Bledsoe pleads guilty, gets life
Carlos Bledsoe pleads guilty today in his trial for the murder of one soldier and wounding another in the parking lot of a recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas more than two years ago. Apparently, the prosecutor was prepared to take the death sentence off the table, because Bledsoe was sentenced to life in prison according to CNN;
[Abdulhakim Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe] faced 12 charges in total — capital murder, attempted capital murder and 10 counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle — according to Stephanie Harris, a spokeswoman with the state court system.
In Arkansas, defendants cannot plead guilty in a case in which the death penalty is a possibility.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the death penalty in exchange for Muhammad’s plea, Harris said.
Now we know why there was an abrupt end to testimony last week…the prosecutor needed time to cave.
The dude was guilty and the prosecutor had a lock on the death penalty, but he blinked. Now this leech will be living off of the taxpayers for the next several decades, unless they blink again and let the POS out on parole.
Category: Legal, Military issues
From http://www.arkansasonline.com
After the hearing, Daris and Janet Long said they were disappointed the federal government hadn’t done more to investigate and prosecute the case.
Holder did the bare minimum because it was one of “his people”, dontcha know.
Despicable. We need MORE people getting the death penalty, not less, and we need an express lane for heinous crimes.
Sparky, the feds weren’t prosecuting this case, the locals were, so Holder wouldn’t have had anything to do with this…
Sparky, the bare minimum would be what? Nothing?
Again, when it comes to the DoJ, race rears it’s head.
Ladybug…precisely. And why not?
Even had the Death Penalty been left on the table this waste of Oxygen would have still been around for far too long. Usually such cases equal an automatic appeal anyway and we all know the pace at which most cases crawl through the judicial system. I don’t agree with the outcome but I am glad he is sitting inside the crowbar hotel and not outside it.
The ghost of Casey Anthony’s trial scared the prosecutor. Only have to reach one juror in order to have Bledsoe on the streets gunning down more people.
Still, he’ll be in jail and the judge doesn’t have to send into the protective arms of Muslims behind bars.
Shot while trying to escape would have been a better outcome in my view.
I don’t know, Sparky. It could have been the locals wanted the case? Since it didn’t happen on federal property, they had jurisdiction. Honestly, I would think a local AR prosecution would have given a better outcome for justice over who is controlling DoJ right now…
too bad he didn’t do this in texas. Most folks don’t go 20 years on death row like some other states.
Sparky,
No death penalty if the feds prosecuteded. The state pushed for jurisdiction on this and the fed gave it to them. I’m no fan of Holder but he washed his hands of this a while ago, it’s the local prosecutor that caved…possibly to get a quick guilty plea and be done? Laziness? Apathy? Who knows…
Ladybug and Tanker, the feds had jurisdiction if they wanted it under 18 USC 1114 (murder of a federal employee or officer). But I think that Tanker’s right, DOJ wouldn’t approve a death penalty case.
I didn’t mean to imply the feds *didn’t* have jurisdiction. Just that in this case, the state/local governments did, too… Would have been different had the guy chosen to do this over at Little Rock AFB instead of Little Rock recruiting station….
I don’t know whether Little Rock AFB exists under exclusive federal jurisdiction or concurrent. If exclusive, the feds would HAVE to take the case. But since the victim was a federal employee, the normal rule is that the federal U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecutes in order to vindicate the rights and protections of the federal victim. The Supreme Court, in Solorio v. United States, ruled that the feds maintain jurisdiction over soldiers (and all active duty personnel) because of the soldier’s “status.” Handing this case off to state prosecutors is rather odd, but was likely politically decided because the “motive” (Islamic Jihadi) for the killing would likely “inflame” the public against muslims.
Shithead should have been executed.
To quote an old Hienlienism from Starship Troopers, “we put down rapid dogs don’t we?”. He has no excuse, if he’s crazy and a danger to others then he must be put down. If not, then he plotted this with his “pristine” faculties intact and has no excuse.
Well, if he ends up in an Arkansas prison, not sure what the other inmates might do to him. Probably a (slightly) different demographic than what he’d have ended up with in a federal prison…