The Media is Obviously Skewed, But in More Ways Than You Thought

By: Tom Tancredo

It’s often said that our system of justice is skewed to the rich. That is all too true. But it is also skewed another way and that is to immigrants. Case in point. Colorado’s Progressive Democrat Governor Jared Polis on December 30 commuted the 110-year sentence of a man convicted of criminal negligence in the deaths of four people. The young Cuban immigrant was the driver of a truck that lost its breaks, reached an estimated speed of 85 mph, and crashed into dozens of vehicles at the bottom of a long hill on Interstate 70 in the Denver foothills.

A Jefferson County jury had heard all the evidence and convicted the man on four felony manslaughter counts. The judge, following Colorado law, awarded a sentence of 110 years, the result of consecutive terms for the four deaths. The Governor made his commutation decision without waiting for the completion of the review and reconsideration of the lengthy prison term already underway within the court system.

What influenced the  Governor to act so quickly and to short circuit the sentence review process? Did he say the trial was unfair, or that evidence mitigating the crime was excluded? No! There has been no serious legal criticism of the trial itself. The two main factors influencing the Governor appear to have been a telephone call from Hollywood film celebrity Kim Kardashian and a global petition signed by 5.6 million people promoted by the leftist organization Change.Org.  

Commutation of sentences of convicted felons is allowed under the state constitution, but never before has a commutation been done in such a transparently political manner in the face of vocal opposition from both local prosecutors and victims’ relatives.

What’s really going on here? Does anyone really think that if the truck operator had been white that there would be a petition or a commutation? Yeah, sure. The successful prosecutor in the case had already endorsed a reduction in the 110-year sentence, and the judge who awarded the lengthy sentence said it was not what he would have done if the law were not rigid in requiring consecutive terms instead of allowing concurrent sentences. 

The 110-year sentence was undoubtedly going to be reduced substantially at the conclusion of the normal review process, but Governor Polis could not wait a week or two for that process to reach a conclusion.  

Why the rush? It’s obvious Polis had to act using his office’s commutation authority in order to get full political credit for the “humanitarian” gesture. The Hispanic immigrant was, after all, according to the Change.Org petition, not really a criminal at all, only a “victim of tragic circumstances.” 

But, wait! There is something missing from this picture. What about the evidence presented in the trial? Picky, picky!! 5.6 million people worldwide — that’s maybe about .00005% of the world’s adult population — believe the rules of evidence at a criminal trial are too rigid to take into account the humanitarian character of the victim behind the wheel of that runaway truck. According to the author of the petition, the immigrant truck driver is as much a victim of the tragic events of that day as the four persons who died and others who suffered horrible injuries. 

He never mentioned the fact that the driver ignored many signs warning of the steep road nor did he mention that the driver ignored the runaway truck off-ramps and used his breaks till they burned out.

Why have expensive jury trials at all if the guilt and appropriate punishment can be decided by online petition signatures? That may seem like a facetious or ridiculous question, but there is something dangerous and even poisonous in the way the corporate media generate a propaganda campaign for the guilt or innocence of the accused person quite independent of the evidence presented in court. 

Consider the recent Wisconsin murder trial. Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of the murder charge after twelve jurors heard and considered all the evidence presented by both prosecution and defense lawyers. And yet, because the media’s biased coverage of the trial had already convicted Rittenhouse in the court of public opinion, millions of people were shocked at the “not guilty” verdict based on actual evidence.

Few people believe the jury always gets it right. But the evidence available from recent cases does suggest that juries are more likely to get it right than petitions, Hollywood celebrities, and progressive politicians on the make.

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