Editorial: Langworthy's "No Jail Time" Is Example of How System Works (unfortunately)

The Clarion-Ledger
January 24, 2013

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130124/OPINION01/301240013/EDITORIAL-Langworthy-s-no-jail-time-example-how-system-works-unfortunately

There sometimes appears to be no such thing as fairness in the courts when sentencing is involved — ironic since our systems are set up to foster that very thing.

But take the John Langworthy case as an example. The former Clinton church music minister and school choir director pleaded guilty this week to five felony counts of gratification of lust for molesting children almost 30 years ago.

Langworthy will serve no time in prison for molesting the children, a fact that seems outrageous for the heinous crimes. Consider only that former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky received last year 30 to 60 years in prison — effectively a life sentence — from a Pennsylvania judge for the sexual abuse of 10 boys.

Sandusky, of course, did not plea bargain. He was convicted by a jury on 45 of 48 counts related to the sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period.

Langworthy, a longtime Clinton school district choir director and former music minister at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, entered a guilty plea before Hinds Circuit Court Judge Bill Gowan to five counts of an eight-count indictment. The guilty pleas were part of a plea agreement with the Hinds County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors noted after the sentencing that the five victims related to the guilty pleas agreed to the no jail time provision for Langworthy. The reason relates concerns over the statue of limitations on such crimes, said Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride.

In other words, both prosecutors and victims likely share sentiment of the general public, which quickly spoke up in outrage through online comments this week when Langworthy’s “no jail time” sentence was announced. They undoubtedly wanted to send Langworthy to prison, but getting the guilty pleas, considering the case involved crimes dating back more than 30 years, seemed the best option.

So they cut a deal with Langworthy, who clearly wanted to avoid prison at all costs — even if it meant admitting to five counts.

But that doesn’t help the public justify what seems to be gross unfairness in the courts. Sandusky rightly gets sent away for decades for abusing young boys, while Langworthy gets to go home for dinner with punishment relegated to five years of supervised probation, no contact with the victims and registering as a sex offender.

Many citizens simply don’t understand such disparity. They don’t understand why Langworthy goes home, but the driver of the getaway car in a retail store robbery gets a 45-year sentence — 35 of which can be served in prison.

Such is the case of Lyndon Myers, 28, who was found guilty this week by a Madison County jury of three counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with a May 2012 robbery of a local Dollar Tree store. Of the 45 year sentence, only the last 10 are suspended — meaning Myers, of Canton, will serve a long time in jail.

And Langworthy goes free, despite the fact that he is guilty of molesting children.

It isn’t fair, comparatively speaking. It’s just how the system works. When plea bargaining is involved, sentences lighten up considerably. Prosecutors made a deal with Langworthy because they felt that was the best way forward in the case.

The victory, as one of Langworthy’s victims noted, is that the former choir leader admitted what he had done in court.

“I’m guilty,” he said.

Langworthy deserves time in prison. But incarcerated or not, that is at least a verdict he will have to live with the rest of his life.