Atlantic County Justice
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Shaneen Allen and her sons Niare and Sincere. Photo via facebook
The mainstream media will be making a big deal today about the leniency Baltimore Raven Ray Rice received from the NFL after knocking out his then finance in Atlantic City in February. TMZ obtained an released a video of the incident this morning. Sources are quoted as saying that NFL officials saw the video before suspending Rice for the first two games of this season and docking his pay for a third game.
But the NFL would not be subject to the public outrage they are experiencing had the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office not been lenient with Rice first. Rice was first charged with simple assault. The charges were upgraded to aggravated assault by an Atlantic County Grand Jury. Rice faced a possible five years in State Prison. But the Prosecutor accepted Rice’s application into the Pre-trial Intervention Program for First Offenders and his Not Guilty plea which leaves him off the hook if he stays out of trouble for a year.
Maybe Justice was done in Atlantic County regarding Rice’s case. His fiance apparently forgave him. They got married the day after Rice was indicted. She publicly apologized for her role in their skirmish. The couple has a daughter. This result in this case is probably best for their family …if there is no future domestic violence.
But another high profile case in Atlantic County has led many, including this writer, to question the judgment and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Shaneen Allen of Philadelphia was pulled over for an unsafe lane change in Atlantic County last October. The single mother informed the police officer that she was in possession of a handgun that she was licensed to carry in Pennsylvania. She thought her Pennsylvania license to carry was good in New Jersey. It isn’t.
Allen was arrested for possession of the weapon and hollow point bullets. Why hollow point bullets? She told me that she bought them when she bought the gun because they were cheaper than the other bullets offered. Allen spent 40 days in jail before she made bail.
Like Rice, Allen has no previous criminal record. Yet the Atlantic County Prosecutor rejected her application for Pre-Trial Intervention. She faces three years in State Prison if convicted. According to published reports, the plea deal offered would make her a felon and would also require jail time. Her best hope at trial is for jury nullification, as the facts are not in dispute.
At his press conference in Long Branch on August 19, Governor Chris Christie said he was following Allen’s case closely, but that he would take no action until the judicial process had run its course. He said that after the trial, if Allen is convicted, he would review the case and that if he believed justice was not done he had the option of issuing a pardon or commuting her sentence.
Justice is already not being served in the Allen case. Acting Attorney General John Hoffman should instruct Atlantic County Prosecutor James McClain to admit Allen to the Pre-Trial Intervention Program or Governor Christie should intervene and grant Allen a pardon immediately.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office have said they want to send a message with Allen’s case. What is the message when contrasting Allen’s case to Rice’s case?
It seems to me it is a message that fame and money will get you a better deal in the justice system. Or it could be a message of misogyny, as the wife beater got off easy and the single mother is facing the max. The message could be that beating a woman is less of a crime that carrying a gun, even if there was no harm done with the gun and it was a legal gun 60 miles to the west.
Hoffman or Christie should send a different message. They should do it soon.
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As a victim of domestic abuse I too on many occasions choose not to press charges against my ex husband. I needed the system to stand strong for me because I was not mentally or emotionally able to. I was scared and numb. Domestic abuse victims also often have a tendency to blame themselves. After my ex-husband was arrested and we went to court in Monmouth County the judge showed him leniency. He was able to continue abusing me until I reached out to an organization called 180 Turning Lives around. The courts, local police stations, and many others ignore the needs and protection of many women and children. My 10 year old son had to witness this abuse also and the Monmouth County court system allowed an abuser to continue to abuse me. I encourage anyone who knows of someone who is being abused to help them, stand strong for them, fight for them when they can’t fight for themselves, and turn to an organization like 180. I am truly thankful that this situation has come to national attention.
Allen was fully forthcoming about the gun, her card and is a decent, hard working woman with children to feed and protect.
Governor Christie promising to step in AFTER she might be convicted is not good enough. She’ll have a record, and problems finding a job. Yet Rice continues to earn millions in the NFL despite actually committing a violent act.
Shame on our officials and shame on the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s office.
Now, about Domestic Violence, Harassment & Stalking. The laws are not strong enough. Pyschopaths do not learn and take ever increasing steps from minor things to more violent behavior.
Yes, innocent until proven guilty; but bail amounts are too low once a track record is there. Yes, there are the few that learn their lesson, but for the most part; once convicted of a crime, and they only get probation, they are apt to violate that probation.
And, it becomes ever more difficult to find them and incarcerate them on probation violations.
Where there should be leniency, there is not and leniency are given to those that don’t deserve it, like so called “role models” such as Rice.
Well, now Rice is a role model for thugs and punks who think they can get away with something.
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/09/08/newly-surfaced-video-shows-ray-rice-punching-fiancee/
Rice Terminated. Maybe There Is Some Justice
JCG
Not only did the Ravens Release Rice the NFL suspended him indefinitely. Good
Innocent until PROVEN guilty does not have an asterisk * – UNLESS CAUGHT ON VIDEO.
Nidal Malik Hasan, aka “The Fort Hood Shooter” seen by hundreds of eye witnesses, caught in the act, and even he was granted his day in court and was “innocent until proven guilty”.
Ray Rice appears to be a despicable human and I’m not concerned that a guy who was being paying millions to play a child’s game lost his job, but as we move more and more into a society constantly under our own video surveillance we have to be sure to protect our own God given rights as well as our constitutional rights, our privacy rights and the rights of others.
@ Bad Precedent. Good point about the asterisk.
And yes, Big Brother is ALWAYS watching in somehow.
[…] NFL team today and suspended indefinitely by the league as a result of the public outrage at the video of Rice knocking out his them fiancee that was released by TMZ this […]
she apparently married the a-hole, didn’t she??..without that income, is it still worth it to have taken such treatment? Reminded of the singer Rihanna- also abused, and still somehow cannot, even with all her own riches, finally dispose of that pig?.. I get psychological dependence, and fear for one’s kids, and hopes of the so- called security of a relationship for support purposes, but, my God, with all the so- called women’s’ rights and equality today, what still makes so many of these women so needy?? Yes, we in society need to help them find a voice and justice, but, with a daughter and a granddaughter, I still must question a total culture that raises girls to be so “pretty,” “sexy,”and be so totally focused on getting a man, a ring, the big party, and,for what?? To impress society,and one’s family and friends, who do expect it?? Then, only for many to wind up abused,disillusioned, sometimes even dead,and/or barely alive,and on the system,because of lax laws, bad choices, and cultural pressures?? It is hard to believe this keeps happening, in 2014!
Why am I not surprised that Rice’s wife has attacked the media? Now, she’s no better than him.
But in reality, I’m betting that all she cares about is the loss of her meal ticket. Can we say “Divorce? sooner, rather than later?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/09/09/ray-rices-wife-janay-defends-husband-attacks-media/
@Jim who are you to make judgment on her? You do not know any thing about this young lady.