15 Year Old Felon

The opening line of this story says it all…

“A 15-year-old from Syracuse, Anthony Stewart, was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in a juvenile detention facility by Judge William Walsh of Onandaga County for a robbery in which the teenager took a mere 7 cents.”

While many people are slamming this judge for his decision, I think he did the right thing.  What if the elderly man would have had a heart attack from this?  What if he had hit his head when falling to the ground and caused serious damage?  People have been murdered for less money, or in a local case here not long ago, 2 young men robbed and killed a store owner for her bag, which contained onions.  The simple fact is that this kid made a bad choice and now he has to pay the price. 

So yes, in a previous post I criticized placing labels on kids in school, however placing the label of “felon” in this case is not only justified, it is the right thing to do.  This may actually deter a future youth from committing something like this. 

This teenager was found guilty of first degree, or aggravated, robbery.  In most states, including Texas, aggravated robbery is a first degree felony.  To put that in some perspective, murder is also a first degree felony.  The fact that only 7 cents was recovered has nothing to do with how the law is written.  The judge in this case made an example of this offender.  The offender was given a chance to plead guilty, even after being positively identified by his victim (which happened to be a 73 year old man who was pushed to the ground, punched in the face, and held at (BB) gun point.