The plea bargain that kept Marty Sawyer from going to prison for shooting two uniformed officers sends a regrettable message.
Permitting Sawyer to escape the threat of a prison term by paying $70,000—a $10,000 fine and a total of $60,000 compensation to the wounded officers—downplays the seriousness of his behavior and highlights the disparities in the criminal justice system.
Sawyer, who is white, opened fire on black officers, who were acting in the execution of their duties.
Chief Superintendent Wendel Smith and Corporal 3688 Andre Linden went to his home in Marsh Harbour, Abaco on November 24, 2020 to investigate a domestic disturbance.
He caught the officers off-guard and opened fire on them with a 12-gauge shotgun. The officers returned fire, missed, and by chance, Sawyer accidentally shot himself in the neck.
By his admitted actions, Sawyer should have been dead. The officers would have used justifiable force in killing him to protect their lives from imminent danger.
Luckily for him, Sawyer survived. But how many black men who never opened fire on an officer are dead as a result of police-involved shootings?
However, the disappointing conclusion of Sawyer’s case shouldn’t have been a surprise. From the start, he was treated differently. How many wounded suspects, much less those accused of attempted murder, are treated at Doctors’ Hospital?
Sawyer never even set foot in prison, as a judge freed him on bail almost immediately after his initial court appearance on December 22.
Fast forward almost a year later, prosecutors dropped the initial attempted murder charges and replaced them with use of deadly means of harm.
He was placed on probation for two years. And he was ordered to pay money that would be out of the reach of an inner-city resident, who had done the same thing.
The law provides for compensation or restitution as part of a sentence.
However, the plea deal gives the disappointing impression that the privileged few can buy their way out of prison.
He won’t live too long