Posted on 01/29/2008 2:00:19 PM PST by Kellis91789
A former top Hollywood studio lawyer and his wife were on Monday sentenced by a Los Angeles judge after admitting to mistreating their Filipino maid in a case of "modern-day slavery," a court heard. US District Judge Dale Fischer ordered James Jackson, 53, a former vice-president of legal affairs at Sony Pictures to perform 200 hours of community service for admitting a charge of alien harboring.
Jackson's wife Elizabeth, 54, was given a three-year jail term after pleading guilty to a charge of forced labor.
In passing sentence, Fischer said Elizabeth Jackson had treated the victim, former schoolteacher Nena Ruiz, worse than her dog.
Ruiz was forced to eat three-day-old food and to sleep on a dog basket after working 18 hours a day. Over the course of several months' employment between 2001 and 2002 she was paid only 300 dollars.
"These defendants subjected their victim to what amounts to modern-day slavery," said Justice Department prosecutor Wan Kim after the Jacksons pleaded guilty in August last year.
In a related civil lawsuit, Ruiz said Elizabeth Jackson regularly slapped her and pulled her hair.
The Jacksons also threatened to turn her over to immigration authorities if she left them, Ruiz said. Ruiz finally fled the Jacksons after she was hit in the mouth with a water bottle in February 2002.
Elizabeth Jackson said in a letter read out in court on Monday that she took full responsibility for her actions.
"In my life I have always tried and strived to do the right thing," she said. "I failed in this case."
Defense lawyers argued against a jail sentence for Jackson, saying the couple had already suffered enough by being forced to declare bankruptcy.
However Fischer denied a request for home confinement, telling the court: "It seems she treated her dog much better than she treated her victim."
Ruiz won 825,000 dollars in damages from her former employers at a 2004 civil trial in Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Jackson said in a letter read out in court on Monday that she took full responsibility for her actions.
"In my life I have always tried and strived to do the right thing," she said. "I failed in this case."
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Ya' think ??
They’re lawyers, so my bet is all their finances are in non-traceable accounts and the bankruptcy was to avoid paying the judgment. Or am I just cynical?
She was just whaling on the illegal hired help that Americans won’t do...no, wait...
She should not get a dime. Was she deported?
So they sentenced him to be my butler.
Suuuuuure you have, Elizabeth. You went from a person who "does the right thing" to one who treats your illegal alien employee like an abused animal all by magic, apparently.
We're buying that, uh huh.
Amazing isn’t it, that sometimes, the more money folks have, the worse they tend to treat their ‘help’? I wonder if they support Democrats, who, as we all know, are for the ‘little people’.
Even if she was though, I believe that no one should be treated as this story says.
Then you failed to read this .."The Jacksons also threatened to turn her over to immigration authorities if she left them, Ruiz said."
That, presumably, means she is illegal.
Cannot recall the act, but it was signed by jorge, anyone in her position gets steam-lined into citizenship.
3 years in prison for treating somebody ‘worse than their dog’ for a few months ? The article didn’t even say they kept her locked up. She stayed because of the threat of being turned over to Immigration. She did simply walk away finally after being physically abused, and then went to the police.
3 years in prison seems adequate punishment to me.
Slavery is slavery, I would be for hanging them in the public square. Besides the man got a slap on the wrist.
The article doesn’t provide enough specifics to support the term “slavery”.
The woman plead guilty to ‘forced labor’, but if you aren’t actually keeping somebody captive, how can that be ? If she was keeping somebody captive, she would be charged with ‘kidnapping’, wouldn’t she ? Seems to be a disconnect there.
I don't think she should have been treated that way - her employers should go to prison. But, she should not get any money when she's the one who broke the law first.
The article isn’t clear. Was Ruiz an illegal - or did the Jacksons bring her over here with the false hope of becoming a citizen or getting a work visa? Regardless, the Jacksons are in bankruptcy, I wonder if Ruiz will see dime one of the settlement, here or in the Phillipines...
"Nena Ruiz came to the United States from the Philippines at age 58. Nena, who had been a schoolteacher, entered this country on a special work visa at the request of James and Elizabeth Jackson, ostensibly to work as a traveling companion and caretaker for Elizabeth Jackson's mother. However, when Nena arrived in California, speaking very little English, the Jacksons almost immediately transferred her to their own home, where they exploited her vulnerability to make her a domestic slave.The Jacksons allegedly took her passport and threatened to report her to immigration authorities. Nena says she received only about $300 for a year of working up to 18 hours per day. Elizabeth Jackson allegedly hit her and frequently pulled her hair. A neighbor finally reported to the police that Elizabeth Jackson was hitting Nena with a water bottle. Although Nena was too timid to tell the police about her plight, the incident emboldened her to run away the next day.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1187112~LA_attorney_and_wife_sentenced_in_forced_labor_of_Filipino_maid.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines
So I guess it depends on who really broke the law first.
Was? Where does it say she is now legal?
Presumably she is STILL illegal.
BTW you also missed.... "US District Judge Dale Fischer ordered James Jackson, 53, a former vice-president of legal affairs at Sony Pictures to perform 200 hours of community service for admitting a charge of alien harboring."
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