George Gaymon gets 65 years from powerless court

[Burnaby49]

Well he told the court that it was powerless, at least in the sense of having no authority over him. Somehow he got 65 years anyhow. A minimum of 51 years meaning he'll be 81 if and when he gets out. I ran across George by chance looking for something else. These are his convictions;

George Gaymon, 30, was convicted by a jury in January on a 20-count indictment that included two carjackings and an armed robbery, despite his proclamation of being a "sovereign citizen" over whom the court had no authority.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2018/ ... think.html

George went with the old tried and true argument that the court had no authority over him since he was a sovereighn individual. Worked as well as you'd expect;

While Cronin denied prosecutors' request he impose extended sentences on Gaymon, he granted their motion to make each sentence run consecutively.

Among other reasons, Cronin cited the need to deter other defendants from pursuing sovereign citizen legal strategies, which he said have no basis in the law. "It virtually assures conviction," he said.

I can see why American jails are full. Fifty one years seems extremely severe for a couple of carjackings and an armed robbery. This was their entire crime spree;

Prosecutors said the crime spree began on March 24, 2014, when Gaymon and his co-defendant, Mario McClain, stole a Jeep Cherokee and a Dodge Intrepid in Orange before robbing a gas station in Newark.

Later that same morning, authorities said, they carjacked the owner of an Infiniti at gunpoint after bumping the car on Speedwell Avenue with the stolen Intrepid.

Prosecutors said the crime spree resumed on March 27, when Gaymon and McClain used the Infiniti to bump a Mercedes-Benz SUV in Irvington before carjacking that vehicle, taking the driver's pocketbook and credit cards.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2018/ ... 2_day.html

While serious nobody seems to have been injured and they were stopped pretty promptly. His partner in crime, who cooperated with police, got only a five to seven year sentence. They apparently waived charging him for the crime spree and he pleaded guilty to a minor offense;

McClain, Gaymon's co-defendant, is currently serving a five to seven-year sentence at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton for possessing a weapon as a prohibited person, state records show.

[Resume]

Missed it by that much.

[BoomerSooner17]

At first I was shocked that Gaymon was given 51 to 65 years for stealing four cars, but then I realized that while the conviction was purely due to the crimes committed, the sentence was due to him being an idiot. Still, an effective life sentence for crimes that did not cause death or permanent injury seems harsh even to me, a tough-on-crime Texan.

[Chaos]

Newark ain't a place to fuck around and could also have a previous history in front of this judge that is unknown. Then playing the sov card on top of that. Never realized there were alleged sovs in Jersey.

[Judge Roy Bean]

He has five previous felony convictions.

[AndyK]

Whatever happened to the "three strikes" law?

Did all of us bleeding heart liberals make it go away?

[Burnaby49]

He has five previous felony convictions.

That, in itself, shouldn't do it. All kinds of felons with much longer rap sheets get much more lenient sentences. If the judge applied the "three strike" concept he didn't say so in his ruling. As I see it the crimes, while serious, did not in aggregate warrant a sentencing outside of what I'd consider a normal range. The judge managed to impose a life sentence on Gaymon by breaking the series of crimes into individual offenses and making the sentences consecutive rather than concurrent. You US taxpayers are going to be paying a hefty price for that decision. Lifetime free room and board is going to add up.

What I find shocking about this is the disparity between the sentences of the two perps. They committed exactly the same crimes but George's aggregate sentence is over ten times longer than his partner's sentence. The only stated reasons for this are George's behaviour in court and the partner's cooperation. While I can see these as affecting sentencing it should be nothing to this degree.

[wserra]

The only stated reasons for this are George's behaviour in court and the partner's cooperation.

In the context of sentencing, the words "only" and "cooperation" don't belong in the same paragraph.

[grixit]

The use of a gun bumps everything up, even if you only display it in your pocket.

[notorial dissent]

Purely at a guess, and based on prior history, I'd say this guy DOESN'T have a learning curve, he simply doesn't learn, he plays with guns, and he does nasty violent things. I really can't work up any sympathy for him.

[ArthurWankspittle]

Purely at a guess, and based on prior history, I'd say this guy DOESN'T have a learning curve, he simply doesn't learn, he plays with guns, and he does nasty violent things. I really can't work up any sympathy for him.

He has a learning line - at zero on the x axis.

[notorial dissent]

Pretty much sums it up.

[TheNewSaint]

Does Gaymon have a chance to get the sentence reviewed? (Assuming he drops the sovereign act and gets a competent lawyer, of course.)

The judge flat-out told the media he granted the consecutive sentences not because of the crime, but to punish the defendant for using sovereign citizen arguments. I'm all for punishing idiots who waste court time. But not through the arbitrary imposition of excessive jail time, for misdeeds they weren't on trial for. Certainly not in a world full of serial abusers like Larry Klayman and Orly Taitz.

[BoomerSooner17]

Echoing TheNewSaint's question, does Gaymon have grounds for appeal, considering the harshness of the sentence and the fact that he ignored his lawyer and went pro se?

[Arthur Rubin]

Well, he obviously had incompetent counsel, but that's not grounds for appeal unless it could be shown that the judge should have recognized he was incompetent to defend himself.

[TheNewSaint]

I'm pretty sure you can't go pro se and then blame your counsel. That aside, if Mr. Gaymon got a sudden jolt of good sense and hired a real lawyer, i think he'd have a decent case to appeal the sentence. But IANAL.

[wserra]

Does Gaymon have a chance to get the sentence reviewed?

The conviction and sentence come from a New Jersey state court. The only federal standard that applies is therefore the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Does this sentence qualify? Perhaps, depending on the record of the sentence, Gaymon's record, and so forth. If it is clear that a good part of that sentence rested on the sovrun stuff, I'd say yes, that's at least a basis for an appeal. Perhaps there's a First Amendment issue as well.

Anything else depends on New Jersey state law.

[TheNewSaint]

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate that you take the time to answer such questions.

[Dick Dastardly]

He has five previous felony convictions.

Five convictions, how many has he gotten away with? This guy has every appearance of a career criminal, the cost of lifetime incarceration, while steep, is a bargain compared to what his life of crime would cost the citizens of New Jersey.