Now that we are seeing what is coming down the road with US trials of terrorists, we need to start asking if this nation is going to be handing out the Florida brand of justice or real justice.

Some months ago, the great and compassionate state of Florida took a two-time drug seller and sentenced him to probation because, as the motherly judge (?) said, he is white and a bit frail, so he might be sexual prey for those hardened convicts. [See Florida's Justice]

That concern is compassionate indeed, and compassion has its place in the justice system, but it should not be shown only to white defendants. What about those frail black defendants; won't they, too, become sexual prey for hardened convicts? Indeed they will, but compassion seems to have run out in judges when it comes to those defendants. Yet judges do not run out of weak rationales that function as balms for their consciences.

Marin County's John Lindh Walker, the American Taliban, as he is labeled, was last week sentenced to 20-years for actually fighting against American soldiers in Afghanistan. He was captured and taken prisoner on the battle field. Once he was discovered to be American and white, his hair was cut, his beard was shaven, the media coverage on him was softened, and in the trial, he was portrayed as a sympathetic figure. And after working out a deal with the prosecution, he was sentenced to a mere 20-years.

There had never been any talk of Walker facing the death penalty and little about getting life. Last week, in the midst of his tears, (whether planned or not is anybody's guest) the judge sentenced him to a prison term he would soon overcome. What this sentence means is that John Lindh Walker can be out of prison when he is 27-30 years old, with good behavior and a favorable parole hearing.

Without doubt, in prison, he will be helped with writing his life story, which will become a best seller, and he will come out of prison a wealthy man and vaunted by America for fighting for what he believed in. Then he will be reclaimed at home in Marin County, California. And there will be parties, as his father again proclaims he is proud of his son!

But now may be the right time to start examining how non-white defendants similarly or approximately situated will be treated in US courts. Will there be compassion and understanding for them, or will their heads be cut off swiftly in the name of justice and the American way?

Already, some non-whites have been arrested for conspiracy on the weakest of evidence. Will they receive justice under the Bush/Ashcroft administration of American justice? We don't need Florida justice in our court system--compassion for white defendants and death sentences for nonwhite defendants, with the flimsy rationales so the dispensers of this type of justice can sleep afterwards. []

Gibbs
10/7/02

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