Posted on 05/19/2004 4:22:15 PM PDT by chance33_98
Woman released from life sentence
A woman sentenced to life in prison for getting caught with $40 worth of cocaine is now enjoying her freedom.
By Corey Rangel
KSNT-TV May 18
A woman sentenced to life in prison for getting caught with $40 worth of cocaine is now enjoying her freedom.
Gloria VanWinkle had been in prison for 12 years before a Geary County judge ordered she be released for time already served.
Last month, the secretary of corrections had reviewed her case and recommended her sentenced be shortened. The judge agreed and freed her. Since then she's already found an apartment in Topeka.
Right now, it's mostly empty but that doesn't matter much to VanWinkle. She says she's got her freedom and is looking forward to being reunited with her two kids who are currently living with her mother in Geary County.
"I can't wait to see each other and get together and get to know each other again and start all over," said VanWinkle.
VanWinkle is looking forward to seeing and spending time with her kids but knows it will take time to build a relationship. For now, her kids will continue living with VanWinkle's mother.
Her husband, Rip, is still sleeping off her conviction.
Good line.
Good example of why Mandatory Sentences are not such a great idea after all. IMHO
The crazy pendulum... no mandatories, and rapists and killers will sometimes go before a bleeding heart judge and get probation... mandatory sentences, and you can end up with stories like this.
Perhaps...but I get the sense there's a LOT more to this story than this fluffy little piece of non-journalism indicates. Was this woman a habitual repeat offender? Is her arrest record longer than my arm? People don't just get sent up the river for life over less than a half-gram of toot.
For my own part, I think the 3 Strikes law is a good object lesson for idiots who can't straighten up and fly right after *TWO* convictions. I don't know about you, but if I ever had a conviction which lead to my doing hard time, I sure as hell wouldn't go back to doing the same damn dumb things like those people do.
The lunatic drug warriors must be deeply disturbed.
Let's all debate what will be a fair sentence the NEXT time she is caught with drugs. If she has any brains or her supplier has any brains, she'll see that she has a ceratin window of immunity where the cops won't touch her. She can deal like crazy during that period and then scream frame or entrapment when the cops finally get so much evidence that they have to act.
How about we leave her alone.
yet another dreadful headline...it could mean she had just been released from a life sentence, when suddenly she was sentenced to life for something else.
Best idea I've seen.
FMCDH
You do not understand!
People who use recreational drugs deeply hurt and offend the morality and sensibility of certain Americans. Every time someone uses a recreational drug these certain Americans suffer deep and unimaginable pain. We must punish these people who are causing this torturous pain among our God fearing citizens.
There IS a solution: End the Drug War and we'd have room for long mandatory sentences for violent crime and habitual property crime.
Hm....what's the rest of the story?
the trouble is ( and I worked for Dept of Corrections) is conviction # 1 and #2, they usually get probation and think they will keep getting probation.
p.s. "snowbrains" or crackheads don't think real clear.
Third strike is kinda like the insane "zero tolerance" rules in our schools.
Kinda like a small child that you keep telling if you do that again, I am going to spank you.
You never spank him/her so after a while, they just know you aren't going to spank them, so they have no reason to alter behavior.
Who are these "certain Americans" and how are they "hurt"? Please define their deep, unimaginable, and torturous pain. Or are you pulling my leg?
The drug laws in this country with respect to non-dealing recreational usage are a joke when compared to sentencing and subsequent parole of violent criminals.
How about she leave the blow alone.
Nonsense. I'm sure she didn't get life for crack. She got life because this is one of many crimes she's committed.
You only get a life sentence if there is a past record multiple felony convictions....if She was a He, this not be news, "He" would still be doing life.
That is not my understanding of the Three-Strikes law. Do you have any evidence to support that assertion? Everything I've seen to date indicates that the first two strikes are cases which involve serving time, not probation.
p.s. "snowbrains" or crackheads don't think real clear.
Fair enough, but that doesn't mean they should keep getting free passes every time they go back to their old ways.
Third strike is kinda like the insane "zero tolerance" rules in our schools.
That's absurd. "Zero Tolerance" rules are more like "One Strike" than "Three Strikes."
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