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January 3, 2007

Talk About Your Bad Luck.

A
North Carolina minister strangles his wife to death with a leather strap, stuffs her into the trunk of their car, and abandons car and corpse on a rural road. The day before her body is discovered, he tells his congregation that she's at home with a toothache. He is sentenced to a term of between five and seven years' incarceration.

A New Jersey rabbi pays a couple of men to beat his wife to death. He is sentenced to a minimum of thirty years' incarceration.

I think we have a new definition of "schlimazel."

Posted by Eric at January 3, 2007 11:01 PM

Comments

Perhaps it's that old double standard that still confuses "eretz Yisrael" with "medinat Yisrael" and expects Jews to act like OT'ers, rather than like Americans and chooses to punish them according to the OT standards.

Posted by: Sue at January 4, 2007 7:00 AM

That rabbi has terrible luck. Every single time he commits a heinous felony he gets an appropriate sentence.
And of course they went easy on that minister. After all, the poor man had just lost his wife.

Posted by: Mojo at January 4, 2007 7:51 PM

Maybe it's geography: juries in New Jersey might take violence against women a bit more seriously than juries in NC? Either that or conspiracy looks worse than coverup....

Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at January 4, 2007 10:05 PM

Huge difference: First guy pled (he was at 5 years originally), and the judge bumped it up. Second guy went to trial. If first guy had gone to trial, he might be dead.

Some say you're punished for going to trial. Others say that forgiveness for those who admit guilt is inherent in a system that doesn't have the resources to try even 10 percent of defendants.

Posted by: AC at January 5, 2007 7:45 AM