A Cancer Patient Stole Groceries Worth $109.63. She Was Sentenced to 10 Months.

[PA Democrat]

As lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, John Fetterman is a very busy man. But he was prepared to drop everything on Friday and drive to a Weis Markets in Lebanon, Pa., to hand deliver a personal check for $109.63, the exact sum of groceries that a woman with advanced cancer was recently convicted of stealing.

Last week, a judge sentenced the woman, Ashley Menser, to at least 10 months in prison — a punishment that Mr. Fetterman called overly harsh and emblematic of a flawed criminal justice system.

“In what universe do you deserve to be sent to prison for 10 months for stealing $110 worth of groceries?” he said in an interview on Friday.

Mr. Fetterman, a Democrat who was elected in 2018, said he was shocked when he read a local news article about the case on Friday morning. “I could scarcely believe what I was reading,” he added. “This is just insane.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-cancer-patient-stole-groceries-worth-dollar10963-she-was-sentenced-to-10-months/ar-BBZxVRA?ocid=spartandhp

[MontanaMama]

1. Does PA have mandatory minimum sentences?

I wonder...regardless. This is another reason to be proud of our party.

[PA Democrat]

5. I believe that most mandatory sentences have been overturned by the US and state Supreme Courts

The ones that remain are for the most serious types of crimes involving violence and DUI.

I would think the judge in this case had quite a bit of latitude to show compassion. Prisons are not a good place to receive any kind of medical care.

Lt. Governor Fetterman is quite impressive and has a bright political future.

[Rebl2]

16. That's what

I thought too.

[blueinredohio]

2. There should be no reason anyone should have to steal to be able to eat.

[appalachiablue]

29. A loaf of bread. "Les Miserables," one of the greatest novels of the 19th c.

An incident Victor Hugo witnessed in 1829 involved three strangers and a police officer. One of the strangers was a man who had stolen a loaf of bread, similar to Jean Valjean. The officer was taking him to the coach. The thief also saw the mother and daughter playing with each other which would be an inspiration for Fantine and Cosette. Hugo imagined the life of the man in jail and the mother and daughter taken away from each other..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables

[Sugarcoated]

3. ....a woman with terminal cancer gets 10 months

while crooked Donnie gets away with whatever he wants? Sharing on FB.....

[LuvNewcastle]

4. This is a very sad case.

I hope they can get this woman out of jail and into treatment as soon as possible. If they had to send her to jail, and they didn't, 30-90 days would have been enough. Or, as her counsel offered, she could have gotten house arrest. If people are of a certain class or race and if they have any record at all, our justice system tends to throw them away. Judges and juries often don't think twice about it.

[irisblue]

6. Stealing food...🤔 Where have we heard that before?

How well does that work out for the rulers?

[dalton99a]

10. +1

Last edited Sat Feb 1, 2020, 02:17 PM - Edit history (1)

[irisblue]

11. I spent time looking for a picture of a guillotine.

[Pepsidog]

7. Shit like this happens everyday in courts across America. I defended a woman who had cancer and was

caught shoplifting tampons and generic aspirin. Because she had a Prior offense 20 years ago the policy of this particular judge was to jail second offenders for. 5 days. After a lot of begging and attempting to shame the judge into not imposing jail he agreed to day reporting.

[Sloumeau]

8. How much is it going to cost taxpayers to incarcerate her for 10 months?

Wouldn't it have been cheaper if the state just handed her food stamps so she wouldn't be stealing groceries?

[dchill]

12. But cruelty is the point.

[safeinOhio]

13. Sure hope the jail

is stuck with 10 months of cancer treatments. If not, that might constitute cruel and unusual treatment.

[NYC Liberal]

28. In some places, they charge prisoners rent.

https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/news/economy/prison-fees-inmates-debt/index.html

Sick.

[panader0]

31. I had to pay $75.00 a night in Cochise County.

Misdemeanor possession. I think the floor might have been more comfortable
than the warped metal mesh bunk. But the company was first rate. All thieves.
I got a good song out of it though--Cochise County Zoo.
People screaming at night, no window, no shower, no privacy. The food sucked.
Then a bill for my stay.

[dalton99a]

9. This fucking judge:

In Lebanon County, Judge Samuel A. Kline’s order sending Brian G. Smetana to jail because he had stopped paying on the $1,729 in fines and costs he owed after charges for loitering, public drunkenness, illegal trespass and disorderly conduct were vacated and sent back to the county for further review.

He couldn’t pay because he wasn’t working, had been evicted and had a drug habit, Smetana, 50, of Lebanon, told the judge.

In an opinion written by Superior Court Judge Carolyn H. Nichols, the court ruled the judge failed to make a finding that Smetana actually had the ability to pay.

Before an offender can be confined for nonpayment, he must be given the opportunity to establish his inability to pay, it was clarified in the opinion.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. Fuck the carceral state.

[StTimofEdenRoc]

15. If there was one of these where I live, I would fill a cart, put this news story on top of it.

and walk out.

[colorado_ufo]

17. If this woman has advanced cancer,

of what portion of her anticipated life span is 10 months? This could be a life sentence for grocery theft, especially since it is unlikely that she would receive proper medical care there.

However, at least she could eat.

[shanti]

27. If you can call prison food eating

This is very sad.

[Takket]

18. and if you are drumpf, you can steal an entire country and your judge and jury is your best friends

[bpositive]

19. The idiocy of it all is

The cost of imprisoning someone for 10 months has to be a lot more than $100 never mind the true stupidity of imprisoning someone for the nature of this crime.

[SunSeeker]

20. So basically she was sentenced to a slow, painful death for stealing bread.

If this is not cruel and unusual punishment, nothing is.

[NewEnglandAutumn]

21. I work in a pharmacy

I do it because I want to do my best to help people get the medications they need. Granted there are some entitled people who believe they should get their meds without paying and have us negotiate with the insurance later even if it means it would drive us out of business.

Most people are great.

Too many need help. They can not afford their meds and often go without. I have way too many patients choosing food or heat over insulin. It breaks my heart.

[geretogo]

22. As the dictator keeps cutting food stamps you will see more desperate hungry people going to

privatized prisons .

[Javaman]

23. Good thing it wasn't a loaf of bread.

Bastards

[Demovictory9]

24. k&r

[ooky]

25. Clearly a failure of a system which will continue to fail

under the rule of a cruel fascist government and its new king.

[Karadeniz]

26. American poor house

[LisaL]

30. Shouldn't they be prepared to treat her if she is incarcerated?

I've heard of people who didn't have insurance wanting to go to prison to get free health care.

[rockfordfile]

32. Yet Flynn the traitor should be the one locked up

[ck4829]

34. Indeed

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

33. Dostoevsky said it best

"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."