CRIMINAL POLITICIAN, RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM RECEIVED A REDUCED SENTENCE DUE TO HIS MILITARY SERVICE. DO AGREE WITH THE JUDGE'S DECISION?

user ballots

Popular Ballots
Recent Popular
Recent Votes

Best
Worst
Yes or No
Choices
What If
Prediction
Advice
Would You
Crime
Recommend
Quiz

TV & Movie
Music & Radio
Political
Science
Sports
Relationship
Techonology
Culture
Philosophy
Religion
Ethics
History
Food & Health
Fashion & Beauty
Crime
FanBase

Discussion
Bug Report

political : CRIMINAL POLITICIAN, RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM RECEIVED A REDUCED SENTENCE DUE TO HIS MILITARY SERVICE. DO AGREE WITH THE JUDGE'S DECISION?

[+] serious ballot by cranky
ACTIVE Thu May 11, 06 - Tue Feb 03, 09
(Republican Representative Randy "Duke") Cunningham resigned from the House on November 28, 2005 after pleading guilty to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes and underreporting his income for 2004. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. On March 3, 2006, he received a sentence of eight years and four months in prison and an order to pay $1.8 million in restitution.

Federal prosecutors had pushed for the maximum sentence of ten years, Judge Burns cited his military service in Vietnam as the reason the full ten years was not imposed. (Wikipedia)

* * * * * * * *

Do you agree with the judge's decision to give Cunningham--whose loot included a yacht, a Rolls Royce, and valuable antiques--a reduced sentence based on his military service?

Yes, I agree with the reduced sentence
No, "Duke" should have received the maximum sentence
.

Ballot #94067 : SEE RESULTS

Comment:

show your vote with comment?

v 2.0 © BESTANDWORST.COM

smile bank:

COMMENTS:
No his service in Vietnam has nothing to do with his current crimes.The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law for all citizens,giving special treatment to veterans or politicians violates the Constitution.That judge should be forced to resign.

by Corrupt on Thu May 11, 06 7:52am [+]

^ what he said

by mojo on Thu May 11, 06 8:02am [+]

I don't see how this is a mitigating circumstance.

While I suspect the maximum sentence is appropriate, I do hesitate to call for it because I am not privvy to the details of the case and don't want to demand a sentence based on insufficient knowledge.

by Cathexis on Thu May 11, 06 8:23am [+]

Usually personal circumstances are taken in consideration when individualizing a sentence (though the definition for personal circumstances is quite imprecise), but those circumstances must be somehow relevant for the crime commited, or at least show some trully extrodinary personality feature that makes one believe his crime was an rather an "accident" that doesn't define him. So, unless he did some extrordinary deeds of valor in the field of batle, I think that whole Vietnam war thing is irrelevant.

by johann_moritz on Thu May 11, 06 8:38am [+]

Duke Cunningham is the first politician in memory who appears to have accepted full responsibility and shown genuine remorse for his actions. This, coupled with his distinguised military service, qualifies him for a sentence reduction, IMO.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

by xxxxxxxx on Thu May 11, 06 8:54am [+]

No, give him the full sentence. We're all equal, or at least we're suppose to be equal. If I was a saint who happened to kill 50 random people, would it be fair to those 50 people that I not get the life sentence? Of course not. Sack the judge.

If this happened to John Kerry then the Republicans would be all over this ballot. They wouldn't shut of for months about it.

by Liberal_Democrat on Thu May 11, 06 9:37am [+]

abuse of public office is abuse of the citizens so that wipes out his service

by Jyl on Thu May 11, 06 12:39pm [+]

Excuse me while I break into song.

"And I'm *proud* to be an *American*-"

(slaps self repeatedly)

by Truthseeker013 on Thu May 11, 06 1:03pm [+]

I am also ex-military, but do not believe that my service makes me above the law or entitled to special favors. His offenses were in no way connected to him being in the service.

by frenchy62 on Thu May 11, 06 1:37pm [+]

Based on so many "high profile" cases as of late I don't think anything will be gained by keeping him in the "hoosegow" but it was weak of the judge to reduce it based on military service. There seems to be a lot of politicians who should be UNDER the jail but are being handed medals. He did seem to exhibit true remorse plus giving some of the money back...

by thesoothsayer on Thu May 11, 06 3:14pm [+]

About Us | Join Us | Privacy Policy | Contact