PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a woman, the 20-year-old college junior attended a
This photo showing Joshua Lipton was originally posted to Facebook and was released by the State of Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General.
Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled “Jail Bird.”
In the age of the Internet, it might not be hard to guess what happened to those pictures: Someone posted them on the social networking site Facebook. And that offered remarkable evidence for Jay Sullivan, the prosecutor handling Lipton’s drunken-driving case.Sullivan used the pictures to paint Lipton as an unrepentant partier who lived it up while his victim recovered in the hospital. A judge agreed, calling the pictures depraved when sentencing Lipton to two years in prison.
How to go to jail 101 – Drive drunk off your ass, get arrested, post pics of yourself on Facebook wearing jail bird costume days before sentencing -BINGO! You’re off to jail!
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Good riddance.
uhm you guys sure it doesnt say “jail bitch”???
Considering he seriously injured someone, this guy is an extra heapin’ pile of jerk.
There is hope for the justice system! Good catch!
Too bad it was only 2 years…it should be 20 and he should be forced to go visit the victim weekly.
Another issue is these guys sitting around in prison. If they were worked at manual labor for eight hours, no more than an average farm immigrant labor, it may sting a bit more. Then again I’ve read the cost of having inmates pickup trash was over $10 an hour per inmate.
want to really CURSE this person…
Have him take care of the person until he is FULLY recovered..MONITORED..And he gets a BASIC living allowance..ITS CHEAPER then jail..
Teach him Nursing, and CARE..
If he dies, the kid goes to jail..
Send him to Maricopa County Arizona and put him in jail there. I guarantee he won’t do this again.
I have no sympathy for anyone diving drunk. Shit, throw everyone of them in jail for a few months. More if they hurt someone. Even more if someone dies. Take away their driving license for a couple of years. Longer for repeat offenders.
What I do have a problem with is the use of these Facebook pictures to determine the sentence. The Prosecutor used the pictures in a PowerPoint slide show, complete with comments, in order to sway the emotions of the Judge. That is wrong.
Sentences should be based upon objective standards. Although Judges should have some discretion in the sentence, this case makes a compelling argument for enforcing sentencing guidelines.
Many times on this blog we have discussed overly harsh sentences. I would really hate to find out the deciding factor between giving a person life in jail or death balanced on a Facebook picture.
It all goes to determining the “remorse” of the defendant. Facebook is just another medium. What if he showed up at the party in this costume and his friends posted the picture on his dorm room wall and the cousin of someone who works at the court house saw it? Less probable, but the world is getting smaller. I always say, don’t post anything on Facebook (your phone number, picture, etc.) that you wouldn’t post on the bathroom wall or on the bulletin board of your local Barnes & Nobel.
The real question is: Should judges be able to look at actions not connected to the crime to determine remorse (going to a Halloween party dressed as an inmate, while callous, is not the same as, say, telling the judge, “I did it and I’ll do it again!)?
#10, Helzerman,
I always say, don’t post anything on Facebook (your phone number, picture, etc.) that you wouldn’t post on the bathroom wall
Gee, I had to pay some chick to post my number in the woman’s washroom back during my less than tame youth.
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I don’t know what remorse is. If he cried during the trial, would that have been true remorse or fear of jail? If he didn’t show his emotions well, as many do, should that count against him? If he is overly emotional does he get a break?
Of course emotions are not measurable and so no objective standard can exist. This is another reason why victim impact statements should not be used. Justice should be based upon fairness, not emotions. I don’t expect him to receive anything more or less than some woman, in a similar circumstance, that can turn on the tears at will. As I wrote earlier, I have no sympathy for drunk driving. BUT, throw his ass in jail for that, not a slick slide show.
#11 Master Fusion, You are right. The defense should have gathered up a bunch of candid shots of him working at the mission feeding the poor and addopting African babies to counter the party pics.
#, Monster,
And that would have been just as wrong. This guy deserves no more or less a punishment than does an Archbishop, philanthropist, US Congressman, or homeless person.
#13 Mr ConFusion – I’m sorry my sarcasm was lost in your translation. Like i sez. I agree with you.