[EL] More on case with 5-year sentence for double voting (from ELB News and Commentary 7/18/13)
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Thu Jul 18 15:00:14 PDT 2013
If there is mental illness involved, I would be interested in knowing
whether such information was presented to the judge as a mitigating
factor in sentencing.
On 7/18/13 2:45 PM, John White wrote:
>
> What sentence did the prosecutor request?
>
> The comments by the prosecutor in the local news link [
> http://news.cincinnati.com/videonetwork/2551559808001?nclick_check=1 ]
> state that she used her knowledge of the system to conceal the
> misconduct, apparently over a course of years. If election officials
> who abuse their positions of trust are not held to account, who will
> be? I'd analogize the "harsh" sentence to what happens when tax
> lawyers or CPAs use their specialized knowledge to perpetrate tax
> fraud. The prosecutors don't like it and long sentences are sought
> for the deterrent effect. Judges are tougher on criminals who use
> specialized knowledge or abuse positions of trust to commit crimes,
> and they should be.
>
> The comments at the end of the excerpt, posted to the list previously,
> from an attorney for the election board made clear that investigating
> the fraud took significant work. The defendant also apparently blamed
> a lack of training by the elections board for her actions, based on
> that attorney's comments.
>
> Based on the limited information available, I'm not troubled by the
> sentence. I'd be interested in seeing an excerpt of the hearing that
> included more of the defendant's statement. The local press described
> her as "unrepentant."
>
> John J. White, Jr.
> white at lfa-law.com <mailto:white at lfa-law.com>
> (425) 822-9281 ext. 321
>
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> *From:*law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf Of
> *Rob Richie
> *Sent:* Thursday, July 18, 2013 1:17 PM
> *To:* Election Law; Bill Collins
> *Subject:* [EL] More on case with 5-year sentence for double voting
> (from ELB News and Commentary 7/18/13)
>
> A friend of mine, Bill Collins of Cincinnati, sent me and email about
> the Ohio case involving a five-year prison term for voting on behalf
> of her sister in several recent elections despite her sister being in
> a coma.
>
> I'm no defender of voter fraud, but I question this sentence and the
> apparent behavior of the judge. Bill is copied on this message in case
> anyone has more questions about the case.
>
> As an aside, I'll note has a practice where many people delegate their
> vote to others to cast as a proxy. Voting by mail is not done in
> presidential elections (and only done for parliamentary elections for
> the first time last year), so someone away from home instead gives a
> formal letter to someone allowing them to cast their vote. Turnout in
> presidential races is more than 80%. It just shows how norms can be
> different in different nations. They see absentee voting as
> potentially ripe with fraud, and I assume many Americans wouldn't like
> the idea of this voting-by-proxy.
>
> - Rob Richie
>
> #################
>
> *From: *Bill Collins <bcollins1 at cinci.rr.com
> <mailto:bcollins1 at cinci.rr.com>>
> *Date: *Thursday, July 18, 2013 10:23 AM
>
> Good morning. It is so sad to read about the sentencing of
> Madisonville resident Mae Richardson to a five-year prison term, and
> the outrageous, bullying, racism verbal attack on her by Judge Robert
> Ruehlman at the sentencing hearing. See
> http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130717/NEWS0107/307170089/Illegal-voter-gets-5-year-prison-term?gcheck=1
>
> I hope that individuals in Madisonville will speak out against Judge
> Ruehlman's sentence of Mae and the judge's outrageous behavior in
> court yesterday. Below are the comments I just posted on
> http://www.cincinnati.com <http://www.cincinnati.com/>.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bill Collins
>
> Phone: (513) 271-4425 <tel:%28513%29%20271-4425>
>
> - - - - -
>
> This long sentence for Mae Richardson is an outrage.
>
> I know Mae. She is a likeable but prickly and difficult personality.
> She is an eccentric person, for sure, and her bizarre statement
> yesterday at the court sentencing clearly shows that. It's obvious
> that Mae needs professional help.
>
> Judge Ruehlman's mocking treatment of her, in response, was an
> outrage. After all those years on the bench, doesn't Judge Ruehlman
> recognize mental illness? Is he THAT dense as to not see the evidence
> of mental illness standing before him at the bench?
>
> - - - - - - -
> Anybody who knows and observes Mae closely knows that she is a black
> woman who needs psychiatric help, and does not need a bullying,
> self-righteous lecture by a white judge from the bench at the time
> that he is sending her off to jail for five years. The judge has the
> power; Mae has no power. The judge's trashing Mae from the bench as he
> sends her to jail for five years is the worst kind of bullying, and
> yes the worst kind of state-sanctioned racism.
>
> What Mae needs, and has needed for a long time, is some good
> mental-health services. Sending her to a regular prison with other
> female inmates will make her condition worse. PLEASE. The courts
> system needs to stop this outrage, sentence Mae to an appropriate
> sentence and get her some mental-health services. I hope for the best,
> but fear that the system -- if left unchecked -- will destroy Mae
> Richardson.
>
> This is an OUTRAGE! The American people are not cruel people. Melowese
> (Mae) Richardson deserves better and we deserve better than this sort
> of state-sanctioned bullying, cruelty and racism meted out by Hamilton
> County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman.
>
> On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 11:46 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu
> <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:
>
>
> Melowese Richardson Gets Five Year Term for Illegal Voting
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53138>
>
> Posted on July 18, 2013 8:28 am
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53138> by Rick Hasen
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> See here
> <http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201307171724/NEWS0107/307170089&nclick_check=1>.
> This is a significant sentence for some serious misconduct,
> including voting her sister's vote, who has been in a coma since
> 2003. Although the poll worker accepted a plea deal, she was
> unrepentant:
>
> "I think the board has shown me nothing but total disrespect
> for the 30 years I've served them," she told the judge. "I
> believe in the system and I've done nothing to harm the system
> or cause disgrace to President Obama."
>
> The conservative, outspoken judge responded with scathing
> comments, blasting Richardson for suggesting she was being
> prosecuted because she was a black Democrat helping a black
> Democratic presidential candidate.
>
> "It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with
> politics. It has nothing to do with disrespecting you. You did
> this to yourself," Ruehlman told her.
>
> "You're very selfish, self-centered. I really believe
> President Obama, if he were asked about this today, he would
> be appalled. He would not want anybody to cheat to get elected."
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Respect for Every Vote and Every Voice"
>
> Rob Richie
> Executive Director
>
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--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org
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