South Carolina Woman Sentenced to Read Old Testament
BANFIELD: OK. You're going to like this one. A convicted drunk driver in South Carolina gets eight years in prison, five years probation, and a reading assignment. This a report from the newspaper, "The Herald Rock Hill," saying that this woman, Cassandra Tolley, has to read the Old Testament and has to write a summary as part of her sentence. What? you say. Separation of church and state? Well, let's get to the crime first. Tolley reportedly had a blood alcohol level of .33 when she drove the wrong way down a road in November last year. She severely injured two people in the ensuing crash. Defense attorney Joey Jackson is on the case. First thing I thought was, ain't no way this is going to stick. Ain't no how and it will.</s>JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It will.</s>BANFIELD: Why?</s>JACKSON: Well, primarily because she consented to it. She said, you know what, judge? You're being reasonable. Why? Because what can the judge have done? The judge could have said, I'm giving you the maximum. You're going to spend double that time in jail. But the judge said, listen, we can work this out. Why? Because people need religion in their lives, so as a result, I want you to go back and read the Old Testament, The Book of Job. You're going to write a summary. You're going to spend eight years in jail, which is a very tempered sentence, which this takes into effect the victims as well as the defendant.</s>BANFIELD: I don't know you're an attorney, but you also have to be a biblical scholar.</s>JACKSON: A biblical scholar, yes, sure.</s>BANFIELD: Why The Book of Job?</s>JACKSON: Well, listen, far from, but look, the point is that it's about the righteousness and why do the righteous suffer. Here is Job and Job has everything in the universe. He's got seven daughters. He's got three sons. He owns the world. And what happens? It burns. It's taken all away from him. And what would normal people do, Ashleigh? We would just whimper, but he stands tall. Satan comes and tries to distract him and he says, no, I'm going to remain faithful in the face of adversity and he overcomes. It's a great book.</s>BANFIELD: Clearly. Better than "Shades of Grey."</s>JACKSON: From what I hear, it couldn't be any better than that, but anyway ...</s>BANFIELD: You know what I'm talking. You know that I know you too well. So, let me ask you this. Is this the kind of thing that a judge can come up with on his or her own or is this something that is recommended from prosecutors in concert with defense attorneys, et cetera?</s>JACKSON: Well, listen, generally speaking, what a sentence is is imposed by statues, so there are laws which tell you what the sentence is going to be. It's a maximum of this in jail, 15 years, or you can give a minimum of five years or you can do the drinking-driving program. So the statutory sentences are pretty much imposed, but judges have some discretion as to what they can do. Now, because, of course, she consented, it's a non-issue. Can you -- in opening up this segment -- you know, talk about separation of church and state? There's a big separation. If there was any opposition to this, of course, a judge would have no authority to force someone to read the Bible without their consent and wanting to do it.</s>BANFIELD: OK, I should mention, as well, as we sort of laughed through the segment about the unusual aspect of this kind of a sentence, there's more to this story. We love to hate people who drink and drive and cause injury and despair and these two victims were badly injured. One of them had a terrible surgery, rods, I think, into the spine.</s>JACKSON: Their spine. Absolutely.</s>BANFIELD: Can't sit or work.</s>JACKSON: One could lose their foot. Yes.</s>BANFIELD: They're bad injuries. This woman also is damaged goods. She was terribly abused as a child.</s>JACKSON: So true.</s>BANFIELD: That comes into this, doesn't it?</s>JACKSON: It does because it serves as what we call a mitigator in law. There are aggravating factors and then there are mitigating factors. And, apparently, when she was 11, she was doused with gasoline. She was set on fire. She still has those scars. And she was suffering from some alcohol. And, look, part of the whole process is to attempt to rehabilitate and work with the defendant, if you can. This judge did that and I think deserves kudos as a result.</s>BANFIELD: You know what? Without question it got us talking and it's a fascinating case. For anybody out there who's curious about it, though, if you do -- again, if you say, no, way. That's not going to be my sentence.</s>JACKSON: And that's why, you know, Ashleigh, we swear or affirm in court, right? We swear or affirm to tell the truth because we don't necessarily have to be religious when we testify. Right?</s>BANFIELD: That's right. That's right. Good to see you, as always. Come back again.</s>JACKSON: Great to see you, Ashleigh. Would love to.</s>BANFIELD: Joey Jackson. He's like my brother because my brother's name is Joey, so we have a special connection.</s>JACKSON: Nice.</s>BANFIELD: Thank you, Joey Jackson.</s>JACKSON: A pleasure.</s>BANFIELD: So it's being called "mommy porn." You heard me mention it before, the "Fifty Shades of Grey." It's making waves and it's making more than that. It's making big bucks. Serious moolah. Now, there are hotels trying to cash in on this. Are you kidding me? I'm not kidding you. Wait until you hear about the real life experiences they're offering. Oh, yeah.