Civil Rights
Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
Tommy Ray McAdoo wanted one thing when he walked into a Nevada bank last November brandishing a steak knife: a prison sentence. Homeless, "freezing and scared" according to his public defender, and suffering from heart kidney disease, McAdoo didn't want to spend more time on the Reno streets.
With a criminal history stretching back to 1964, the 77-year-old had done several stints in jail and wanted to return to "a world he's familiar with." But even more odd than McAdoo wanting to be re-incarcerated is a federal judge obliging him.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones sentenced McAdoo to 15 years in federal prison, determining that the use of a dangerous weapon during the robbery was evidence that the septuagenarian remained a threat to public safety. "He has shown a willingness to commit a violent crime in order to obtain a benefit, including government housing," Jones said, apparently un-ironically, while giving the bank robber exactly what he wanted. "All I can say is I'm sorry," told the judge, according to the AP. "Patsy Cline had a song, 'I'm So Sorry.' And that's what I am now."
"He was just freezing and scared, and prison is a world he's familiar with," U.S. public defender Lauren Gorman argued. "He instinctively did what he knew would land him back there -- he robbed another bank. In some respects, it's understandable that someone who has been so profoundly institutionalized his entire life would have responded that way."
McAdoo responded by scrawling a note on a sports book sheet and absconding with $2,700 cash in a paper bag from a downtown Reno bank. Police found him eating at a nearby casino, and when they asked what he was doing, he replied, "I used to rob banks." McAdoo was allegedly in Nevada to pad his $880 monthly Social Security check with a little gambling, but "generally lost" and found himself homeless.
Gorman asked the court for a five-year sentence, citing McAdoo's heart and kidney disease and his likelihood to die in prison. "It would give him a sliver of hope, if he ever makes it that long," Gorman argued. "As he stands here today, he could go at any minute."
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