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Walter Williams on the Philadelphia cop-killers
Article here.
The local pols are basing calls for gun control on the murder of police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski by three criminals. But...
"According to former Philly cop Michael P. Tremoglie's article "Who freed the cop-killers?" for the Philadelphia Daily News on May 8, all three homicide suspects had extensive criminal records. Levon Warner was sentenced in 1997 to up to 15 years for robbery, one to five for possessing an instrument of crime and five to 10 for criminal conspiracy. Howard Cain was convicted in 1996 on four counts of robbery and sentenced to five to 10 years on each count. Eric Floyd was sentenced to five to 10 years in 1995 for robbery, rearrested in 1999 for parole violation and later convicted in 2001 for two robberies."
Hmm... convicted of robbery, sentenced to 5-10 years in 1995, out on probation in 1999, violated it, convicted of two more robberies in 2001, and out on the street by 2008?
Over at Snowflakes in Hell, Sebastian has a great post, linking to the triggerman's criminal record. He had a 15 page rap sheet, including thirteen charges for illegally carrying a gun. plus eleven other gun charges ... all with charges dismissed. He was convicted on three-gun related charges. Basically, he'd be charged with about a dozen offenses -- theft, kidnapping, robbery, etc., etc., plead to one or two, get sentenced, get out, and repeat. In July 1993, he got 1-2 years (plea to receiving stolen property, a dozen other charges dropped). On March 1995, he got 26 charges dropped. In August 97 he got 2 years for escape and assault. about thirty other charges dismissed. In November 1997, he got 5-10 years for robbery (five separate counts, I assume concurrent sentences), about 50 other charges dropped. I haven't counted how many felony charges were filed against this guy, but it must run one to two hundred. Basically, he's a guy who, so long as he is free, will engage in robbery, assault, and theft, generally while packing a gun. What's he doing on the streets of Phillie?
Another of the murderous group had three felon in possession charges and six other gun-related charges.
Comments
Great post. FYI, it's "Philly," not "Phillie."
Posted by: Philly student at May 26, 2008 08:45 AM
I emailed Prof. Williams similar data from Chicago.
Chicago has very strict gun control (nearly as strict as the D of C) - and an outright ban on handguns since 1982.
2001-2005 saw 2,816 murders in Chicago
Those same years, 93% of those arrested/convicted for murder had prior arrest histories.
The high year was 2001, when 98.9% of murderers had criminal backgrounds. Statistically, that's all of them.
(data from Chicago Police Department homicide reports)
Just unbelievable. It is time for Chicago's approach to change...
Posted by: Carl in Chicago at May 26, 2008 11:31 AM