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How dumb do you have to be to hold up a store at gunpoint after police plaster your photo everywhere?
By adamg on Sun, 01/04/2009 - 1:50pm
Boston Police report arresting Preston Jackson of Mattapan last night after a failed armed robbery at a Mass. Ave. candy/ice cream store. Jackson, 42, was wanted for a string of similar holdups in the Back Bay and Fenway over the past month.
Officers responding to a report of a holdup at Bon Bon, 197 Mass. Ave., around 8:30 last night quickly spotted a guy who looked like Jackson:
While handcuffing the suspect, officers observed the suspect drop a piece of paper to the ground. Upon recovering the paper, officers discovered that the piece of paper was, in fact, a hand written note. The note read as follows: "Give me the money quietly and no one will be shot."
Police explain how workers at the shop foiled Jackson's bid for money after he handed them his note:
At this point, store employees say they informed the suspect about the presence of in-store security cameras. Upon seeing the cameras, store employees say the suspect grabbed his note and exited the store.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
I remember the time ...
Remember the time the guy was arrested with the hold-up note, "I've got a gub"?
Alright!
It's that time again...let's execute him! Feels better every time I say it.
We'll have to test the system first
I'm sure you will volunteer to make sure the new systems MA would have to purchase and install at great expense work properly and kill those guys good and dead, right Will?
Step right up to the restraint system, nice and easy ...
You're awful
Really? That's your response to me advocating that a habitual cancer should die? You're going to attack me while completely ignoring the issue?
Oh Really?
I'm not the one advocating that massive amounts of public money be spent to construct the type of system that has murdered scores of innocent citizens - historically and in recent memory.
But don't let the true experience of the death penalty trouble your conscience ... even though you yourself could fall prey to prosecutorial misconduct and bloody vengeful zeal overwhelming facts and evidence.
You know, you AND your beloved Howie Carr could move to Texas if you don't like the necessary protections of law found here.
How much does a bullet cost?
That would be cheap.
Expected sentence?
Any chance the douche will get 30-some years in the slammer or is that hoping for too much? The man's a one-man crime wave, fer crying out loud.
that hold-up note...
...must be kinda dog-eared by now.
Speaking as a one-time public defender, I can say that this guy is not high up on the perp food chain.
Preston Jackson
He will be on the street again in 5 years. If he wasnt a drug addict he might get 12-15 but his types always get out in less than 5 years.
His type?
And what if his type is a down-trodden nobody on the end of his rope. He turned to small heists because he couldn't get a job without needed skills and little education? In jail for 5-10 years, he takes classes, finds some solace in a religion or something, and stabilizes his life and returns a functional member of society using the placement program from the prison system to get placed in a good job and affordable environment.
This isn't only a response to your implicit commentary, but also to Hang'em High Will too.
there's a difference
But Kaz, isn't there a difference when we're talking about crimes that include or threaten violence?
For example, shoplifting costs retailers plenty (and by extension all of us), but it doesn't put fear into the heart of some kid working behind a counter -- the kind of fear that can stick for a long time.
I oppose capital punishment and believe that most of our prison sentences are way too long, but to me violent crime is different. "Ordinary" robberies and muggings can affect victims for many years, even after any physical wounds have healed.
I do agree that maybe this guy does his time and gets rehabilitated. Society will be better off if he does, and it would be great if we weren't so shortsighted and punitive as to deny him opportunities to turn himself around.
thats what I meant
by "his type". He is probably not an evil violent person. He is probably addicted to drugs, never seriously harmed anyone in his life, probably been arraigned for less than 30 similar crimes in his life (yes, 30 is not a lot for a guy like Jackson) and will be good in jail.
Now if he is an evil, no good scumbag with a long history of crimes (over 75 in MA), then he should deserve to get 15 in prison.
Problem is that's to
Problem is that's to expensive to the taxpayers int heir eyes.
So hell go to prison, where those things are only mildly offered. He also learn some tips for the streets from some hardcore drug gang bangers and other violent offenders and most likely come out worse then he went in.
Our criminal justice system needs an overhaul. We need to keep first offenders out of the career criminal detention centers and give them a chance at rehabilitation. They continue their ways, then we put them in the slammer with everyone else.
It be much cheaper for the state and the taxpayer, and might improve some lives.
Jackson held in lieu of $95,000 bail
Charged (so far) in six separate cases, according to the Suffolk County DA's office.
Jackson has a few priors - like 16
The Globe reports that Mr. Jackson is not unknown to either local police or local courts, and quotes his lawyer as saying store clerks were never really under any threat from a guy handing them notes threatening to shoot them if they didn't hand over money.
Career perp
He keeps assistant district attorneys and deputy public defenders employed.
When I was a Legal Aid lawyer in New York, I was assigned to represent a guy accused of jumping the turnstile -- for about the gazillionth time. I started to think about how much it cost the taxpayers to keep bringing this guy back into the system over (back then) $1 fare beats. Then I thought, you can't ignore those violations either. And then I thought, this is just the way it is, time to stop wondering about it...
16
convictions for robbery
How many robberies were dismissed or continued? How many breaking and enterings, burglaries, home invasions, drug violations etc etc.
But like I said, a lot of the time these guys are pretty harmless and the courts let them out after short terms.
Interview with the woman who stopped his spree
Channel 5 talks to the Bon Bon clerk who told the dude to look up at all the cameras trained on him.
Ha!
Way to go, Tina Drouin!