Where is Judge Roy Bean when you need him?
Posted on 08/21/2002 10:19:31 AM PDT by ValerieUSA
EVERETT -- An irate father stormed out of a crowded Snohomish County Superior Court room yesterday, declaring the sentencing of one of his son's killers a mockery.
"Good God! You've got to be joking!" exclaimed Pat Lorbiecki, erupting from his seat after Judge Richard Thorpe handed Emmanuel Wilson a sentence of 12 1/2 years for second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 20 years for 17-year-old Wilson, who admitted wielding the souvenir baseball bat used in the clubbing of 15-year-old Joshua Lorbiecki.
Many of Pat Lorbiecki's angry friends and relatives followed him out of the courtroom, which was filled to standing-room-only, with security officers screening people at the door and keeping guard inside.
Wilson was one of four youths sentenced yesterday for their part in the botched robbery plot that left the popular Everett High School sophomore to die on a middle-school playfield Nov. 17 of last year.
Authorities say that on the night of his death, Joshua Lorbiecki called one of the boys, Matthew Teague, to make a marijuana buy. Teague and three companions -- Emmanuel Wilson, his older brother Fernando and their cousin Steve Limar -- admitted to hatching a plot to "jack Joshua," luring him to the playfield to rob him of some $400.
They never got the money.
Although the boys rifled Lorbiecki's pockets, they found only $12.
Police later discovered $400 stashed away in a separate pocket.
Court records indicate that two of the boys attempted to help Lorbiecki off the field after the beating, but took off when they heard sirens, leaving him to die. They all fled town soon after.
The four defendants, ages 16 to 20, all pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case. None had prior convictions. The state had recommended different sentences for each defendant, based on the degree of culpability. But all four were sentenced to 10 1/2 years -- the low end of the sentencing range -- with Wilson receiving an additional two years for the deadly weapon charge.
"Imposing a sentence in a case like this is an awesome task," Thorpe said yesterday.
"Nobody can bring Joshua back. And nobody but God can help the family."
Defense lawyers yesterday portrayed the four youths as teenagers who had made a mistake, with no intent to injure anyone. Though they abandoned Lorbiecki at the field, they had no idea how badly he was hurt, the lawyers said.
Friends and relatives of the defendants painted a picture of good kids, trying to make it in a world of drugs and violence. "No family is untouched with the madness that runs wild in our society," said Emmanuel and Fernando's father, Robert Wilson.
All four youths apologized to the Lorbiecki family yesterday for the loss of Joshua, who, though he had some run-ins with the law, was a well-liked youth who loved sports, hip-hop music, computer games and the outdoors.
The 15-year-old, who had been a bat boy for the Mariners, was planning on trying out for the football team.
"What we did that day was wrong," said Matthew Teague. "We never thought it would be this serious."
Emmanuel Wilson apologized to the Lorbiecki family -- and to his own girlfriend, who brought their new baby daughter to court.
"I'm sorry I won't be there to raise my daughter," he said.
Joshua Lorbiecki's aunt, Tina Smith, surprised the defendants and most everyone in the courtroom with a speech praising her "awesome nephew" and drawing on biblical citations.
Her God, she said is a God of forgiveness.
Then she turned to face the defendants, her face screwed up in pain, tears running down it, and told them:
"I, for one, forgive you."
If forgiving the scum that killed one of my relatives like this is a requirement for being a Christian, I know I will never qualify.
I certainly don't forgive Clinton for what he did to this country.
That might be very much indeed. I expect she isn't very popular with her nephews family these days. Especially after the verdict was read. I'd have to agree with the poster who called her an idiot.
Don't assume that forgiving someone means you don't want them punished to the full extent.
What's wrong with our schools today? Why aren't they teaching people how to loot the dead efficiently?
(It's a joke, guys!)
I don't argue with her personal forgiveness based on her understanding of God's Will, but for her to publicly stand up and display it while the family members, those who were directly wounded, are coming to grips with the frustration and anger of the situation ... .
Even if they were bound to come to the same conclusion, I can imagine that her announcement could be seen more as meddling in someone else's pain rather than as a genuine witness to the love of God.
I need more time to think this one through.
That is just too funny.
Well a good start in helping the family would be to give them the justice they deserve. But nooooo, let's pamper the murderous little creeps that took his life.
BUMP
Ah, now - it's DIFFERENT if you kill a member of the Club or one of their progeny...
He will be out in 6 yrs. or less.
Revenge is best served up cold.
I will certainly not defend a young man of his age buying or using weed. There are better things for him to be doing.
For the Drug warriors out there to equate his behaviour with reasonable expectations of death, is beyond ignorant. May this father find some comfort in the coming months. May the Drug Warriors of FR someday get a clue>
Yeah, right. I'm glad the wounded parties stormed out of the courtroom. We should have more of that going on.
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