Prosecutors Desk 4-6-2015

Burglary: someone comes into a residence with crime on his or her mind; either to steal or to commit some crime of violence against a person. This crime is one that can have a lasting effect of the fear of feeling invaded, or of vulnerability to strangers or to loss of privacy.

Stevens County has its share of thieves. Mostly, the stealing is done to obtain things to sell so there will be money to buy drugs. (At least this is the reason most persons give to the court as a reason they were stealing.)

A few weeks ago, John Bradley Layton was sentenced along with his friend, Satin Davis for their part in a burglary that occurred last fall. There was a third person involved in the stealing, Ryder Chronic. He pleaded guilty some time ago and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. The pleas entered by these two persons wraps up the case involving this burglary.

Judge Pat Monasmith accepted the pleas and presided at the sentencing hearing. The pleas are done one at a time, even if the persons are being sentenced together for a crime they did together. This is because there are differences between persons being sentenced in term of their level of responsibility in the crime itself and their past criminal history. This means that even though two people do the same thing or are involved in the same crime, they may receive different sentences.

Judge Monasmith listened to the state’s recommendation and the defendant’s criminal history and then he listened to the victims as they gave statements to the court regarding the impact the crime has had on them. He then heard from the defendant’s lawyer as they made arguments that they wanted to court to consider in sentencing. Usually, it is a list of all the bad things that the defendant has been through in life. Finally, the judge listens to the defendant as he or she makes a statement to the court about the crime.

Judge Monasmith listened to all of this and then he made some observations. First, he noted that Mr. Layton did not really express any real remorse. He heard Mr. Layton say he was sorry this happened to the victims, but he did not really take responsibility for what he had done and the pain he had caused. He sentenced Mr. Layton to the maximum; 166 months in prison.

He then when through the same process with Ms. Davis and heard her say that her lawyer told her that because the detectives did find her prints on any of the stolen items, “I should be able to skate past this.” Her skating days are over. She was sentenced serve a sentence of 13 months in state prison.

Comments are closed.