Plea deals have been touted as a way to reduce the country’s criminal case backlog. Defendants are often given reduced sentences for saving judicial time by foregoing a trial. Nonetheless some of those plea deals have sparked controversy. Here are some of the notable plea deals of 2022:
Man who got teen girl pregnant sentenced to four years
The public was outraged at the four-year prison sentence handed to 40-year-old Justin Pratt, who impregnated a teenage girl. Under the terms of a plea deal, Pratt will spend three years on probation after he completes his prison term. He risks returning to prison for two years if he’s convicted of another crime during the probationary period.
Police arrested Pratt at his home on January 24, 2020 after they found the partially dressed 14-year-old girl there.
When officers checked out a tip from an anonymous caller, they reportedly heard “sexual noises” coming from Pratt’s apartment. The girl was putting on her school uniform when the officers entered. Police informed the girl’s mother of her whereabouts and took the juvenile to hospital, where doctors confirmed she was pregnant.
The girl said she met Pratt on Facebook in June 2019 and they began a sexual relationship soon after.
Following public outcry, Acting DPP Franklyn Williams KC justified the sentence. He said, “we have a generation of highly sexualised young people”, who in some cases lack parental guidance. This led some to accuse Williams of victim blaming.
Child rapist gets time-served
Pervert Reginald Sweeting was sentenced to time-served for raping a 10-year-old girl in 2010.
Pursuant to a plea deal, the 62-year-old was given credit for the three years, nine months and two weeks that he had spent in prison before he was released on bail for the case.
Sweeting was ordered to pay $5,000 in compensation to his now 22-year-old victim and placed on probation for two years. He will spend a year in prison if he fails to meet any of these conditions.
Sweeting, then 50, robbed the little girl of her innocence on January 10, 2010 when she went to his home to get an item for her grandmother.
Once inside, Sweeting pushed the girl on his bed and raped her.
11 years, six months for fatal stabbing
Thirty-one-year-old Kevin Gardiner accepted a plea deal to manslaughter in the May 4, 2018 death of Theagrea Hanna.
Gardiner, who was initially charged with murder, stabbed Hanna multiple times following an argument. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, but the sentence was reduced to 11 years and six months after Gardiner received credit for the time he had spent on remand.
The Court also recommended that Gardiner take anger management classes and enroll in vocational training while in prison.
Disbarred lawyer admits stealing clients’ money
A disgraced and disbarred attorney who stole $1.7 million from his clients took a plea deal that requires him to repay the money and serve 18 months in prison.
Ralph Jan Ward pleaded guilty to eight counts of stealing by reason of service and eight counts of fraudulent breach of trust in September.
Between 2006 and 2007, Ward misappropriated money entrusted to him by eight clients to complete property sales, prosecutors said.
Under the plea deal, Ward remains free on $100,000 during the nine months he has to make restitution of $1,826,908.75, which includes 2.5 percent interest, to his victims.
At the end of the nine months, Ward will surrender to the court to be conveyed to the Bahamas Department of Corrections to begin serving his prison sentence.
However, if Ward defaults on the restitution payments, he will be jailed for four years.
Man gets 20 years for fatal shooting
Fritz Geffrard killed his girlfriend’s sister and shot her 10-year-old brother.
As part of a plea deal, Geffard pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the January 3, 2021 shooting death of Jilny Fleureme and the attempted murder of her 10-year-old brother.
He was living with the victims’ sister Wilmide Fleureme, but her parents didn’t approve of the allegedly abusive relationship
The day before the incident, Wilmide’s parents brought her back home with the help of police.
An angry Geffrard went to the family’s home and shot the relatives he met there. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022
