DUMB CRIMINALS OF THE WEEK: BOASTING ON FACEBOOK IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA
by Hazed
When judges have some discretion about the lenience of their sentencing it pays to act contrite in court. Convince hizzoner that you are really, truly sorry and he will go easy on you. You might even avoid jail.
If that happens to you, you are entitled to be relieved. You may even be cocky. But you really should avoid being publically contemptuous of the judge, your victim, or the whole legal process.
Ben Scott from Cornwall in England learned this lesson the hard way. He was prosecuted for assaulting a Royal Marine, but was given a suspended sentence for the attack. After he walked free from court he posted a picture on Facebook of a bottle of champagne, and called his victim “scum”, posting: “that scum can stay on the bottom of my shoe where he belongs.”
The post went viral and the judge called Scott back to court. He criticised the post as a “stupid and gloating comment” – and changed his sentence, sending him to jail for a year.
Serves him right!
Scott isn’t the only person to have a sentence changes as a result of a boastful Facebook post. Two drug dealers from Lancashire, England, were given a suspended sentence for their crimes, and were so delighted to have got off that they bragged on Facebook. They also posted sexually offensive comments about the judge.
As a result, they were hauled back into court and jailed for two years. That’ll teach them! (Actually, it probably won’t, because they sound too stupid to learn from their mistakes.)
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-36427873
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36443710