Judge Michael Sabol ruled today that evidence of domestic abuse does not qualify Nancy Rish for a re-sentencing.
The law requires that domestic abuse be considered in a sentencing. Sabol admitted there was domestic abuse of Nancy Rish, and that it was not considered at her sentencing. And yet, he denied her petition in court.
Let’s see. It is established that Danny Edwards dominated Nancy Rish. He broke her will. He forced her to quit her job so that she would be dependent on him. She left the house twice and called police after abuse incidents. During the week before he kidnapped Stephen Small, Danny was acting even more strange than usual. When Nancy asked him what was going on with him, a frustrated Danny Edwards put a gun to her head and said he would blow her brains out, and go upstairs and blow her nine-year-old son’s brains out, unless she shut up and stop asking questions.
Sabol thinks this isn’t enough abuse to give her a re-sentencing hearing.
Sabol simply dismissed the petition. He told Nancy’s lawyers they could file an appeal. When they asked for specifics as to why he dismissed the petition, on what grounds, so they would have something on which to base their appeal, Sabol said he wouldn’t tell them.
That certainly will get the case sent back when the Appellate Court justices ask the same questions about specifics.
My sources say that the assistant attorney general showed signs of compromise, but was contacted by the Smalls. That ended any question of compromise.
Once again, Small Money buys Small Justice.
In Kankakee, unless you are connected, there is no justice.
Erin O’Connell, the assistant attorney general who has been handling the case, is making a fool out of her boss, Kwame Raoul. When he was in the state senate, he wrote the law that says domestic abuse should be taken into account, citing a woman who was convicted after being forced by her husband to take part in a crime.
That is the same scenario as Nancy Rish, except that Nancy Rish did not knowingly participate in the crime when she drove Danny Edwards on errands where he stopped to make phone calls from pay phones.
Kwame Raoul, you are being made a chump by your own assistant.
And Michael Sabol is a disgrace to his robes, and to American justice. He should be ashamed of himself.
Nancy Rish has been in prison for 32 years for a crime she did not commit, railroaded there by the Small family.
As I said to someone in the courthouse after the hearing, I would rather spend 32 years in a prison on this earth than be a member of the Small family on Judgment Day.