Originally Posted by IndyBound

Two recent sentencings for crimes comitted in 2007 & 2008 here in the Valley of the Sun have left me wondering what kind of punishment will those that stole Gene Nolen's race equipment and Shane Hollingsworth's racing gear receive? Will the punishment fit the crime and will justice be served?

In the 2008 case a man stole a van with a three month old baby in it, for this action he has received 17 years in prison. The 2007 case involved a man speeding and running a red light, he was doing 65 in a 45, when he ran the red light he broadsided another vehicle killing 5 people. He hired Larry Kazan, the Valley's go-to attorney for bad drivers - the ones who can afford him, that is. They claimed Mr. Myers was only going 10 miles over the speed limit and everyone does it. They pointed the finger at the victim who didn't have a driver's license or enough seatbelts for the eight passengers in her car. Prosecutors called Myers "extremely reckless" and asked for the going rate for negligent homicide-21/2 years in prison per victim, 121/2 years in all. Instead he was sentenced to a year in jail and four years probation and ordered to pay $450,000 in restitution. The judge also ordered that Mr. Myers be released from jail seven days a week, from 6 a. m. to 9 p. m. for "work release." Do you think justice was severed in this case? Besides killing five people a little girl in the car has been left paralyzed for life and didn't speak for a year. Her family still hasn't told her she will never walk again.

So if anyone knows anything about how the justice system works in Oklahoma please share it with us. I know in an earlier thread many IOW members reported what they would like to see happend to the people that stole Gene and Shane's stuff. I refrained from posting in that thread, at the time my thoughts were anything but lady like and I hadn't read about these two cases. The earlier thread mentioned they were trying to catch this ring of thieves for ten years. I am guessing this should be a federal case not a local case and the punishment should be severe. What do you think?

Patti