Last Wednesday, Pineda was found guilty of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm and received a sentence of ten years, which will probably be reduced to five under Cook County's "One day in, Two days credit" incarceration policy.
Doesn't seem like very long, except that it's more than a quarter of his life he'll be behind bars. Nice way to screw up your life before you're old enough to vote, buy cigarettes, enter into a contract, or rent a car, kid. Hope very sincerely you spend your time in the Big House assessing how you've lived your life and decide on a change of priorities.
It's not only the Cook County Department of Corrections that has the "day for day credit" policy, the Illinois Department of Corrections that uses that policy. Additionally, some charges require that 85% of the sentence be served. I'm not sure if that is the case here, but you might want to check the facts before you just throw a number out there. He will also have to serve a period of Mandatory Supervised Release (commonly called parole), which is not exactly freedom. So the kid is not exactly getting off easy.
ReplyDeleteRed I think it is pretty easy. Wonder what the recidivism rate is for these clowns that get these "wonderful breaks from this broken justice system we have in Illinois.
ReplyDeleteRed, we're not throwing numbers out there. The information was received from a court advocate who followed the case. No matter how severe his sentence is or isn't, it's my opinion that the guy who took a few bullets in the gut from young Antonio got the worse part of the transaction.
ReplyDeleteUnless of course, you think shooting people should be discouraged, in which case, yes, this is getting off easy.
ReplyDeleteAggravated Battery with a Firearm sounds fitting for an attack where one is bludgeoned with the butt of the gun.
In this case, someone was shot in the abdomen - twice - the fact that it wasn't fatal is likely attributable to dumbass luck - victim taken to a (nearby) trauma center, shots fired into a crowd at a busy intersection in the afternoon. It isn't difficult to imagine a more dire outcome.
This is a great opportunity for the kid. He will make a lot of connections in prison.
ReplyDeleteUntil the court advocate is working for the Illinois Department of Corrections I wouldn't put a lot of faith in the number he or she quoted.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Red, you've got the last word in. Congratulations. I believe you over someone who's followed the case and spoken with the ADAs and police officers for nearly a year. You win.
ReplyDeleteADAs? You watch too much Law and Order. In Illinois the prosecuting attorneys are the Assistant State's Attorneys, not Assistant District Attorneys. All I'm saying that unless you've worked in the court system, not everything is as cut and dry as you might think.
ReplyDeleteAre any of the buildings on Cuyler between Broadway and Clarendon low-income or subsized housing? I'd like to write a letter to the management companies of the two buildings at Cuyler and Broadway, expressing concern, but I can't find a tag on the buildings to see who to write to. Does anyone know who manages those?
ReplyDeletePB - While I'm not expressing any sympathy for Mr. Pineda, it's important to observe that once one has a violent crime on their record that is easily accessible by employers, most have no hope of getting anything other than day labor. If I were in their shoes, I'd go back to a life of crime rather than sweep floors the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteAll aggravated batteries with firearms charges are served at 85 percent time. If he was convicted and sentenced on the same day than it was likely a plea. And if it was for ten years than it was almost certainly a plea deal, since the mandatory minimum on an aggravated battery with a firearm is 21 years (at 85 percent time). So, it sounds like the entity people should be most angry at, if they do not like the sentence, is the Cook County States Attorney.
ReplyDelete