I’m consistently amazed at how The New York Times leaves the most interesting and relevant details to the end of their articles.
I first noticed this shoddy journalism a few months ago with the story of the breastfeeding medical student who got a court to rule that she needed extra break times during a board exam to be on an “equal footing” with men, who did not have to breastfeed during the exam. The Times finally got around to mentioning in the last sentence of their article that this particular student, Sophie Currier, already had the special concession of being allowed to take the exam over two days instead of the one day that everyone else has, due to her ADHD.
Now, the Times reports on the saga of 25-year-old Ryan Holle, who allowed a friend to borrow his car to rob a marijuana dealer’s house. The robbery turned into a murder (of the dealer’s daughter), and Holle is now in prison for life with no possibility of parole, because he knew his buddies were going to use his car for a burglary. In America, when a murder is committed during a felony, all accomplices and accessories are treated as participating equally in the murder. This is different than most other countries’ murder laws.
After two pages going over the sorrow of the young man’s plight, the Times finally sees fit to mention in the final paragraphs that the prosecutor offered Holle a 10-year plea bargain and he refused to take it, despite previously admitting to police that he knew about the robbery when he lent his car– which surely meant that a jury would convict him.
I know that defendants in murder trials often have poor legal representation, but in this particular case, Holle himself made two colossal mistakes: he lent his car to people who were going to commit an armed robbery of another person, and he then refused to accept a fair plea deal from the prosecutor for his role in the girl’s death. I’m not versed in Florida’s laws, but in most states, with a 10-year sentence and good behavior, he would have been out in five years or so. That’s certainly a fair punishment. It doesn’t seem that he was trying to avoid prison by saying he was completely innocent, either, since he himself told police that he knew what his friends were up to. He probably would not have been a suspect otherwise.
The prosecutor at Holle’s trial told the jury, “No car, no crime. No car, no consequences. No car, no murder.” That’s what people say about guns as well, and they sue the gun manufacturers. Using that twisted logic, why doesn’t the prosecutor sue Chevrolet for making the Chevy Metro, a car which Holle was able to buy and use to perpetuate a robbery and then murder? It’s interesting how people never blame cars for anything, because we all have them and see them as innocuous objects. More people get killed in cars than almost any other cause of death. Most murders wouldn’t be able to happen without cars, and how many times have escaped fugitives taken off in their cars? The most dangerous thing you may ever do in your life is drive down a highway, yet no one calls for the banning of cars because that would be inconvenient.
The Times also ignores perhaps the worst injustice in the case, that of the mother of the murder victim. The marijuana dealer, Christine Snyder, was booked after her daughter’s funeral for possession of a pound of marijuana and sentenced to three years in prison. Three years in prison for marijuana possession after a woman’s daughter is brutally murdered? Perhaps the police simply thought she needed full-time, supervised, in-house grief counseling provided by the state for the next three years or perhaps they just have no violent criminals to fill the prisons in Florida.
Why focus on the guy who helped with this woman’s daughter’s murder– what about an article detailing how completely messed up our society is that it would imprison a grieving mother for three years for possession of a plant?
Tags: Ryan Holle, New York Times, felony murder law, Christine Snyder, Ryan Holle trial, marijuana, murder laws
she wasnt in “possession of a plant” she was in possession of a POUND OF POT. the other four guys, donnie william jermond and charles knew her mother and sold the “plant” for her.
heather, ryans sister
December 12th, 2007
Thanks for commenting, Heather. I hope your brother’s situation works out for the best.
The point is– marijuana is a plant. Her daughter had just been killed. Let’s have some mercy every once in a while with our laws and policing. A lot of people are upset with your brother’s sentence, but it seems that the courts may have been too overzealous with a few different people in this case.
libertariangirl
December 13th, 2007
I’m canceling my subscription to the NYT because of their omission of Ron Paul’s election results.
libertarianlady
January 21st, 2008
I missed a lot of this– what was the omission? They didn’t list him on their pages? Was this online or in the newspaper?
Make sure to tell them why you’re cancelling.
The Times has really taken a turn for the worse lately, with their incessant peddling of Krugman and recent hiring of Kristol.
libertariangirl
January 21st, 2008