Homeless man gets 15 years for stealing $100

Alan · 01-14-2010, 06:23 PM

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/265402

A homeless man robbed a Louisiana bank and took a $100 bill. After feeling remorseful, he surrendered to police the next day. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.
Roy Brown, 54, robbed the Capital One bank in Shreveport, Louisiana in December 2007. He approached the teller with one of his hands under his jacket and told her that it was a robbery.
The teller handed Brown three stacks of bill but he only took a single $100 bill and returned the remaining money back to her. He said that he was homeless and hungry and left the bank.
The next day he surrendered to the police voluntarily and told them that his mother didn’t raise him that way.
Brown told the police he needed the money to stay at the detox center and had no other place to stay and was hungry.
In Caddo District Court, he pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison for first degree robbery.

Saya · 01-14-2010, 08:41 PM

I remember when I first read this I got into a fight with another person who claimed "Well he was a drunk (so who cares) and now he has a warm bed and meals for fifteen years."

Solumina · 01-14-2010, 09:02 PM

Trying to look at this in the most positive of light: he did plead guilty and unless he had the shittiest attorney in the world that would mean a plea bargain as he didn't hut anyone, the amount he stole was small, and he turned himself in. After all he was desperate enough for a place to stay and for food that he robbed a bank and now he does have warm meals and most likely is receiving the detox treatment he was seeking.

More realistically: he was appointed an attorney who didn't care about some random bum and the poor guy got majorly screwed over.

viscus · 01-14-2010, 09:41 PM

Wow, that's a really medieval punishment.

15 years of shelter and meals at what cost? Given the kind of shit people have to deal with in prison, one is better off homeless.

Ben Lahnger · 01-15-2010, 02:55 AM

Since he surrendered and plead guilty to the police, there was no need for a plea bargain. The best attorney in the world could have asked for one and the DA would have said "Your client voluntarily walked into the police station and confessed to the crime. No plea bargain." Most DA's are not holding their job because they promised the voters they'd go easy on the criminals.

So with the confession in hand, the DA pressed in court for the full measure of punishment the law allows. The criminal's attourney's options were limited ... pleading not guilty would have been almost laughable.

I'm not a lawyer, but I think this one all comes down to depending on the leniency of the court. And in this case, the judge chose not to offer any leniency at all.

I am somewhat sympathetic to the criminal. Here in Texas (especially small town Texas) the heavy hand of justice frequently doles out cruel and unusual punishment, so I'm used to seeing this kind of thing. Normally I would agree that 15 years is too long for stealing $100 that he returned the next day.

But I'm not that upset about it. Because for a period of time in her life that teller thought this scary man was pointing a gun at her, threatening to use it ... and she probably felt like she could die at any moment. What was probably a matter of a few minutes to him was a traumatic eternity to her.