US man faces potential 30-year prison sentence for stealing a doughnut

The Associated Press
Published: October 7, 2007

International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/07/america/NA-GEN-US-Doughnut-Theft.php

A Missouri man could potentially face a 30-year prison sentence for stealing a doughnut from a store.

Scott A. Masters, 41, of Park Hills, Missouri, has been charged with felony second-degree robbery in the theft of a 52-cent doughut from a Country Mart in Farmington, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of St. Louis. Store employees said he slipped the doughnut into his sweat shirt without paying last December, then pushed away a clerk who tried to stop him as he fled the store.

The push is being treated as minor assault, which transforms a misdemeanor shoplifting charge into a strong-armed robbery with a potential prison term of five to 15 years. Given Masters' past criminal record, prosecutors could boost that sentence to 30 years to life.

"Strong-arm robbery? Over a doughnut? That's impossible," Masters told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper from jail. He admitted that he took the pastry but denied touching the female employee. "I've never had a violent crime in my life. And there's no way I would've pushed a woman over a doughnut."

Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said state law treats the shoplifting and assault as forcibly stealing property. The amount of force and value of the property does not matter.....

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/07/america/NA-GEN-US-Doughnut-Theft.php

Athugasemdir

[Gullvagninn (IP-tala skráð) 10.10.2007 kl. 09:17]

Öfgarnar í ameríku eru hávær viðvörunarbjalla sem við ættum að taka mark á og slíta öllum samskiptum og undirlægjuhætti þegar í stað.  þetta er ekki framtíð sem ég óska eftir hér á íslandi, en við kjósum þessa framtíð með því að umbera þetta orðalaust (sem flestir gera), eða jafnvel gleðjast yfir því að yfirvöld "séu að gera í málunum" - viðhorf sem því miður á allt of marga jámenn

[Baldur Fjölnisson, 10.10.2007 kl. 14:43]

Refsigleðin er hrikaleg enda landslýðurinn langheilaþveginn með geðveikislegu ofbeldis- og hatursrausi úr gamla testamentinu. Langvarandi heiladrepandi innræting hefur vissulega áhrif. Þrátt fyrir að repúblikanaflokkurinn þarna, ruglaðri hluti einflokksins, sé systurflokkur íhaldsins hér heima hefur þó þetta haft furðu lítið heilaskemmandi áhrif hér, nema þá helst í forystu þess flokks.