Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A very interesting read this morning in the NYT on a hijacking from 1968

Ah yes, November 1968, the Detroit Tigers had just won the World Series behind three wins from lefty Mickey Lolich, Richard Nixon pasted Hubert Humphrey to win the presidency and one Luis Armando Peña Soltren had just hijacked a plane to Puerto Rico and diverted it to Cuba with two associates.

1968 is a LONG time ago isn't it? Many involved in this story are no longer alive. But justice must be done, and Federal Disctrict Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein saw to that as he sentenced Soltren to 15 years in a federal lockup, much more time than two of his associates got in the mid-70's.

The arguments here for compassion and justice will weigh those scales back and forth in one's mind;

*Soltren had been trying to turn himself into authorities since 1979 but he did hijack a plane.

*Soltren, unlike his cohorts, had never been in trouble with the law and hadn't since but did hold a knife to the neck of a stewardess during the hijacking as well as holding a gun on crew members.

How do we weigh crimes from long ago against today's societal mores? No doubt the specter of 9/11 entered people's minds and yet 9/11 was still 32 years away. How we measure crimes from so long ago is an interesting endeavor, Johnny is glad he's not a judge.

A good read on Tuesday morning to get your mind working.

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