This weekend, I saw a small piece on the Teevee about African-American sprint star Marion Jones. She is the Olympic standout who was charged with lying in a grand jury investigation about her use of steroids. The sentence that she received doesn't seem totally unreasonable...at least until you consider what it might have been if her skin was white and not black, if she was male and not female, and if she had some top shelf Washington, D.C. connections.
Ms. Jones admitted to the Court and to the world that she did not tell the truth about her steroid use in a grand jury investigation. These steroids were the performance enhancing type that surely gave her an edge in the Olympics. The judge promptly sentenced her to 6 months in prison, along with other penalties.
Never mind that she admitted her guilt and did not put the government to the burden of a trial. A trial where her celebrity status and charm might have been a problem for the government in obtaining a conviction. Never mind that she has an infant child. A child that is still nursing. Never mind that she has already been stripped of her medals by the International Olympic Committee. Never mind that she has been disgraced for life in a sport where multi-million dollar paydays don't happen with the stroke of a pen and a guarenteed signing bonus. Never mind that the exhibit describing her accomplishments has been removed from the Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Before you argue that her 6 month sentence was not unfair, think about Scooter Libby. Think about the man who pleaded 'not guilty' to 5 criminal counts surrounding the exposure of an undercover C.I.A. agent and the cover-up that followed. To use the federal prosecutor's analogy, Scooter was the man who 'threw sand in the face of the umpire' and prevented the truth from coming out. Think about the man who put the govermdment to its proof and went to trial. A trial in which Scooter did not take the stand. (Certainly, he has a 5th ammendment right, but if there's one type of case where a defendant might want to take the stand, it's a case about whether he told the truth-unless he's certain that the fix is in). Think about the jury's verdict of guilty on 4 counts. Think about the judge sentencing him to prison.
When one compares the two defendants and their crimes
is it at all fair that Scooter will not spend one day in prison while Marion spends almost 200? Gawd. I'm sure the commutation is on the desk of the Chimpanzee-in-Chief this very minute, awaiting his signature when he returns from the Middle East. Gawd.