By Nicholas Stix
The colleague who initially sent me this story wrote,
“You may recall that the white Tuba Man was murdered by a gang of ‘youths.’ One of them has just been rearrested on another charge. Clearly, if you are a ‘youth’ you can get away with murder.”
Another colleague responded,
“He spent about a year in the slammer for assault on two teenagers and then killing the tuba player. It gets worse: I checked out the earlier story, and the tuba player's brother said he was ‘completely satisfied’ with the sentences handed out to the ‘youths’ who killed his brother. White people are pussies.”
Man guilty in death of “Tuba Man” held on federal weapons charge
Billy Chambers, one of three teenagers convicted of killing Ed "Tuba Man" McMichael in 2008, is facing serious prison time after being charged in federal court.
By Mike Carter
Originally published December 7, 2012 at 6:40 PM | Page modified December 7, 2012 at 8:30 PM Seattle Times
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The last time 19-year-old Billy Chambers went to prison, he served about two-thirds of a 22-month sentence for ramming a woman's car and running her off the road.
It was just the latest in a string of trips in and out of juvenile detention, jail and finally state prison for Chambers, who has a long criminal history, but is perhaps best known for his role in the 2008 beating death of Ed "Tuba Man" McMichael.
On Friday, Chambers graduated to a new level of trouble — and is facing serious prison time — after being charged in U.S. District Court with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The federal charge carries a 10-year prison sentence and up to five years of supervised release when he gets out.
Chambers was targeted by a cross-designated state-federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Hobbs, who reviews every firearms arrest in King County and determines which cases should be taken into the federal system.
The difference in sentences is stark: A state conviction for a felon being caught with a gun rarely exceeds three years, according to prosecutors.
The federal charge stems from Chambers' arrest on Oct. 3 after King County sheriff's deputies stopped a car he was driving in Burien after someone reported that he and a companion had stolen items out of a vehicle, according to a probable-cause statement outlining the police case.
Deputies discovered a rifle in the trunk, the statement says.
Since spending nearly 18 months at Maple Lane School in Centralia for his role in McMichael's death and another robbery on the same night, Chambers has been arrested at least five times and convicted of crimes on two separate occasions. Because he's a felon, Chambers cannot possess firearms.
Chambers was released from the Monroe Correctional Complex on Sept. 18 after serving a portion of his sentence for attempted second-degree-assault. Chambers pleaded guilty to the charge in October 2011, admitting that he deliberately rammed a woman's car in June 2011 after she reported him to police for an earlier car prowl.
In July 2010, Chambers, then 17, and two other teens were arrested and charged with robbing a man at gunpoint in downtown Seattle. Chambers later pleaded guilty to first-degree theft and was sentenced to eight months in juvenile detention.
Chambers was one of three juveniles who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the Oct. 25, 2008, fatal beating of McMichael, known for playing his tuba outside Seattle sporting events for two decades. The juveniles were 15 when they attacked McMichael.
The sentences for Chambers and the two other youths outraged many in the community. Because no witnesses came forward, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said, his office was forced to charge the three teens as juveniles instead of seeking to have them charged as adults, which would have carried a longer sentence.
Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.
NS,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, WB.
I think I know what's going on in a general sense here.
State budgets are so tight that you might as well have down-to-the-penny budgeting decisions. Meanwhile, the Feds an quantitatively ease to its heart's content.
Also, crimes that have human victims, which are almost always state crimes, are harder to prosecute because they involve human victims that are either dead, scared to testify, or don't want to testify out of racial solidarity with their accused assailant, or you have the media hot potato of black perp white vic. OTOH, process crimes relating to drugs and guns are generally Federal, and involve almost a summary and perfunctory disposition process.
Put the two together, and what you are already seeing, and what you will see more and more going forward, is that states get the spaghetti headed ghetto thugs convicted of a felony crime involving a human victim, give them ridiculously light sentences to save money. Then when they are inevitably caught with drugs or guns, they can be offloaded on the Feds and Federal prison system for 5-10 years at a time ("doing life on the installment plan").