- 12 Nov 2021 01:22
#15197785
For those of you who don't seem to be able to understand why anyone would plead guilty if they didn't commit the crime, consider this one story.
It is a little bit unusual (not that this type of thing is really that unusual but it's just a particularly extreme case of it), but it clearly illustrates the point.
A woman was offered a plea bargain. If she had pled guilty, she would have been immediately released from prison.
But she did not accept the plea bargain and pled innocent at trial.
Instead she was sentenced to life in prison.
Are you starting to have any understanding of why people plead guilty, regardless of whether they are guilty or not, and why such a small percentage of cases go to trial?
Like was stated before, this is an extreme case of this, but this type of thing is very common.
A Missouri judge sentenced a 60-year-old woman to spend the rest of her life behind bars without the possibility of parole, after she was found guilty by a jury of murder. She was accused of murdering her husband in their home and staging the scene to make it look like a break-in, to try to get the insurance money.
The judge in the case was Shane T. Alexander, and the woman's name is Viola Bowman.
The murder involved a 2012 shooting of her husband, Albert "Rusty" Bowman.
The woman had already been waiting more than 5 years in prison before her trial when she was offered the plea deal. She rejected a deal from prosecutors that would have effectively resulted in her release for time served if she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Rusty Bowman was found dead on November 7, 2012 in his Northland home at 5530 N.E. Munger Road. He was covered in blood in his recliner when first responders arrived, summoned to the house with a 911 call placed by his wife. Nearly two years after the homicide, police took Bowman in for questioning and let her go. She was later arrested in January 2015. She spent roughly six-and-a-half years awaiting her day in court. At trial, prosecutors alleged Bowman staged a break-in at the home and shot her husband twice, striking him in the head and chest. Her demeanor was considered odd by emergency workers and she made inconsistent statements to investigators, who questioned her theory that a burglar was responsible, prosecutors said. They noted that items like a laptop, car keys and a wallet were not stolen from the home. Prosecutors also contended that Bowman benefited from a life insurance policy in the wake of her husband's death.
She claims she was at Walmart at the time of the shooting, and claims she is innocent.
The trial was held in Clay County, Missouri.
Robert Lee Sanders, the assistant prosecutor, recommended to the judge that Bowman be imprisoned for life. He accused her of being a "cold, calculating manipulator" and said her husband "deserves no less for justice."
Before reading out the sentence, Judge Alexander said that requests for leniency in sentencing for a first-degree murder conviction "simply cannot be granted" under the law. He also said that the court is convinced of Bowman's guilt.
Viola Bowman sentenced to life in prison for husband’s murder | The Kansas City Star
Bill Lukitsch, November 10, 2021
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/c ... 91231.html
Seems they determined she was guilty based more on a hunch, due to her apparent emotional reaction and the fact that the story she told wasn't entirely consistent.
This woman could likely be guilty, but she could also likely be innocent.
It is a little bit unusual (not that this type of thing is really that unusual but it's just a particularly extreme case of it), but it clearly illustrates the point.
A woman was offered a plea bargain. If she had pled guilty, she would have been immediately released from prison.
But she did not accept the plea bargain and pled innocent at trial.
Instead she was sentenced to life in prison.
Are you starting to have any understanding of why people plead guilty, regardless of whether they are guilty or not, and why such a small percentage of cases go to trial?
Like was stated before, this is an extreme case of this, but this type of thing is very common.
A Missouri judge sentenced a 60-year-old woman to spend the rest of her life behind bars without the possibility of parole, after she was found guilty by a jury of murder. She was accused of murdering her husband in their home and staging the scene to make it look like a break-in, to try to get the insurance money.
The judge in the case was Shane T. Alexander, and the woman's name is Viola Bowman.
The murder involved a 2012 shooting of her husband, Albert "Rusty" Bowman.
The woman had already been waiting more than 5 years in prison before her trial when she was offered the plea deal. She rejected a deal from prosecutors that would have effectively resulted in her release for time served if she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Rusty Bowman was found dead on November 7, 2012 in his Northland home at 5530 N.E. Munger Road. He was covered in blood in his recliner when first responders arrived, summoned to the house with a 911 call placed by his wife. Nearly two years after the homicide, police took Bowman in for questioning and let her go. She was later arrested in January 2015. She spent roughly six-and-a-half years awaiting her day in court. At trial, prosecutors alleged Bowman staged a break-in at the home and shot her husband twice, striking him in the head and chest. Her demeanor was considered odd by emergency workers and she made inconsistent statements to investigators, who questioned her theory that a burglar was responsible, prosecutors said. They noted that items like a laptop, car keys and a wallet were not stolen from the home. Prosecutors also contended that Bowman benefited from a life insurance policy in the wake of her husband's death.
She claims she was at Walmart at the time of the shooting, and claims she is innocent.
The trial was held in Clay County, Missouri.
Robert Lee Sanders, the assistant prosecutor, recommended to the judge that Bowman be imprisoned for life. He accused her of being a "cold, calculating manipulator" and said her husband "deserves no less for justice."
Before reading out the sentence, Judge Alexander said that requests for leniency in sentencing for a first-degree murder conviction "simply cannot be granted" under the law. He also said that the court is convinced of Bowman's guilt.
Viola Bowman sentenced to life in prison for husband’s murder | The Kansas City Star
Bill Lukitsch, November 10, 2021
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/c ... 91231.html
Seems they determined she was guilty based more on a hunch, due to her apparent emotional reaction and the fact that the story she told wasn't entirely consistent.
This woman could likely be guilty, but she could also likely be innocent.
- By Pants-of-dog