September 16, 2009

Looters slapped on the wrist

Mother, daughter get probation for theft of artifacts

By Emiley MorganDespite the prosecutor's recommendation that Jeanne Redd be sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting and attempting to sell Native American artifacts from federal lands, she was given 36 months of probation. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups took into account the other "consequences suffered" and the seriousness of the crime that had impacts "felt by her and the community."

"This was not a crime of violence, the defendant is of no danger to the community, and there is a need of the defendant for medical, emotional care and the support of family that is significant," Waddoups said.

The judge said that even though collecting the artifacts is a crime, the conduct "if not culturally accepted, has been justified for many years" in the southern Utah area.
Comment:  Lynchings were culturally accepted and justified in the South for decades. When federal and state officials finally cracked down on the practice, should they have given the first killers a pass? "These poor lynch mob members didn't know they were doing anything wrong. If they don't shape up in a year or two, we'll get tough with them then."

Uh, no. The judge's "reasoning" is precisely why he should've imposed a real sentence. Namely, to send a message that looting is not culturally acceptable.

For more on the subject, see Looting Is Big Business and Artifact Theft = "Organized Crime."

Below:  "Prominent Blanding, Utah physician James Redd, center, shown here with his wife, Jeanne was found dead of an apparent suicide near his home in Blanding a day after being charged with illegal looting of archaeological artifacts held sacred by Utah's earliest inhabitants."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As usual, there's always double-standards at play when a white is guilty of such. If the woman and her husband were non-white. They would normally be given the sentence handed to them(18 months in the pen). Occasionally, the Justice system appears to be soft on the anglos. I thought the 18 months sentenced seems appropiate in this case. But what troubled me about this case is how the whites in Blanding were all prattling enraged about the federal laws being enforced. It is not the feds fault that the man kiiled himself. It just seems that he could handle it like a man. If white conservatives are all about pro-law and "the rule of law", that means they need to support every law written in the book. Otherwise they're a bunch of hypocrties.

Shadow Wolf--