This another perfect example of a criminal justice system that is dysfunctional. Crime pays in America, especially if your a criminal. A career criminal should not be walking the streets. Especially after committing more than 30 crimes.
The man authorities identified as the Gaffney serial killer was killed Monday during a shootout with police in Gaston County, and the question that remains is why Patrick Burris, a habitual offender, was out on the streets and not behind bars.
Burris was gunned down at a home on Dallas-Spencer Mountain Road after a neighbor alerted police of something suspicious. The suspect shot and injured an officer before he was killed.
Lloyd’s words were not only aimed at Burris but also at the criminal justice system, who he says failed to keep a dangerous man locked up. (See more about Burris' record.)
Burris left the Lincoln County Correctional Center on April 29, 2009, according to the N.C. Department of Prisons Web site. His first conviction was from an incident in 1989 for blackmail in Alamance and Rockingham counties. Other convictions listed from Rockingham County include driving violations where he permanently lost his license, some forgeries, common law robbery, breaking and entering and larceny.
A habitual felon conviction is listed on the Web site dating from 2001. Burris was given a minimum sentence of seven years, nine months in jail for that charge, but served only seven years, six months due to time served while awaiting trial.
It is laughable how this guy playing the system. Tragically, this is the norm not the exception:
Burris’s criminal history began in 1990, when he was convicted of blackmail and given probation.
In early 1991, he had three more charges (speeding, driving with revoked license, and robbery) and the blackmail charge was added in because of violating probation. The maximum for all charges was 12 years, but because sentences were combined, he served them concurrently (they ran together, instead of being added onto each other). As a result, he was out in May, 1993; about 2 years and 3 months total.
Burris was arrested immediately for driving with a permanently revoked license and given a year sentence, of which he served 1 month.
By November, 1993, Burris was arrested again, and convicted in January, 1994. He got two years, including parole violation time, but served less than 10 months.
He was convicted in May, 1996 on two counts of forgery and four counts of “common law uttering,” all felonies, and was given a suspended sentence and probation.
In June 2000, Burris was again arrested for driving with a revoked driver’s license and given probation. One month later, he was arrested for larceny. This earned him 3 months, and the probation violations for the previous forgery, uttering, and traffic convictions netted him another 8 months, but Burris served less than 5 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment