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White Teen Gets Off Easy While Black Teen Gets Sentenced

Written By lunes, 1 de agosto de 2022 Add Comment Edit

RACINE — Attorney Jamie McClendon said in a Racine County courtroom on Friday that, in the 10 years she has been practicing law, she had not once brought up race because she learned long before she would be met with disdain and a lack of understanding if she tried. That changed Friday.

The case

One of two young men arrested and charged for the December 2019 beating and robbery of another student was in court on Friday for sentencing. The case put the spotlight on the racial inequality of the justice system.

Traound Oliver-Thomas, 18, was sentenced on Friday to serve five years — two years in prison and three years of extended supervision for his part in the attack. Additionally, he was sentenced to serve seven months in the Racine County Detention Center in a separate case where he swiped the phone of a fellow student in school.

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The case was before Judge Wynne Laufenberg. Oliver-Thomas was represented by McClendon, who was appointed to the case by the court. The Racine County District Attorney's Office was represented by Christopher Steenrod.

Allowed to speak on his own behalf, Oliver-Thomas apologized for his actions.

"I'm truly sorry for my wrongdoings," he said. "I apologize to the victim and his family and humbly ask for forgiveness."

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Justice disparities

McClendon argued that race was the only explanation for the disparity in the treatment of the two defendants — one white and one African American — who participated together in the same crime.

"This is a good kid who's had a crappy life," McClendon said of Oliver-Thomas, "and I'm not going to let the justice system beat him up anymore."

Oliver-Thomas, who is Black, and Joseph Langenfeld, who is white, were both 17 years old when they lured another teen into a backyard where he was beaten, threatened with a gun and robbed. The gun turned out to be an air gun, but the victim did not realize that as it was held to his head.

Oliver-Thomas did not know the victim, but Langenfeld did.

According to Judge Laufenberg, the victim's girlfriend made unfounded accusations against the victim that caused Langenfeld and his friend, Oliver-Thomas, to seek retribution.

"She set this in motion," Laufenberg said.

The young men filmed their attack, which Judge Laufenberg said she reviewed at the sentencing hearing of Langenfeld in December.

Both teens were party to a crime, but their actions during and after were very different.

According to McClendon, it was Langenfeld who pistol-whipped the victim, not Oliver-Thomas; though, she did not minimize her client's involvement in the attack. When confronted after the attack, Oliver-Thomas was cooperative and answered questions for the investigators. Langenfeld, in contrast, hid from the police and then refused to cooperate when arrested.

McClendon quoted Langenfeld as saying, "That's the difference between us. I don't talk."

"That arrogance comes from privilege my client has never had," McClendon said.

However, when it came time for the district attorney's office to prosecute the case, it was Langenfeld who got the better deal when the prosecutor dropped the armed robbery charge in exchange for the defendant's no contest plea to battery with the intent to cause harm, and the opportunity to have his record expunged.

Oliver-Thomas, his attorney noted, was not offered the same deal. He will do two years in prison and three years of supervised release as punishment for his actions in the same crime.

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Couldn't afford anklet

Wisconsin has one of the highest rates of incarceration for Black men in the United States. Black people represent just 6% of the state's population but nearly 40% of those incarcerated in state prisons.

McClendon said she studied the rate of incarceration at the Racine County Detention Center over the summer and observed the Black population of the Racine County Detention Center never once fell below 50%. The Black population makes up about 10% of Racine County's population.

The poverty rate of Racine's Black community is linked to the high incarceration rate. According to a study from 24/7 Wall St., the median yearly income for a Black household in Racine is $26,512, less than 40% of the median income for a white household in Racine. Similarly, the Black unemployment rate in Racine is above 10% while the unemployment rate for white people is below 5%.

Langenfeld's parents were able make the $5,000 cash bail after three months. Released from detention, he was allowed to obtain his license to drive.

Oliver-Thomas, by contrast, remained in the detention center for the entire 14 months between arrest and sentencing.

Ultimately, Oliver-Thomas contracted a severe case of COVID-19 — dragging out his time in the detention center since he was unable to come to court.

Although he was given the opportunity to have a signature bond with an ankle monitor, there was no one to pay for the ankle monitor. So, he sat in jail.

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History of trauma

According to McClendon, Oliver-Thomas was born with drugs in his system to a violently abusive mother.

In addition to the physical abuse, Oliver-Thomas's mother did not care for her children.

At one point, she took one of her kids and moved — leaving the rest behind in an apartment without electricity or food to fend for themselves in whatever way they could.

Oliver-Thomas's file from Child Protective Services is extensive. Unlike the co-defendant, there was no one to write letters on Oliver-Thomas's behalf to the court.

McClendon said she was unable to reach Oliver-Thomas's mom so she could attend the sentencing hearing and be there for her son.

His mother and grandmother never once visited him in the 14 months he was incarcerated nor attempted to contact him. He turned 18 years old in detention. His mother did not visit on that day, either.

Companion case

In Oliver-Thomas's second case, which occurred in October 2019 before the beating/robbery case, Oliver-Thomas swiped a phone from a fellow student at school who allegedly said, "I hate Black people."

Allegedly, Oliver-Thomas was upset about the comment, so he swiped the victim's $600 iPhone.

According to court records, a young woman came to him and said that was the wrong thing to do. She encouraged him to give back the phone. Instead, he gave the phone to her, but it reportedly did not make its way back to the hands of its owner.

Oliver-Thomas was arrested and charged with felony theft, for which he might have been sent to prison for 10 years and fined $10,000.

Sentencing

In sentencing the defendant, Judge Laufenberg called the fact that neither of the defendant's parents showed up to the hearing "absolutely tragic."

"His parents have absolutely failed Mr. Oliver-Thomas, there's no question," she said.

However, she also talked about the impact the attack had on the victim, who was said to be mentally impacted by the attack and was terrified of going to school.

The family, in fact, was left in fear because they believed Langenfeld knew where they lived, the judge added.

Oliver-Thomas was sentenced for robbery with use of force to two years in prison and three years of extended supervision, and to six months in the detention center forbail jumping, concurrent to count 1 and to seven months in the RCJ with 18 months of probation for theft, consecutive to count 1.

Oliver-Thomas could have his record expunged of the theft charge if he remains compliant to the rules of probation.

The additional charges of substantial battery with intent to harm, a category I felony, three counts of felony bail jumping, and two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping were all dismissed as part of the negotiated plea.

The $600 restitution and court costs were paid by members of Racine Women for Racial Justice, who raised the money from amongst themselves.

The RWRJ has rallied around Oliver-Thomas, giving him support he would not otherwise have had.

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Source: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/black-teen-sentenced-for-his-part-in-2019-racine-beating-gets-harsher-punishment-than-white/article_63c753c3-ba59-5bb7-b55d-48649d817f53.html

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