I can assure all of you that this is the first and the last time I will ever quote anything from St. Louis Coptalk. Make of this information what you will, as I usually pay that website no mind because it's mostly quite negative, but I think these statements are something important to consider. It may be fashionable in some circles to bash the SLMPD, but even if they are doing all they can (which I think is true in most cases) does it really matter when the courts and judges won't back up their efforts?
(BTW, in the posts below, SIS= Suspended Imposition of Sentence.)
I know that Coleman got an SIS for felony burglary and theft in 2007. I read in the Post that he got another SIS for Unlawful Use of a Weapon in 2008. I have not been able to find out if his UUW happened at the same time as the burg/theft, or after. If after, this means that his punishment for violating his first SIS was another SIS. Logic would dictate that the first SIS would have been revoked and off to Jefferson City with him.
That's why I think the UUW was at the same time as the other felonies. I can ill believe that even the thug-loving circuit like St. Louis City would punish an SIS violation with another SIS. It's like stop in the name of the law, or I'll yell stop again. Or, this is your last chance, if you screw up, you'll get another last chance.
Is St. Louis City's circuit really that crazy?
Yes. They are that crazy. Multiple consecutive SIS pleas are the norm and not the exception. It's not just the judges either. The Circuit Attorney has to agree to the plea as well. At least one commander has been very vocal in fighting this fight for the last several years. An SIS plea doesn't even count as a conviction so under the current law a thug with multiple SIS "convictions" who is over 21 can legally carry a gun in their car. The Police Board was made aware of this problem over a year ago. Until something is done, judges can continue to hand out such "sentences" at their discretion. The police are doing their job. The problem is that the prosecutors and judges don't do the job they are paid to do. Check the records. Vote them out.
As a former probation and parole officer I can assure you that it is common practice, to award SIS offenders with another SIS. I once had a guy with FOUR felony probations (all separate incidents)running at the same time, which obviously defeats the purpose of probation in the first place. In rural counties, the judges are more accountable because the people in the counties know what's going on. The second time some drug addict in Macon, MO tests positive for marijuana they get their probation revoked and are shipped off to prison. It then comes down to the city judges to keep down prison overcrowding, resulting in felons being put on probation over and over. Absolutely no accountability, which is why I won't ever be going back to that job. I'd gladly pay higher taxes if the money were going to build more prisons. We need them.
That's b/c of the stupid Missouri plan for STL City, Co., Jackson Co., statewide appellate and Supremes. Rural judges can be voted out b/c there's someone credible on the other side of the ballot. In places with the MO Plan 9 from Outer Space, your choice is the sitting judge or no. Who the heck is "no?"
Like I said before, make of this information what you will, but for me at least, it reinforces what I said earlier in this thread about St. Louis having a much larger problem than the mere presence of hardened criminals on our streets.
I don't feel unsafe, I have no desire to leave the city I love, but if lowlifes like Mario Coleman continue to slip through the cracks, it's only a matter of time before another innocent person is hurt, or even worse.
