My sister-in-law was sentenced today in Judge John Rochester's court in Ashland. I was halfway there when my transmission went haywire and did not make it to the sentencing. My brother did though.
He called me a few minutes ago and said that she was sentenced to 5 years but that the sentence was suspended so that she will go to treatment for six months and then be on probation afterwards.
You know, it's amazing. Ever since Judge Rochester's son was caught trafficking drugs at the Ashland City Park he has done a 180 on every drug defendant I know who has come before him. This is the fourth person that I know personally who was up on serious drug charges who got the same sentence. Treatment and 5 years probation. One of those was a trafficking charge where the defendant was on tape selling to an undercover officer. And he was black to boot! It wasn't the first offense for any of them. In two of the cases the defendant had a record close to a mile long, so to speak.
It's really funny how quickly a hanging judge will change his fucking tune when the laws he has so religiously enforced for years and years come back to bite him in the ass after it is discovered that his own son is nothing more than a common drug trafficker. No better or worse than the hundreds of poor Clay County people he has sentenced to be tortured in an Alabama prison cell over the years.
What I'd really like to know is if he actually fully understands the folly of the drug war now that it has come home to roost or if he is just putting on airs so that he doesn't look like a hypocrite?
175 Years ago today
1 week ago
