no longer understand that their actions have consequences. Don't want to face them? Then keep your nose clean.

Agreed. It's not about deterrence so much but punishment. Crime will never go away but there needs to be severe consequences for it.

Bingo!

Inexcusable...period.