Mike Green is Tough on Gun Possession...

On his web page promoting his re-election campaign, incumbent District Attorney Mike Green states that "under his leadership, the office is combating violent crime and homicides by targeting armed violent felons, drug dealers, and those illegally carrying guns."

Today I was reading a blog story on Thomas Tacito. For those of you who do not know this story, Tacito pleaded guilty in 1996 to a felony of leaving the scene of an accident and a misdemeanor of driving while intoxicated in the death of Calvin "Shorty" Franklin on Dec. 5, 1995. Franklin was killed while walking on crutches across East Main Street. Although Tacito could have been imprisoned up to three years, he received five years' probation. Then, in 2003 he fired a .380-caliber pistol into the dashboard of a car where his father was sitting, then led police on a high-speed chase while he was intoxicated. He faced felony charges that could have sent him to prison for up to seven years. The felonies included illegal weapons possession and driving while intoxicated because he had a previous drunken-driving conviction within 10 years. Instead of taking his usual "tough stance," Mike Green allowed this guy to plead guilty to 2 misdemeanors with a sentence promise of probation! That's right, the District Attorney's Office dropped the gun possession charges!

What possible justification warranted such a departure, especially given Mike Green's "tough stance" on violent felonies and illegal gun possession? At the time, Green claimed that Tacito did well in treatment when he was released from jail three months after the incident. Given his stated "tough stance" on gun possession cases, is this rationale credible? This convicted felon used an illegal handgun in an attempt to shoot someone and then, while in an intoxicated condition, led police on a high speed chase. In what world would this result be just?

This County has suffered through 4 years of Mike Green's warped sense of justice, let's not suffer 4 more.