Summary
A West Virginia couple, Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Lantz, received prison sentences of 215 and 160 years, respectively, for forcing their five adopted Black children into slave labor.
Authorities discovered the abuse after a welfare check revealed children locked in a shed without water or sanitation.
The couple, charged with human trafficking, child neglect, and forced labor, targeted the children because of their race.
The court ordered them to pay $280,000 in restitution each.
Even though by the time the hearing commences, the judge has already usually decided on the sentence, every competent criminal defence lawyer will advise their client to grovel and beg for mercy at the sentencing for two reasons:
Ah, yes, the parole they might receive when the parole board reviews their case in [checks watch] 80-100 years.
There’s also the possibility of appeals to get the sentence reduced. And the defendant’s family can apply for pardons. Pardons and commutations are usually associated with political grift in the US (and this is a well-deserved reputation), but they can also be applied for and governors occasionally grant them to prisoners who demonstrate they’re reformed even when they’re not otherwise eligible for parole.
Grovelling before the judge and acting like you accept you are guilty for sixty minutes costs nothing on the part of the defendant anyway.
I understand. I was mainly just making a joke.
Pro-Tip for any actual monsters hiding in human skin: deflection of all wrongdoing is not a great apology.