Thursday, March 22, 2007

This bastard needs impeachment--YESTERDAY!!

Mitch has the scoop...

Is there any way we can get this bastard scum-sucking judge impeached?
Gladys Reyes wasn't able to attend Wednesday's sentencing of the man who hit and dragged her with his van, leaving her nearly dead and without her right arm.

But the friend who saw her get hit by the van cried as she told the courtroom how she had banged on the driver's window, trying to get him to stop.

"I saw her get hit, and then she was being dragged," sixth-grader Rachel Schmid said.

Shortly after she spoke, Mauricio Sanchez, 33, was sentenced to prison for nearly two years for striking Gladys on a January evening in West St. Paul, and then fleeing with the 11-year-old girl pinned and dragging beneath the van.

The sentence, which could result in Sanchez serving less than 16 months in prison, wasn't nearly long enough for Gladys' father, Jose Reyes.

Speaking through an interpreter, Reyes said: "This is very little time for what happened to my daughter. Gladys is going to ask me what happened, and I'm going to tell her he just got a little time in prison.

"I don't know how she's going to react."

Gladys and Rachel were walking across Wentworth Avenue at S. Robert Street in a crosswalk on the early evening of Jan. 28 when Sanchez's van turned the corner, hit Gladys and dragged her nearly 500 yards.

After more than 15 surgeries, Gladys remains hospitalized and faces months of physical, psychological and emotional rehabilitation, said Dr. David Dries, a Regions Hospital surgeon who treated her.

Her parents wrote to Dakota County District Judge Richard Spicer that Gladys, who was conscious throughout the ordeal, "relives it again and again" in flashbacks.

"Long after Mr. Sanchez's nightmare is over and he is walking free, Gladys will still be living a mental nightmare," they wrote.

Before imposing sentence Wednesday, Spicer said that he doesn't think Sanchez "is an awful man, but he made an awful decision."

The judge said the incident began as an accident, but escalated into a serious crime with Sanchez's decision to flee.

"I wish I could do more for the Reyes family," Spicer said. "But I can't repair the damages. It's a sad day for all of us."

Sanchez, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm.

The judge said that he expects Sanchez will face deportation back to El Salvador as a result of the conviction.

Spicer gave Sanchez a tougher sentence than state sentencing guidelines, which call only for jail time and a stayed prison sentence. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who sought a four-year prison term for Sanchez, said afterward that the guidelines need to be reexamined.

Had not motorist David Carrera pulled in front of the fleeing Sanchez and forced him to stop, Backstrom said, "I believe Gladys Reyes would be dead."

Sanchez declined to make a statement before he was sentenced. His attorney, Patrick Cotter, said that Sanchez, who has no criminal record, is remorseful.

"There's been a lot of tears. There's been a lot of wishing he could take this back," Cotter said afterward.

However, Jose Reyes said in court that his daughter told him she yelled and kicked the van while being dragged, hoping to get the driver to stop.

Assistant Dakota County Attorney Kevin Golden said in court that if Sanchez "had the slightest concern about what happened, he would have stopped."

..."He's not an awful man, he just made an awful decision????" Just who does this bozo judge think he is, Mr. Rogers???

He's letting a guy virtually go free, and this young girl has to go through the rest of her life missing an arm, not to mention suffering PTSD...

This is not a left-or-right conservative/liberal issue-- I personally don't know Spicer's politics.

The fact remains that this idiot judge is a menace to Minnesota!

I'm calling for Richard Spicer's impeachment--post haste!

I've sent emails and will personally phone my state representatives.

I encourage all Minnesotans to do likewise.
------------------------