This young man, Adrian Gaskins received 40 years in prison in 2016, at the age of 17, for breaking into someone's home. He is not, nor was he ever
A violent person. He did break the law by breaking and entering but 40 years is too much time for breaking and entering. His family is heartbroken. I spoke to his mother last year and was almost in tears when she told me the story of this young man who was once a high school football player and made good grades, and a second chance was all that he needed. 40 years for a nonviolent crime.
Adrian Jermaine Gaskin, Jr
These are the charges, and notice 3 of these charges are basically the same crime.
AGG ROBBERY 40 years BURG HABIT 20 years BURG HABIT 20 years HARASSMENT-PUB SERV 8 years PROH SUB CORR FACIL 8 years
Maximum sentence40 years Projected release date8/5/2056 TDCJ ID02101349 UnitLewis DOB5/19/1999 Home CountyGrayson SexMale Age20 RaceBlack Height5 ft 5 in Weight162 lbs Hair ColorBlack Eye ColorBrown
The agg robbery, which they called agg robbery was because he had a weapon on him when the cops found him, but according to his mom, he didn't use the weapon. The harass public servant charge, I think he was charged with that because he spit at a police officer, which is a bad thing, but does that warrant 40 years?
Unfortunately, from a legal standpoint, the man committed robbery by the action of taking property unlawfully by force or threat of force & the aggravated robbery charge is indicative of the fact he was armed with a deadly weapon, which could have inflicted serious bodily harm. Whether he actually used the weapon or not is irrelevant, it’s the point that he showed intent by being in possession of that weapon.
I do understand what you are saying, but the law is very clear here & in the UK you can be charged with assault even if you never actually laid a hand on the other person, simply because, by your actions, you caused the other person(s) to be in FEAR of assault. Similarly, this man knew that by going along & perpetrating a robbery (which, by definition is a far more serious offence than simple burglary) whilst armed with a deadly weapon (one capable of inflicting serious harm/death), that he was illustrating INTENT. @Shapeshifter
According to common law, he very much is a man, because the law states that a person is ‘criminally culpable’ once he/she reaches the age of 10 years. However, that factor is now under scrutiny & will be re-evaluated by the lawmakers, following recent scientific evidence that children’s brains do not, in fact have the capability to differentiate between right & wrong at that age, rather more not until much later in their teens @Shapeshifter
