Missouri Man Never Sentenced: Now faces jail time.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

IMO, he was sentenced to 13 years and he was never picked up. That sentence is either over now or soon will be. It is not the defendant's fault they were not picked up. No it is not their responsibility to do the state's job.

Do I think he got away with it? No, since he probably realized every day of his life for 13 years his life could be taken away.

Do I think the sentence should start from 0 and go for 13 years? No, I might make the case that psychologically screwing with a defendant only to incarcerate 13 years late is if not cruel, extremely unusual punishment.

Things I don't consider:
What the guy who pressed charges against him thinks now. Who cares? That's not how sentencing works and if it was, there would be a lot more people off of death row these days.

That the guy didn't actually serve jail time. That's not his job. And second guessing his lack of essentially asking to be incarcerated I find a bit silly. It doesn't serve his self interest since one could assume at least for the first four years he probably expected either his lawyer or the situation would result in his incarceration as it was an ongoing process. It is reasonable to assume he thought for a while there the system was just playing out. You don't penalize a guy for being an idiot.

That he could have become a criminal mastermind and gotten away with a dozen crimes by now. Speculation resulting in incarceration isn't a thing. And there's a reason in an actual court of law certain evidence gets tossed for being speculative.

[Rageaholic]

That the guy didn't actually serve jail time. That's not his job. And second guessing his lack of essentially asking to be incarcerated I find a bit silly. It doesn't serve his self interest since one could assume at least for the first four years he probably expected either his lawyer or the situation would result in his incarceration as it was an ongoing process. It is reasonable to assume he thought for a while there the system was just playing out. You don't penalize a guy for being an idiot.

Exactly. I've known people who have been arrested (for what else, smoking weed) and have never received their court notice in their mail. What they did receive on a night 4 months after the initial arrest was a visit from the cops and a night in jail for "contempt of court".

The thing is, as for as I can tell, he never got the court summons in the mail nor from his lying POS lawyer. He was under the impression that it was still going through the system and had idea what to do otherwise.

The above is part of the reason I'm not going to get all holier than thou about why Anderson from Missouri didn't do anything when the punishment didn't come. What was he supposed to do, call them up and ask them why he wasn't being punished? Unless Anderson is a masochist, I would not expect him to do such a thing.

[Greenday]

IMO, he was sentenced to 13 years and he was never picked up. That sentence is either over now or soon will be.

That the guy didn't actually serve jail time.

You contradict yourself. Your sentence can't be up if you don't serve it.

I don't care that he has a family now. He is a convicted felon who knew he was supposed to serve time and since no one picked him up, he just ignored it. As far as I'm concerned that's two huge strikes against him. I'm not going to argue leniency.

[Andara Bledin]

He is a convicted felon who knew he was supposed to serve time and since no one picked him up, he just ignored it. As far as I'm concerned that's two huge strikes against him. I'm not going to argue leniency.

Yeah! Let's string the guy up! Who cars that he got married, had kids, has become the owner of several successful businesses and appears to be the very model of what most Americans should aspire to be!

He did something stupid 13 years ago, and he didn't pay the price, and that's inexcusable.

You know what? Bullshit! The court system screwed the pooch and they need to eat some fucking crow over it.

Also, the jail that never had him was collecting funds based on his being there... How much other fraud are they committing by collecting money for people they're not actually housing? If anyone deserves to spend some time behind bars, Anderson is far, far down that list.

[Mytical]

How do you know that? Because he says so? How do we know he didn't commit crimes in the mean time and just never got caught?

This thought above disturbs me. Lets follow this to its logical conclusion. This is only an example.

How do we know you have not committed a crime in the last 13 years? Because you say so? How do we know you didn't, and just never got caught. We should lock you up, just in case. Better safe then sorry, right?

If you are going to assume that one person is guilty, but just never got caught, then everybody is guilty. I can not prove that I have never committed a crime, not even jaywalking, speeding, or such. Maybe I have, and just never got caught. In fact, I could be the mastermind criminal behind every crime that has ever happened since I was 18. I have no way of proving that is not true. Just because I haven't got caught doing anything... is no sign I didn't do it.

[Hyena Dandy]

How do you know that? Because he says so? How do we know he didn't commit crimes in the mean time and just never got caught?

How do I know you're not a serial killer? Because you say so? How do I know that you didn't commit crimes in the meantime and just never got caught? The U.S. Justice System works on the idea that we assume you're innocent until proven guilty. We can't lock people up for "Maybe" crimes. Give me actual evidence tying him to an actual crime, and maybe I'll agree. But until I see that, I can't just say we should assume he's a criminal.

[Greenday]

I have a clean record. My word is a little bit worth more than a convicted felon saying he hasn't committed any crimes.

[Hyena Dandy]

No it's not. All a clean record proves is that you're better at not getting caught.

[s_stabeler]

You contradict yourself. Your sentence can't be up if you don't serve it.

I don't care that he has a family now. He is a convicted felon who knew he was supposed to serve time and since no one picked him up, he just ignored it. As far as I'm concerned that's two huge strikes against him. I'm not going to argue leniency.

from what I've heard, he was out on bail pending an appeal, and he wasn't informed of when the court date was. It's well known that the justice system can be slow, so he may well have thought the appeal hadn't even been heard yet, let alone decided.

basically, you are treating this as a case of someone deliberately avoiding going to jail. I'm treating it as someone not going to jail by accident. The two are different.

also, one point- he knew that he was out of prison pending an appeal. ( which means he didn't know he was "supposed" to be in prison. Someone out pending appeal is not dodging doing their time.) So your first strike is irrelevant. Second strike- he didn't know if the appeal had been decided or not- so why should he turn himself in?

In short, you are coming from a faulty premise- and keep arguing speculation, not the facts of the case. Your clean record doesn't mean squat. You've already said you believe that this guy's clean record since his conviction means he never got caught, so why should we not assume the same of you?

[Duelist925]

I have a clean record. My word is a little bit worth more than a convicted felon saying he hasn't committed any crimes.

I'd alter that weight against a successful business and family man who'se kept his nose clean for 13 years tho.

Stop painting him as a hardened criminal, when his actions since have shown him to be the epitome of the american ideal.

[wolfie]

Exactly. I've known people who have been arrested (for what else, smoking weed) and have never received their court notice in their mail. What they did receive on a night 4 months after the initial arrest was a visit from the cops and a night in jail for "contempt of court".

WTF? If they never received the notice of when and where they were required to report for court, how can they be in contempt for not showing up? Isn't there some sort of requirement where the Crown (or its equivalent in countries outside the Commonwealth) has to prove that a summons was properly served?

[Rageaholic]

WTF? If they never received the notice of when and where they were required to report for court, how can they be in contempt for not showing up? Isn't there some sort of requirement where the Crown (or its equivalent in countries outside the Commonwealth) has to prove that a summons was properly served?

Not sure, but the cops who dealt with him were lying sacks of shit. First claiming they just wanted to "talk", then saying they had a warrant, but didn't have it with them, then just arresting him on the spot.

Shit like this is why I don't hold cops, lawyers, and judges in very high esteem. Personally, I think this was either an epic lawyer fail or it got lost in the mail. Fortunately, he got his bail money back (it helped pay for the court costs).

[s_stabeler]

Not sure, but the cops who dealt with him were lying sacks of shit. First claiming they just wanted to "talk", then saying they had a warrant, but didn't have it with them, then just arresting him on the spot.

Shit like this is why I don't hold cops, lawyers, and judges in very high esteem. Personally, I think this was either an epic lawyer fail or it got lost in the mail. Fortunately, he got his bail money back (it helped pay for the court costs).

it was both- his lawyer didn't inform him, AND it got lost in the mail.

[wolfie]

Personally, I think this was either an epic lawyer fail or it got lost in the mail.

AFAIK, the ONLY service the Post Office provides which even comes close to the standards for "proof of service" is "Registered - proof of delivery" (which still only proves that he received SOMETHING from the sender, not WHAT was sent). I something under that service got lost in the mail, there would be no signature on the proof of delivery form.

[siead_lietrathua]

AFAIK, the ONLY service the Post Office provides which even comes close to the standards for "proof of service" is "Registered - proof of delivery" (which still only proves that he received SOMETHING from the sender, not WHAT was sent). I something under that service got lost in the mail, there would be no signature on the proof of delivery form.

unless there was a dishonest postman who just left it shoved in the doorframe and wrote an X.
plus, since it happened 14-15 years ago, the documents about the letter are probably already destroyed.