Same Achievement, Different Ruler

Oscar, for Lifetime achievement

One of the things I try to do is to put criminal justice events into the context of everyday experience. The MSM has a habit of throwing an event up against the wall, with no context. They then scream oh shit, oh dear! This in an effort to evoke sympathy or outrage. The recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision is just such a case.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/louisiana-supreme-court-life-sentence-stealing-hedge-clippers

Fair Wayne Bryant, 62, was convicted in 1997 for stealing the clippers and was subsequently given a life sentence which was sanctioned under the state’s habitual offender law. He appealed and the case eventually made its way to Louisiana’s high court.

Fox News

He lost the appeal. The reader must dig deep to fin out that Bryant had four previous felony convictions. The MSM fail to make the distinction that the theft of the hedge clippers had two components. There was the original theft, with a sentencing enhancement. Or, the theft then triggered the habitual offender component as a separate charge. I don’t know how Louisiana does it.

Stealing the hedge clippers was the ante Bryant paid to qualify as a habitual criminal. This isn’t an Animal House style double secret probation. Nope, every con knows about the habitual offender charge. They usually refer to it as The Bitch. They know what it takes to qualify. Bryant knew the potential cost of his actions when he stole those hedge clippers.

Contrast that story with this:

Eli Wallach, Lifetime achievement Oscar

Eli Wallach was an actor for sixty-two years. He never won an Oscar. They finally gave him a “Lifetime Achievement Oscar” in recognition of his whole body of work.

Fair Wayne Bryant knew that he was on the short list for habitual offender status. How much did he value his freedom? About what a hedge clipper costs.

Be happy for Fair Wayne Bryant and Eli Wallach, each received recognition for their chosen body of work.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

George Bernard Shaw