Sunday, August 7, 2011

15-Years for Negligent Discharge and Coverup

The Washington Post reports

An Albuquerque, N.M., man who accidentally shot his 3-year-old son and then tried to blame it on a drive-by shooting has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Hector Garcia-Salas pleaded guilty Thursday to child abuse, child abandonment and other charges before Judge Kenneth Martinez.

Authorities say Garcia-Salas accidentally shot his son in November 2007 while he was handling a gun inside his home. He then carried his son’s body outside, put him on the sidewalk and told police the boy had been killed in a drive-by shooting.

Garcia-Salas was on felony probation at the time and was not supposed to have a gun in his possession.
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. An accident plus a clumsy attempt to cover it up usually wouldn't add up to 15 years in my book. But, since he was already a felon in possession, obviously the MikeB-is-king rule, formerly known as the one-strike-you're-out rule wouldn't work.

What do you think? Is this too harsh a sentence? I mean, the guy already suffered the loss of a child, isn't prison on top of that a bit much?

What about the racial angle? Do you think that played into this? They probably don't give too much leniency to brown people down there on the border.

Please leave a comment.

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