https://reason.com/2019/12/20/a-15-year-sentence-for-burning-a-stolen-gay-pride-flag-is-not-justice/

This article is from a while ago, but I thought it was interesting. He had two prior felony convictions and misdemeanor convictions for driving on a suspended license, DWI, and marijuana possession, but the article doesn't say what the felonies were for. Without the hate crime enhancement, he would have faced up to a year for burning the flag, since it would be a misdemeanor.

Our judicial system has become a bad joke.

At least he's eligible for parole after three years, but fifteen years for burning someone else's flag is ridiculous.

And had that been an American flag it would have been crickets

Can we release him if we also release a foreign arms or drug dealer?

Yet you burn an American flag and the left applauds and touts freedom of speech.

We are in an upside down world.

I'd bump the thread from three years ago when this was discussed, but, well, you know.

In this case, he stole the gay pride flag, and most people who burn American flags burn their own, but I agree that his sentence was way too harsh.

Was there a thread about this three years ago, cause I didn't check to see if there was? Also, this case is arguably still relevant.

He was sentenced to one year for that, but fifteen years for burning the flag, so sixteen years total. It wasn't a gay bar, it was a regular bar, and he stole the flag from the front of a church and burned it in front of the bar.

lethalninja said:

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Was there a thread about this three years ago,

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yes

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cause I didn't check to see if there was?

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you can't

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Also, this case is arguably still relevant.

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not really.

Don't you think it's weird he got fifteen years for burning someone else's flag, but he got one year for threatening to burn down a bar, especially since burning the flag would have been a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year without the hate crime enhancement, even with his record?

How much time did Madonna get for thinking about blowing up the White House and the flags burned at that "protest" …..

could have burned an American flag and been considered a hero... just like arson and looting during riots.. you have to be (d)ifferent and choose the right reasons for a crime to be considered heroism.

what's the punishment for wiping you butt with that flag?

Burning an American flag isn't illegal if it's your own.

Yeah, he's an idiot, but fifteen years is still too harsh, especially when the maximum penalty for burning the flag would have been a year if it wasn't considered a hate crime and wouldn't have been considered a strike.

After 15 years, he'll come out waving it.

C@LAg said:

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lethalninja said:

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Burning an American flag isn't illegal if it's your own.

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he could have bought a gay pride flag off of amazon and burned it instead of stealing it, getting his third strike.

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and not burned it in a manner that was dangerous to others.

if he was not a habitual offender, he would have not been in near as much trouble. guess he didn't learn his lesson

He's eligible for parole after three years.

Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:

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what's the punishment for wiping you butt with that flag?

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CNN Contributor

in this case, the 15 years was mandatory sentence. the judge added the year at the end for the other crime rather than let him serve concurrently. why? because the felon expressed no remorse

C@LAg said:

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well, he ALSO threatened to burn the gay (I was corrected that it was not a gay bar) bar down

you seem to be missing that part. it goes beyond JUST the flag burning.

you have theft, threats, intimidation. and his 3rd strike in a 3-strike state.

sucks for him.

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So a of of things helped add to that length of sentence. That makes more sense.

lethalninja said:

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He's eligible for parole after three years.

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3 years for burning a flag? You can't seriously think that isn't excessive. Jail time should be limited to actual crimes. Make him pay to replace the flag and move on.

I remember back during America, you could think whatever the hell you wanted to think.

Texas's three strikes law requires that the person has been previously been sentenced to prison twice, but Iowa's doesn't, so for all we know, this guy's prior felonies could have been relatively minor, since the article says they weren't considered violent or serious. If his prior felonies were violent, I wouldn't really care that much about him getting fifteen years with parole eligibility after three.

Fifteen years wasn't the mandatory sentence, it was the maximum.

I would say he should have gotten five years at most because of his two prior felony convictions and the fact that he also threatened to burn the bar down and burned the flag in front of the bar, but I agree that fifteen years is excessive. Also, he committed arson, since the flag wasn't his, which is an actual crime.

He was sentenced to fifteen years for burning the flag, thirty days for threatening to burn the bar down, and one year for reckless use of fire. He got the maximum sentence on each count. I know someone whose relative set an actual house on fire and got a significantly lesser sentence than him, but to be fair, he didn't have any prior felony convictions like this guy.

Does anybody here actually think this guy deserves fifteen years? I know there's people here that don't care about his sentence, but does anyone actually think he deserves it?

TexAgs91 said:

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I remember back during America, you could think whatever the hell you wanted to think.

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I remember America too and I am pretty sure you couldn't threaten to burn establishments down and rack up multiple arrests and convictions and not at some point get sent away for a number of years.

He was sentenced to thirty days for threatening to burn down the bar, one year for reckless use of fire, and fifteen years for burning the flag (all three were the maximum sentence).