There is finally justice for San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow who was left brain damaged and permanently disabled after a vicious attack by these two men: Louie Sanchez, 31, and Marvin Norwood. Both Dodgers fans pleaded guilty to the attack and received eight and four years respectively for their crimes. Given the injury to Stow, however, I am left divided on whether the punishment is sufficiently long.
Stow, a 45-year-old paramedic who went to the 2011 opening day game in Los Angeles, was beaten nearly to death in a parking lot after the game. He now requires 24-hour care from his family. The family is also suing the stadium and owner in a civil lawsuit.
For the crime, Sanchez received eight years for one count of mayhem. Norwood received four years for one count of assault likely to produce great bodily injury. Norwood has already served much of that time awaiting sentencing. However, he will likely be arrested when he is released because of a separate federal offense of being a former felon in possession of a handgun.
Stow’s sister, Bonnie Stow, described her brother’s life: “We shower him, we dress him, we fix his meals. We make sure he gets his 13 medications throughout the day. He takes two different anti-seizure medications to prevent the seizures . . . ”
While such testimony was being given, Superior Court Judge George Lomeli grew angry with what he described as smirking from Sanchez for smirking.
I am not sure why the charges were reduced for the two men in the plea bargain. The men were recorded acknowledging their crimes in recorded jailhouse statements as well as a call by Norwood to his mother. Sanchez apologizes to Norwood for pulling him into the fight and Norwood said that he had no regrets in back in him up. Keep in mind that these thugs jumped Norwood from behind. Witnesses said that Sanchez had been taunting Giants fans throughout the game and was throwing peanuts and spraying sodas on opposing fans.
They came very close to killing Stow and yet Sanchez will serve less than eight years and Norwood will be out on his four year stint in a relatively short time. This is a tough call. Eight years is a substantial sentence but do you think it fits this crime?
Good thing they weren’t selling marijuana, they might have gotten longer sentences.
bettykath:
what kind of person are you?
that is what jail is, someone else has to pay for it.
gbk:
how hard would it be to provide supervision?
David, Bron, hskiprob, You really think that thugs who smirk while hearing of the condition of their victim have enough empathy to care for their victim? You really think that their victim is not suffering enough PTSD that he needs his abusers to tend him? What kind of people are you????
Why not give the thugs the same treatment given the banksters? Levy a fine that someone else has to pay then give them a big bonus and a promotion. [snark]
bettykath, it’s not about caring from empathy. I just think Constitutional slavery resulting in restitution was a better system. I guarantee you the criminal is going to think about what he did to this guy when he is wiping his butt everyday, mowing the guy’s lawn, taking out his trash, mopping his floor, doing his grocery shopping, and washing his clothes and bedding.
These hoodlums have received only short sentences because the results are considered less serious than murder. However this calculus is faulty, what they have done should be considered worse than murder since death would put Stow out of his misery. If he does not have the option of suicide he is stuck with a low quality of life for as long as he lives and his family is stuck with the onerous chores of caring for him.
Carlyle Moulton – The more I think about it the more I agree with you. Add in the financial expenses and the physical work that is required for the rest of his life, to me, this is worse than murder. The full quality of his mental state is unknown by me, but the quality of his psychological state cannot be very good either. I would like to see these two criminals take care of this guy for free or life in prison, without parole plus having to provide additional monies by working when they are not taking care of him in an alternating routine. It would be interesting to see, if they would take that deal. Put permanent “non-removable” ankle bracelets on them for tracking, if there is such a thing. That would be about the truest form of restitution to the victim and his family that I see possible and at least they would have some freedoms and the tax payers are not stuck with their prison bills.
I would like to hear what other forms of restitution others think would be viable in this situation. I would be willing to do some work to find out what we should know about the case and chip in for the transcripts.
If we could come to a consensus on what we would recommend for their sentencing that would be interesting. Some of you know how I feel about judicial activism, so it would be cool to submit our recommendations to the Judge and family.
This is not the type of case I really want to get involved with, but the process would be interesting. Everyone on this blog “acts” like the care about society. Perhaps we should pick another case or perhaps we should do nothing.
Why not consider the entertainment product at fault ? Go for the deepest pocket. If they can pay millions to the performers, then a consideration for who they permit to attend.