In today's Washington Post there is a quick recap of the John Bloxham conviction for murdering Todd Rogers. You can read it here. It is actually on page 2 of the recap.
On that same page there is a recap of the conviction of a man who murdered a cab driver. He received a 73 year sentence for first degree murder. Presumably robbing and murdering a cab driver, is not pre-meditated. (For those who are about to argue that he brought a weapon, and therefore it is pre-meditated, please stop and realize that pre-meditation requires intent to kill a specific person in a specific way. Presumably, he did not specifically target this exact cab driver.)
But John was only given 35 years for what was an elaborately planned and executed plot over several months to stalk, slander, libel, and eventually murder. It was most certainly pre-meditated.
Does this bother anyone else? One person gets 73 years for what is perceived to be a crime of selfish convenience, while the person who set out with an agenda to ruin lives for selfish jealousy, only gets 35?
When you tack on the armed robbery to the murder and the likelihood that the guy who killed the cabbie probably has prior convictions, I think there could be a rationale for the 73-year sentence.
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