Yet more violent crime resulting from Connecticut's sentencing practices for repeat offenders.. If I was prone to making puns, I would say that our State's sentencing practices are criminal.
This murderer, or I should say multiple murderer, as it would now appear, was convicted in 1993 for murdering another man and yet here he was clearly out of prison, free to kill yet another person. I'd be interested to know exactly how long Perez had been out before being arrested for this murder and what other crimes, if any, he has committed in the interim.
And just an aside here; why wasn't taking someones life worth at least twenty years in prison in 1993?
Since there was no mention of Perez being on Parole when he arrested for this recent murder, it has probably been a number of years since he's been out. I can predict with pretty much certainly that the 93 murder case was plea bargained, as plea deals have been the preferred adjudication method for violent crime in Bridgeport Ga2 Court for quite some time. If there was a deal,t this means is that Perez likely received a much lower sentence than what he would have, should have, received for any murder conviction.
By the very nature of the "deal," charges are dropped down a level or two, and in the case of multiple charges, other charges are dropped entirely, never to be seen again on that criminals official record.
The results of this can be dangerous; inappropriate lesser sentences, lowered criminal charges leading to misleading and inaccurate criminal records, records that fail to illustrate the criminal's true potential for future violence..
As well the plea deal model for serious crime has long wreaked havoc with our Parole Board and their infamously less than- scientific-parole determinations. We've all heard about the disastrous affects of the ill advised early release parole of Joshua Komisarjevsky, co-accomplice believed to be the mastermind of the crimes against Michaela, Hayley and Jennifer Petit. But be assured that the same parole issues have been behind many other crimes committed by inappropriately paroled offenders.
In the Petit case, several errors within our justice system combined to create a perfect storm of sorts for one of the most brutal homicides that this state has ever seen. A computer based centralized criminal records system was approved in 2008 by the Connecticut Legislature in the wake of gaggle of state murders, all committed by repeat offenders released on early Parole.The system has yet to be implemented, although the funding for it was supposed to be made available this year.
Plea Deals represent approximately 96% of Connecticut's criminal case resolutions, They are not made for the reasons that one might think, such as the State having a "weak case," as depicted in shows like Law and Order. No, what we've got in too many of our state's courthouses is rote plea bargaining, bbusiness as usual. The plea deals helps speed things up, move along the daily dockets, and most of all, avoid the need to go to trial. After all, trials are time-consuming, especially in Connecticut, where our individual voire-dire practice has long been a prohibitive factor in taking cases to trial.
It has actually gotten to the point where the ownice is put upon the victim, if he or she must have justice, they are told to pursue such in civil court.
Needless to say, few victims of violent crime have the resources- or the wherewithal, in a post traumatic haze, to pursue a civil suit for the Justice that they did not receive in criminal court.. Not to mention reparations, where applicable. Often the offender has little to nothing to sue, and few attorneys are interested in obtaining an empty civil judgement for the notion of Justice or closure for a victim.
After an average of 9-12 months of fruitless continuances, "hearings" whereupon the perps attorney will ask the Judge for another 4-6 weeks to "review" said case, ie simply drag it out, increasing their billed court time in the process, the deal is officially made between prosecutor and attorney, behind closed doors.
The victim is typically left with his or her case watered down to some obsolete charge(s) that don't begin to resemble the crimes that were committed against them.
