Pubdate: Mon, 08 Oct 2001
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright: 2001 The Augusta Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Note: Does not publishing letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and 
South Carolina circulation area
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

THEY CALL THIS JUSTICE?

Pardon us if we don't understand this kind of justice: How does a low-lifer 
caught with a half a pound of cocaine (street value of $25,000 or so), and 
with a prior conviction for possessing coke and another for aggravated 
assault, get off with a 20-year probation sentence? Judge J. Carlisle 
Overstreet could have sent Rodricgus F. Maxwell to a 30-year prison party. 
The assistant district attorney only asked for a 10-year term.

Yet this coke dealer is out on the street with a hand slap.

Overstreet is the same judge who scored noticeably low in the sentencing of 
rapists, according to research done by Chronicle news reporter Sandy Hodson 
in a series that ran earlier this week.

Overstreet gives fewer rapists prison sentences and lets a greater 
percentage of them off on probation or reduces their crimes to misdemeanors 
than any other judge - and we're not talking just a few percentage points, 
either. He's way off the chart compared to other judges.

Maybe Judge Overstreet wouldn't mind if these creeps moved next door to 
him. However, coke peddlers and rapists aren't the kind of people most of 
us want lurking around our neighborhoods.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl