Yazoo County Sheriff's Son Faces Pot Charge

Sheriff Vaughan Turns Case Over To MBN

The son of Yazoo County Sheriff Tommy Vaughan is facing charges after an undercover drug sting, county officials said.

Investigators with the Sheriff's Department recorded a marijuana buy on videotape as part of the undercover operation, District Attorney Steven Waldrop said. On Friday, Thomas E. Vaughan Jr., 26, was arrested and charged with the sale of marijuana, Waldrop said.

When Sheriff Vaughan was informed that his son had been arrested, he immediately ordered that the case be turned over to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Waldrop said.

"He then called me and said that no one is above the law and he wanted his son and this case treated like any other case," Waldrop said. "He is devastated and going through a rough time, but he was resolute that his son gets no special treatment."

The younger Vaughan was transported to the Madison County Detention Center.

WAPT

Stossel: One-Size-Fits-All Government

A Nevada woman named Michelle Lyn Taylor "kissed a friend’s [13 year-old] child, forced him to touch her breast and asked him to have sex with her."

That's bad, but should the punishment be... life in prison? That was the sentence that she got.

In the sentencing, which is on youtube, the defense attorney argues:

"The sentence here shocks the conscience… The minimum penalty for first degree murder is 50 years. She could get 25 years for 2nd deg murder... She is getting a greater penalty for letting a boy touch her breast than for murder.”

The prosecutor didn't argue that a life sentence was reasonable -- rather, he just informed the judge that there was no choice:

"This is the sentence that the legislature of Nevada has created for this type of crime… now really there’s nothing left to be done except for the imposition of a life sentence."

after delivering the life sentence, The judge offered a confused-sounding explanation:

Ms. Taylor, you were charged with a crime with this sentence and apparently you weren't offered any plea deal... I've done a lot of these cases and I can't figure it out. To tell you the truth I don't know why they charge what they charge... and why they give plea bargans to some and others not, but I know that you had a jury trial, and you were charged, and this is the sentence. Good luck.

Good luck!? Julie Stewart of the group "Families Against Mandatory Minimums" tells us:

We are following this to its bitter end -- fighting to get it overturned in the State Supreme Court -- to try to make sure that this is overturned not just for her case, but that they overturn the law.

Once again, one-size-fits-all government policy imposes its nasty results.

Fox Business

Mississippi Senate kills inmate early release bill

The Associated Press

A bill that would have allowed certain inmates to earn time toward early release died Tuesday in the Senate.

The House bill’s original intent was to give the state Parole Board discretion on the revocation of certain convicts’ parole. But Senate Corrections Committee Chairman Willie Simmons, a Democrat from Cleveland, said his committee inserted the early release language.

Simmons said changing the law would save Mississippi about $3 million because fewer inmates would be in state-funded correctional facilities.

Simmons said certain inmates wouldn’t be eligible, including sex offenders and habitual offenders.

Sen. Joey Fillingane, a Republican from Sumrall, spoke against the bill because he said it would also let drug dealers earn time for early release.

“If you want to be on record as letting drug dealers out early, vote for the bill,” Fillingane said.

Several senators who had voted for the bill changed their votes after it was clear the bill would fail. The same proposal died earlier in the House.