Posted on 12/01/2005 8:56:49 PM PST by DuckFan4ever
PORTLAND --New developments in the Tonya Harding ice skating scandal.
Shane Stant, the man who hit Nancy Kerrigan in the knee, appeared in a Portland courtroom Thursday, trying to clear his record so he can become a Navy Seal. Stant doesn't have the name or face recognition as the other players in the infamous scandal do, but he is the one who attacked Kerrigan and when she heard he was trying to clear his name Thursday, she fought back.
What started as a surprise attack on a star skater became one of the more memorable news stories of the 1990s.
It turned out to be a plot involving Kerrigan's rival, Portland skater Tonya Harding, her husband Jeff Gillooly, her bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt and an Arizona bounty hunter named Shane Stant.
Stant confessed to hitting Kerrigan with a metal baton and pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge. A Multnomah county judge sentenced him to a year and a half in prison.
Eleven years later Stant was back in court trying to get that felony off his record, making him eligible to be a Navy Seal.
"I feel like this is something I really want to do. I want to serve my country," Stant said.
Prosecutors argued Stant's crime isn't the kind that can be erased from someone's record. And Kerrigan had something to say about his request.
In a letter she said it would be "unfair" if Stant's felony charge was "swept under the carpet" because she wrote, "…the attack by Mr. Stant and his cohorts remains something that I must live with on a regular basis."
The judge denied Stant's request.
"We all make mistakes. We make bad decisions," Stant said.
A disappointed Stant says it's unfortunate he's still paying for his 1994 crime.
"I think people should have a chance to redeem themselves. You make a mistake, you can't be held down. There really aren't a lot of opportunities for ex-felons," Stant said.
And while what he did still haunts him, he admits it also has helped.
"When you're open to doing something like I've done, it means your open to other things. I'm really lucky I'm not in prison. I'm lucky I'm not dead. I'm really blessed in that way. I've learned a lot from that. I'm a wiser man today than I was yesterday. I'm trying to use it the best I can," Stant said.
Stant told us he lives in southern California and works in sales. Since that 1994 arrest, he has not been in trouble and says he doesn't keep in touch with any of the people from his past.
I am all for giving people a second chance to serve in the military. There are a lot of people in the past who had turned their lives around in just that way.
I don't think he will succeed in this quest. Luckily, there are lots of ways to serve your country. He will have to look down another path.
2) You can't enlist to be a SEAL.
She was a talented skater who came from a lower class background and was unprepared to deal with that world.
Man with much to prove and nothing to lose... Why not have Dirty Dozen units?
Yeah, the Seals are often called upon to beat up ice skaters.
The guy assaulted an innocent woman with a pipe. Why should he be in the military (not that there'd be a snowball's chance of him ever becoming a SEAL anyway)?
Agreed. He can do many other things useful to society such as volunteer his services for the incapicated victims that have lost limbs in the war.
Sh#%^&*! I think I have internal injuries from laughing so hard.
He can find other ways to serve. Hell, after I was medically disqualified from enlistment in the military I joined a fire department.
"Tonya Harding "
You can't put lipstick on a pig.
As for Stant he is a violent felon. Why would the Navy even want him?
Maybe not a Seal, but we could use him as one of the Dirty Dozen and send him after the terrorists.
I assume you feel the same way about Tookie?
Hey....do you know where I can purchase the NY Times bestseller book " I Tookie Ur Children"...??
Agreed on the second point. And, as you said, enlisting to be a SEAL is a nice goal for someone, but you have to get there on your merits, not your wants.
That said, I believe that the Military could be an option on a case by case basis for a subset of people who have run afoul the law. It is true that there were some people in the past who were given the choice of jail or the military, chose the military and did well. Granted, these were not murderers or rapists, but I would not advocate that anyway.
I would advocate a system where someone who has shown reliable evidence of reform (and not being of a certain class of criminal) being able to enlist under a probationary status on a case by case basis, where even the smallest infraction can result in immediate expulsion.
I agree with you. The man is sorry for what he did in his youth and I do feel he is entitled to redemption. If he wants to serve his country, I think a place should be found for him, somewhere.
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