After a teen, Tyler Alfred 17, pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter for a drinking and driving car accident that resulted in his friends death, he is now sentenced to 10 years of attending church! What?!….For the whole story click below!
Do you think this is fair to the families of the lost ones? What do you think about being sentenced to church instead of jail, do you think its fair to everyone else who was charged and put in jail for the same crime?
John Dum, 16, was pronounced dead at the scene after Alred, who had been drinking, crashed his pickup truck into a tree last December, authorities said.
But Muskogee County Judge Mike Norman handed down a lighter sentence than expected: 10 years in the church pews rather a jail cell. This deferred sentence is contingent upon Alred also completing high school and welding school.
The victim’s family and Alred’s attorney agreed to these terms. Nevertheless, the sentence generated controversy for mixing church with state matters.
Ryan Kiesel, the executive director of the ACLU’s Oklahoma chapter, criticized the judge’s decision as unconstitutional, reported RNS.
“It’s my understanding that this judge has recommended church in previous sentences, and I believe that goes too far, as well,” said Kiesel. “This, however, actually making it a condition of a sentence, is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”
The sentence, on the other hand, has its supporters. Boulevard Christian Church Pastor James McCracken claims that the cross is, in his opinion, “the ultimate sign of hope,” according to Fox 23.
“I believe that being in a church situation puts you in an environment where you can hear things that will change your life,” said McCracken.
