Sometime during the night of May 4th or in the early morning of May 5th, a home in the Suncrest area was broken into while the elderly couple who lived there were sleeping. The burglars took several things from the home including jewelry and debit/credit cards. Later on May the 5th, several purchases were made at various locations using the stolen debit/credit cards including a Wal-Mart store in Spokane. Through the use of Wal-Mart’s surveillance video, the persons using the cards were identified. Other businesses, including a pet grooming store confirmed that the same two men had been to their stores and used the cards.
The use of a stolen credit card belonging to another person is called Identity Theft. This area of law has had some recent changes. As late as 2006, there was a rule that came from a case State v. Leyda that lumped all transactions of a single person’s card into a single unit of prosecution. This rule was created by the courts, but the Legislature did not agree with this judge made law, and passed another law to specifically respond to the Leyda decision. The new law provides that each separate transaction of a stolen credit card is a separate unit of prosecution and can be the basis for a separate charge.
After the investigation was conducted, the suspects were confronted by Sheriff’s Detective Iain Ashley, and they confessed to the crimes. One of these young men, Nicholas Case, pleaded guilty last week on Tuesday. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison. The other young man has demanded his right to a jury trial and his trial is presently scheduled for first week of December.
This change in Identity Theft law, illustrates an interesting point in our system. There are times when judges and the courts make a decision which does not reflect what the people want. Although judges and courts usually do not answer to anyone, the legislature has the power to change the law and make sure judges and the courts get the right idea of how the people want the law to be. It is part of the mechanism of checks and balances that maintains the balance of power in our system.
Our founding fathers could see that a system of checks and balances was needed to make sure that the people were never left without a way to control the government or the courts. This is one of the basic elements necessary to maintain the long term freedoms of the American people. This is part of the mechanism that keeps us free. The power of the state resides in the people.