The story is of course from New Haven, Connecticut, which is a liberal wasteland and practically the worst city in the state. Having been there many times I can’t say I’m surprised:
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A judge on Friday spared a man from prison time for his role in the dehydration death of a toddler who was deprived of food and liquids for at least a week.
Despite criticism from the victim’s mother, who cried throughout the sentencing hearing, New Haven Superior Court Judge Richard Damiani sentenced Robert Patterson to five years’ probation in the death of 23-month-old Amari Jackson.
Charges of manslaughter, cruelty and and risk of injury to a minor are pending against Robert Patterson’s sister Sharon Patterson, who police say was primarily responsible for the little boy’s death in February.
Hamden police say Sharon Patterson deprived the boy of liquids for at least seven days because he wet a bed. They say she also left cups laced with hot sauce around her apartment to teach him a lesson about drinking from other people’s glasses.
Prosecutor Michael Pepper said that although Robert Patterson witnessed the abuse, his role was, at worst, “arguably passive.”
Sharon Patterson was taking care of the boy for an ailing friend, Sara Hicks.
“I understand that Amari was not left in the direct care of Robert Patterson, but does that give him a right to watch my son be tortured, do nothing about it and get away scot-free?” Hicks wrote in a victim’s statement read in court Friday.
Robert Patterson had reached a plea deal with authorities in September, pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor. The charge could have brought up to 10 years in prison, but the plea deal included the recommended probationary sentence that the judge imposed Friday.
“You have a lot to think about, Mr. Patterson,” Damiani said.
Like how lucky he was to watch a child be tortured to death in a cesspool like New Haven, where standing by idly while someone murders a defenseless child is considered passive, even though he actively decided to not give the kid some fluids. He deserves to die for what he did, along with his degenerate sister.
I wonder what the sentence would have been had Amari been White?
This is disgusting in so many ways, but I don’t know if race had anything to do with it. There was a recent case here (East Tennessee) where a man murdered a 17-year-old boy in pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder and his sentence is 47 DAYS and probation. The man’s wife was supposedly fooling around with the boy and the husband planned and carried out the murder – and he did it right in front of his own children!
He admitted to all this in court and showed ZERO remorse.
All participants were white.
I know it’s not a direct comparison, but it just shows the legal system is seriously fractured. How can anyone hope for justice when this kind of B.S. happens?
I remember when this story broke earlier this year. (Just as an aside, I think these people were from Meriden even though they were tried in New Haven.) During the week that poor, helpless child was suffering, Sharon Patterson (and presumably Robert) were drinking and smoking pot instead of caring for a toddler placed in their care. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I agree, if the child was white there might have been greater outrage and perhaps a more fitting punishment.
I take you’re point Amy but having lived in CT I’ve seen first hand the hypocrisy in the coverage of crimes when the victim is Black as opposed to White.
I’d also go one step further and say that Robert Patterson was let off easy because the liberal justice system in CT is inherently racist and expects depraved indifference from Black men. Had Patterson been a White man the outcry about his behavior would have been loud and intense.