Editorial: Outrageous sentencing

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 | 9:10 a.m.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure is part of a state justice system that obviously does not value the innocent lives of pedestrians and motorists who are killed by reckless drivers. We refer specifically to his Wednesday sentencing of David J. Gatlin.

On Sept. 25, 2003, Gatlin, a burglary suspect, was being pursued by police. Driving west on Alta Drive in a stolen car, Gatlin raced through a red light and broadsided a car driven by Roberta Stroh, 57. She was killed instantly.

Gatlin, then 16, was charged with murder, which in our view was appropriate. But he was allowed to plead guilty to felony reckless driving and failing to stop for a police officer. He appeared in court Wednesday for his sentencing by Bonaventure.

"The defendant had no regard for any of the vehicles or people around him," prosecutor Sonia Jiminez told the judge. She recalled Gatlin's criminal history, which included arrests for petty larceny, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery. Reminding the court of the favorable treatment Gatlin had already received through the plea bargain, she urged no more leniency. She asked Bonaventure to sentence Gatlin to two consecutive terms of two to six years in prison, meaning at a minimum Gatlin would spend four years behind bars.

Bonaventure passed sentences of two to six years on each charge, but ordered that they run concurrently, meaning the minimum time behind bars would be two years. He also gave Gatlin credit for the year and 133 days he spent in jail awaiting sentencing. Bonaventure's sentence means Gatlin could be free at year's end. The judge complained that no members of the victim's family were present. "I would have liked to have ... had a loved one tell me of the loss," Bonaventure said. We don't get his comment at all. He could have postponed the sentencing. In the end, though, the fact is that a woman was killed because of Gatlin's criminal action. That doesn't change, regardless of whether anyone shows up to memorialize her life.

We're outraged that Bonaventure passed such a light sentence. With the plea bargain, even the maximum sentence was too lenient. As this newspaper has pointed out in past editorials and stories, Nevada is a state that allows thoughtless, reckless and otherwise out-of-control drivers to kill people and walk away with a ticket. The Gatlin sentencing is one more example of a justice system that acts as if people walking or driving invite death, and if it happens, well, so be it.