Justice Served? Man Serving Life Sentence For Stealing TV

WRAL.com ^ | November 25, 2003 | Gerald Owens

[Russian Sage]

TILLERY, N.C. -- Does the punishment fit the crime? That is the underlying question in our legal system. The answer to that question has changed over time.

In 1970, a day laborer named Junior Allen was given a life sentence for a crime he would likely get probation for today.

[claudiustg]

I doubt Janklow will serve even 30 days in county for blowing through a stop sign at 70 mph and killing a man.

[tiki]

The sad thing is that they'll probably let the rapists and serial killers out and leave the TV theives in.

[The Great RJ]

Our Congressman was convicted of manslaughter for running a stop sign at over 70 mph and killing a motorcyclist and he only got 30 days in jail and in 3 years gets the felony removed from his record.

[gridlock]

The problems with articles like this is the author intentionally leaves out half the story. There is no mention of his numerous infractions while in prison. There is no mention of the fact that the 80-year-old woman was home at the time of the robbery and was apparently assaulted. There is no mention of whether or not he had convictions for previous violent crimes. Without all of this information, how is the reader supposed to make a valid judgement?

Of course, the reader is not supposed to. The author of this piece wants to lead the reader around by the nose, to come to the predetermined conclusion.

Let me say that if this person had more than one prior conviction for a violent felony and did, in fact, strike this 80-year-old woman during the course of this home invasion, I have no problem at all with a life sentence. The value of the haul (the TV set) is not important. The nature of the crime is.

To put it another way, if this 80-year-old woman happened to have a Million dollars in her mattress and the thug got away with that, should he deserve a greater punishment? I think not. The crime is breaking in and stealing, not what he stole.

[TheBattman]

Exactly - the article is a bit misleading. This guy did the crime - he shouldnt' complain about the time. It's not like he didn't know of the penalty.

He CHOSE to commit the crime.

[liberallarry]

How about the chair for tax evasion? And while we're at it why not kill the criminal's relatives as well.

[liberallarry]

Aren't you just dying to see Ken Lay and all the other Enron execs subjected to medieval torture? I doubt it.

[Old Professer]

You can't fool me, he just wants one of those new wide-screen plasma wall hangers.

[Old Professer]

Well, if you can show that he lay in wait for the motorcyclist and then slammed into him with the express purpose of killing him then I'll consider life imprisonment.

[af_vet_1981]

"I don't think I got no justice at all. Not no 33 years for a TV. A black and white TV," Allen said. "I wanted a color TV."

[nmh]

Just goes to show how frivolous we are with punishment for murder. It'a an average of 6 years. This guy 33 years ago, is serving LIFE for stealing a T.V.. It appears that years ago we were alot tougher than today and how today we devalue life -> ~ 6 years for a murder.

[dts32041]

All I can say he hasn't stolen anything else for the past few years and he has probably learned a trade.

BTW what do you think of the killer of the little girl getting three years and walking free.

The girl is still dead.

[liberallarry]

I think it's acceptable for a society to impose harsh or even draconian punishments - but not to do so selectively.

If small crimes are to be punished harshly then big crimes should be even more so. If you want to sentence a small-time robber to life then sentence big-time swindlers to death by endless torture, together with their friends and relatives.

If you do otherwise then don't call it justice, because it's not.

[liberallarry]

Man Serving Life Sentence For Theft Of TV Seeks Freedom

What evidence do you have for any of your "suppositions"? As far as I can tell you're either making it up, or believing only what supports your prejudices, or both.

[liberallarry]

Justice Served? Does Junior Allen's Punishment Fit His Crime?

[festus]

Let see he's spent the last 30 years in jail. So exactly how many crimes was he unable to commit in that time. Had he been let loose he'd just do it again and again and again.

Finally a "crime prevention" plan I can support.

I say we change the laws today and make this crime worth at least 25 years.

Good gracious you break into a house and steal an 80 yr olds TV then try to beat her up. And you want sympathy ?

Oh an "they made me a lion" ... "but now I'm a lamb". Your just as much a @#%#$ liar as when you went in. They didn't make you nothing.

[jordan8]

From another report on this case:

Small crime, hard time

What really happened?

In 1970, Junior Allen, then 30, was a migrant farm worker with a criminal history from Georgia: two burglaries, a breaking and entering, a car theft, and a violent assault.

He lived at a work camp near Peacocks Crossroads , close to Benson in southwest Johnston County , where he says he picked cucumbers and tomatoes by day and battled boredom by night.

Just past midnight on July 3, Allen sneaked into Johnson's unlocked home and stole her living room television, a 19-inch, black-and-white Motorola worth $140, according to court records.

Allen hid the TV in the woods near the camp. He was arrested the next month and charged with first-degree burglary.

What happened inside Johnson's house is disputed.

According to the state Department of Correction's official record of the crime , Johnston County sheriff's deputy J.D. Stewart reported that Johnson was home at the time, and she and Allen scuffled. "She was somewhat injured; bruises and scrapes, but nothing serious," the report states.

Melita Groomes , the parole commission's executive director, said the agency denied Allen parole partly because of the attack.

Selma lawyer Ken Hinton , who represented Allen at trial in October 1970, recalled similar facts.

"It seems to me like the woman might have been beaten," he said. "That may be why the judge gave him all that time."

Life for burglary

But Allen's court file contradicts that version of events.

According to court records, prosecutors reduced the charge to second-degree burglary because they couldn't prove that Johnson had been home during the theft. "It was, in effect, a stipulation by the state that the house was not actually occupied at the time," states a 1971 state Supreme Court ruling rejecting Allen's appeal.

Allen's Johnston County jury convicted him of second-degree burglary. Judge James H. Pou Bailey imposed the maximum sentence then available: life in prison.

At the time, a life sentence didn't necessarily mean life, as it does now. It meant, in Allen's case, that he became eligible for parole after about 7 1/2 years in prison. That's when the rejections began.

[goldstategop]

Its crazy. This guy only stole a TV set and he should have gotten six months in county lock up. But a life sentence? Its not justice not by any stretch of the imagination. And at his age, its highly unlikely he'd commit another crime. Let him out! I mean man, murderer and rapists have served LESS time behind bars than this poor fellow...

[goldstategop]

Exactly my point. Its cruel and unusual punishment. I am not soft on crime and don't believe in coddling criminals but there's something wrong with a system that insists on locking up a man, for stealing a TV set a quarter of a century ago, til the day he dies...

[goldstategop]

Exactly. Its the perverted sense of values... we lock up a man for life for stealing property but let criminals get off lightly for killing a human being - like Lionel Tate and Bill Janklow. A TV set can be replaced while a human life can't. Try telling the difference to the North Carolina Parole Commission!