Derek Bodner’s Blog

Link to Story

That is when Masters allegedly delivered “a backhanded punch to the chest” and took off running, police said.

“That made her mad,” Gibbs recalled.

The woman, who was uninjured, jumped in her car and called police as she chased Masters. He was arrested minutes later.

Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said the two incidents taken separately equaled two misdemeanors: shoplifting and minor third-degree assault. Together, they make for second-degree robbery, a class B felony, defined in state law as forcibly stealing property. The amount of force and the amount of property does not matter.

I don’t know, this just seems wrong to me. You take two misdemeanors, combine them together, and now you’re facing 30 years to life? The amount stolen and amount of force aren’t taken into the equation? So you’re telling me stealing a diamond after beating a guy unconscious carries the same weight as someone who stole a doughnut, panicked, and pushed aside a lady?

Please. The punishment certainly does not fit the crime (unless there’s something drastic that’s being left out of the story.