"In 1993, a man named James Scott purposely damaged a levee and caused a massive flood of the Mississippi River..

[riversedge]

Goodness, he has been in jail 30 plus years now. I wonder if he was drunk at the time??



In 1993, a man named James Scott purposely damaged a levee and caused a massive flood of the Mississippi River only to stall his wife from coming home so that he could party.

His actions flooded 14,000 acres of farmland, destroyed buildings, and closed a bridge. He was convicted of "intentionally causing a catastrophe" and is still in prison serving a life sentence.

Link to tweet

[GreenWave]

1. The acres were also at risk of contamination.

I believe the sentence is just.

[riversedge]

3. I actually recall the flood of 1993. I was driving from CA and had a huge detour over the Missippi

because of the flood.

About the sentence--yes, huge damage all around. No one was killed even with all that damage. The sentence seems too much for me. Just saying.

[LeftInTX]

4. He was on parole for arson in 1993.

He will be eligible for parole in 2026.

[former9thward]

11. He was supposed to be paroled in 2023.

But since he has always maintained his innocence, the vindictive state extended the eligibility of parole to 2026.

[riversedge]

2. It is a real interesting story.......

..........The theory was that James Scott must have created a gap in the levee by burrowing a hole and allowing water through.

The defence team refuted this claim and brought in two independent soil scientists who testified that in its condition at the time, the levee was destined to fail.

There had been several other levees just upriver from Quincy that had also failed and it was believed that the community effort to help save the levee by bringing in the assistance of bulldozers may have actually contributed to its breach.

It would take the jury only four hours to convict Scott of purposefully causing a catastrophe and sentence him to 10 years to life in prison.

It was decided that this sentence would run consecutively with his previous 10-year burglary sentence, making it a 20-year sentence in total.

Some believed this to be a harsh sentence, considering that Scott has no history of violent or sexual crimes, while others in town believed that justice had been served. ...................
.............

[boston bean]

5. Let the guy out of prison for cripes sakes.

Enough is enough.

[NanaCat]

7. Why?

He was a chronic arsonist who burned down his primary school when he was 13 years old. When he was 20, he burned down a petrol station. He also used arson to commit burglaries. Those are the arson incidents we know about; I have no doubt whatsoever that he committed many more.

And then causing a flood that destroys so many lives and livelihoods?

If nothing else, think of how prison protects not only potential harm that the arsonist (or extremist vandal) can cause other people, but also to himself as well. Arsonists have a very bad habit of hurting or even killing themselves with the fires they set. Being in prison doesn't seem like the best way to protect him, but it may have actually saved a life in this case--Mr Scott's life, that is.

[former9thward]

8. Imprison him for life?

With your logic we would be saving his life by sentencing him to life. Might as well start the life sentence at 13. Right?

[former9thward]

12. And where is this burning down a "petrol station" coming from?

He was never charged with anything like that.

[obamanut2012]

14. It is in his Wikipedia entry

[former9thward]

17. The link is right here.

Why don't you do a cut and paste from it showing what you are alleging?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott_(criminal)

[GreenWave]

6. I am now more convinced than ever to keep him locked up.

I started off wondering where this was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott_(criminal)

Scott grew up in Quincy, Illinois. By his twenties, he had a criminal record and had served time in six prisons.[1] While most of these arrests were for burglary,[2] they also included two for arson. In 1982, he burned down his elementary school, Webster Elementary School in Quincy. In 1988, he burned down a garage and set several other fires, getting him a sentence of seven years in prison.[1][3][4]

The inconvenience of so many people for so long has to be taken into account.
The flood washed out all of the bridges in the area—the only links across the river for 200 miles (320 km). While no one was killed, many people on the Missouri side of the river had to drive 80 miles (130 km) to either St. Louis or Burlington, Iowa, fly, or take a ferry to get across the river for several weeks after the waters receded. One major bridge, the Bayview Bridge, was out of service for 71 days.[7] Several businesses in West Quincy were also destroyed, most of which have never returned.

Finally my brother worked hard on that levee and to think he might have gotten killed.

[former9thward]

9. So lock him up forever?

God...

[GreenWave]

10. Seems like you missed the he burned down the grade school part.

Plus they are letting his crimes run concurrently.
Repeat offender more than once.

[former9thward]

13. He was 13 and with his older brother when they did that arson.

Seems like you missed that part. So lets crucify someone for what they did at 13.

[obamanut2012]

15. He also burned down a garage when he was an adult

As well as committing other acts of arson.

[former9thward]

16. So give him life over a garage.

OK, I hear your philosophy.

[Hekate]

18. Arsonists really don't "reform." We kind of have a concern about that here in the dry, dry West.

Last edited Tue May 21, 2024, 01:53 AM - Edit history (1)

So anyway, having read some of his backstory via this thread, I will join the others who say he needs to be kept out of society for his various antisocial and highly dangerous misdeeds.

And that’s my philosophy.

Edited to add:

Arson is a helluva violent crime. People who get trapped in a building that’s been set alight die of the smoke as well as the flames. In Los Angeles a few years back some gang member was told to burn down the apartment building where a rival lived. Eight little children and their mothers died.

Every wildfire out here kills people who desperately try to outrun the flames. That’s on top of all the wildlife that die gruesomely. Not every wildfire is set by a human, but we all know there are firebugs out there, and one year the state fire authorities tracked a guy along a freeway route throughout the fire season, setting one fire after another in the forests. I don’t know if they ever caught up with him, or if he’s still out there biding his time.