D.C. Jail Stay Ends in Death For Quadriplegic Md. Man

I didn't see this on any other forum, and it's too old for Late Breaking News, but I hope people will pay attention:

Jonathan Magbie, a 27-year-old Mitchellville man, was sent to jail in the District last week for 10 days for marijuana possession.

He never made it home.

...........

By the standards of D.C. Superior Court, the 10-day sentence rendered by Judge Judith E. Retchin was unusually punitive for a first-time offender such as Magbie. Along with his defense attorney, Boniface Cobbina, a pre-sentence report had recommended probation, and the U.S. attorney's office had not objected.

But Retchin rejected probation alone. A former federal prosecutor who became a Superior Court judge in 1992, Retchin is known to dispense stiff sentences.

Police, she pointed out, found a gun and cocaine in the vehicle in which Magbie was stopped in April 2003. And, despite pleading guilty to the marijuana charge, Magbie told pre-sentence investigators that he would continue using the drug, which he said made him feel better.

"Mr. Magbie, I'm not giving you straight probation," the judge said, according to a transcript of the Sept. 20 proceedings. "Although you did not plead guilty to having this gun, it is just unacceptable to be riding around in a car with a loaded gun in this city."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63478-2004Sep30.html

Like Martha Stewart and Tommy Chong.
Just curious, was Magbie black and the judge white?

I saw a picture of Magbie's family at a candlelight vigil, and I think they are black, though it was dark so maybe I'm wrong. Don't know about the judge, other than that she is a monster. Why punish a man who can't even use his hands for having been in a car with a loaded gun? It's not like he loaded the gun, or put it there, or would have been able to shoot it. His family won't say that the judge murdured him, but I will. She killed him with her pride, her posturing, and her indifference. I vote she be rendered quadraplegic and then sentenced to 10 days without adequate medical support. Bitch.

Yes. It was negligent homicide on its best face. Depraved indifference to human life.

judges are often required to go by a "schedule" in sentencing... and from what i've heard, jails can receive federal funding per prisoner - so it's in their interests to pack the jails - it's a money-making proposition. unfortunately, it's a death sentence for folks like this poor guy... probably couldn't afford a lawyer to go in and put the jail on notice or get the judge to give an alternative sentence (house arrest would have been more humane even though still excessive for a first time drug offense).

the court system is bad and getting worse by the minute - this is where we really need reform. it's worse than you think.