Fulton County Superior Court Judge Doris Downs decided last year to give Jayden Myrick ... a chance to turn his life around.
Myrick had been arrested at the age of 14 for his role in an armed robbery and agreed to a negotiated plea of 15 years, to serve seven years in adult prison, according to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.
But after two-and-a-half years in juvenile detention, the judge gave him a break. She put Myrick on probation and placed him in a special program whose director confidently claimed her program could keep tabs on Myrick and reform him, just as it had many other violent youths, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Sounds wonderful. What could go wrong?
"I don't want anybody else to be held at gunpoint by this man," the judge said in court when a prosecutor objected to her plan, according to the transcript. "I want to end it. You're interested in punishment. I'm interested in rehabilitation and community safety for the future, because he is going to get out, and I want him to be a positive influence in the community."
Now 17, Myrick is accused of shooting Christian Broder, 34, a restaurant manager from Washington, D.C., who was waiting for an Uber ride as he left a wedding reception earlier this month at Atlanta's Capital City Country Club. Broder, an Atlanta native, died Friday as a result of the wounds he suffered in the shooting. He is survived by his wife and a 9-month-old daughter.
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The Fulton County District Attorney's Office objected when Myrick asked to be released from his sentence before he turned 17 and would be sent from juvenile detention to adult prison. The DA's office said Myrick had 32 misconduct violations while in juvenile detention, and that his behavior was still unpredictable.
But Downs insisted that the probation program, called Visions Unlimited, was the best option. She told Myrick, "I am expecting you to become a changed person" through the program, according to the transcript.
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The DA's office said Sunday that there were soon signs that Myrick was not on the right path. Just 20 days after the hearing, the DA's office asked that Myrick's probation be revoked based on Instagram posts showing him with guns, known gang members and a posted video showing him holding a baggie of pills for sale.
Downs revoked Myrick's probation, and he was to remain in jail until February. The DA's office said he was released on Feb. 21 and was supposed to go back into the Visions Unlimited program but apparently did not report there. The DA's office said it found more posts on Instagram showing that Myrick was violating his probation and reported that to the judge, but that no action was taken.
The "second chance" initiatives we are seeing now are not just for non-violent people who have made a single "mistake" in a mostly law-abiding life. The people in them are not closely supervised, and their special good deals are not expeditiously revoked when their post-mercy behavior shows them to be ungrateful, unworthy, and likely to commit further crimes.
And innocent people die as a result.
It is difficult to find the words that describe this outrage--so I won't even try.
I will point out something. For years we've been lectured by the soft-on-crime crowd about how "kids" have brains that are still developing, don't have full control and are somehow less culpable. We're even told by an esteemed law professor that lenience towards serious lawbreakers is somehow emblematic of our commitment to freedom--well, yeah, Mr. Broder's wife is free to visit his grave.
But hmmm. Don't all those arguments against LWOP or capital punishment of the poor little dears militate in favor of harsh punishment for things like armed robbery? If these guys are impulsive etc., then we certainly don't want them around guns, and the only way to accomplish that is to make sure they are safely incarcerated.
It is somehow fitting that Judge Doris Downs has no comment. How convenient. Has she penned a letter of apology to Mrs. Broder? Has she admitted that she made a mistake--a mistake that cost an innocent man his life?
And, of course, given the lese-majeste ethos we seem to have in this country, criticism of this judge will be muted. And prosecutors won't be allowed to be so impolitic as to bring up Myrick's case the next time this judge (who, if she had any humility would resign from the bench straight away) is sentencing some thug.
Traditionally, the feds have not prosecuted juvenile gun criminals---perhaps it is time that policy is re-examined---this "kid" should have been looking at a federal prosecution for his instagram pictures. Mr. Broder would be alive, and possibly, Myrick, with the wisdom of age, would not have thrown his entire life away.
From the AJC article:
“I don’t want anybody else to be held at gunpoint by this man,” the judge said in court when a prosecutor objected to her plan, according to the transcript. “I want to end it. You’re interested in punishment. I’m interested in rehabilitation and community safety for the future, because he is going to get out, and I want him to be a positive influence in the community.”
Wow. For a second, I thought I was reading something Judge Chatigny said.
What a condescending twit. And now an innocent man is dead. And one more thing---let's imagine a scenario where the prosecutor in his prayer to send Myrick back to prison wrote: "The court informed the assistant district attorney that the court wanted him to be a positive influence in the community. The state submits that pictures showing him to be involved with guns is strong evidence that, notwithstanding the court's efforts, Myrick is currently not a positive influence in the community."
Prosecutors need to start having the moral courage to make these sorts of forceful arguments to our robed masters. Lives are at stake.