Wednesday, June 16, 2010  "Killing and culpability" sentences
handed down  You readers who completed the "Killing and
Culpability" exercise a while back may be interested in the
sentences that were handed down:  "Avenging a Wrong"  Remember
Aaron Vargas? He was the man who went to the home of the older
man whom he said had molested him as a child, shot the man once
in the chest, and then waited half an hour to be sure he died.
The Northern California community of Fort Bragg had rallied
around Vargas, and he was expecting a lenient sentence after his
guilty plea to manslaughter.  The judge said no dice; the fact
that the victim was a child molester was largely irrelevant. "To
grant probation in this case would put a stamp of approval on
the defendant's actions, which I cannot do," he told a courtroom
packed with Vargas supporters. "The use of violence to correct a
wrong only encourages more violence."  The sentence: 9 years in
the state pen.  "Street Brawl"  The other case featured in the
exercise was that of