Joseph Stahura avoids jail for all the campaign funds he used for gambling.

[South Park]

Wow what a lucky person he is that he was able to avoid to be in jail after what he has done. Let's say that he lost half of that amount for gambling, I am still very amazed that he was able to say that it is normal and he is not addicted to gambling.

What a great excuse it is but I am sure that this happening will surely to give him a very big lesson as many will surely think negative towards him especially to what he did. I guess he is not a good gambler also as he was unable to win even with that amount of money.

This is not an example of a person being lucky this is an example of how those that hold or held positions of power can use said power and influences to get away with almost any crime right in front of us and then claim that the system works, there is a different set of rules, one for them and another for us and that is what bothers people, in a world in which things were fair this person will spend at least a few years in jail but unfortunately we know the world is not fair in that regard at all.

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[madnessteat]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

[imstillthebest]

Fair enough that he is enjoying wasting his money in gambling and received nothing but just a court call

not his own money but it was the money of the organization that he is working for . if he want fair he need to spend the money of his own

But the sad part is that he is ruining his name and reputation in the public, it sounds like I'm not going outside for this shameful act and abuse of authority.

if your in his shoes you will not commit the mistake that he did because you already think in advance and you are afraid of the results .
it proves that you are a honest person and more appropriate in this position than the corrupt guy .

you dont need to feel sad of what happened to him but he deserve it , he want it to happen .

[electronicash]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

all because he is remorseful of his act. everybody looks remorseful actually when caught but a person in power is a different story and after all we are compassionate people. if it just happens to the Chinese politician, he could be fed to the dogs alive.

officials just have heavier sentences when proved to have violated a law because they are aware of the law. he supposes to get about 23 years of jail time but he gets a slap on the wrist.

[madnessteat]

all because he is remorseful of his act. everybody looks remorseful actually when caught but a person in power is a different story and after all we are compassionate people. if it just happens to the Chinese politician, he could be fed to the dogs alive.

officials just have heavier sentences when proved to have violated a law because they are aware of the law. he supposes to get about 23 years of jail time but he gets a slap on the wrist.

I don't think remorse should mitigate punishment for public officials. They are public figures and their punishments should not be mitigated; on the contrary, such actions should become loud and demonstrative, so that other people do not try to repeat such actions.

[CarnagexD]

Justice was never fair for a certain price. These peopleget away with their crimes with no consequences because they have strong connections within the justice system, or they literally just have enough money to pay prosecutors and judges. What normally would have costed him jailtime is revoked despite him using $255,000 from his supporters. A big douche if I must say.

He should be behind bars due to graft and corruption he committed because instead for implementing projects that should benefited the public he'd use that money to benefit his private interest and thrown it all away in gambling.
The judge seems to have not ruled out what is to be appropriate crime to the former mayor. The justice system from that country must be also corrupt.

Or perhaps the judge ruled the possible implications of the crime but was paid beforehand so he/she opted not to impose charges on him

[crzy]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

As long as you have the money to pay for the good lawyers, your sentenced will be reduced or not at all. Despite of the decision of the court, I still believe that he has no reputation now and I think its fair enough if he is no longer allowed to run for any government position. Anyway, he gamble and pay his credit card using the campaign fund of his organization and we don’t know yet if he also use the public funds for his addiction, who knows?

[carlfebz2]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

Still got surprised about inequality of this world? Its not something new that those influential or to those who had position would really be having that kind of treatment even if they do commit out
those violations or crimes then would just simply be punished out with light ones compared if you are just an ordinary person then you would deal with maximum
one.

It isnt just right that he wouldnt really take the correct punishment for this one.Using up funds for other purposes is still a criminal offense.
I wont be also surprised that he would do this stuff once again.

[KennyR]

What Stahura has done is completely wrong. Everything has been proven. He hasn't sentenced to jail, atleast some penalty needs to be paid. Simply he can be asked to pay the entire amount spend from public money. $255000 isn't a small amount. If this is left without big punishment, maybe tomorrow more other such personalities will repeat the same.

[xSkylarx]

What Stahura has done is completely wrong. Everything has been proven. He hasn't sentenced to jail, atleast some penalty needs to be paid. Simply he can be asked to pay the entire amount spend from public money. $255000 isn't a small amount. If this is left without big punishment, maybe tomorrow more other such personalities will repeat the same.

I've read the article on OP and he's just sentenced for two years probation along with one year of home detention and a fine of $7,500. For me, this is not enough for the money he spent on gambling. I'm thinking that maybe Stahura and the judge knew each other before so she did not sentence him to jail for a long time. He should atleast go to prison for 2 years so he would suffer for what he did. This is unfair to others who are in jail because of the same type of crime.

[yazher]

He should be behind bars due to graft and corruption he committed because instead for implementing projects that should benefited the public he'd use that money to benefit his private interest and thrown it all away in gambling.
The judge seems to have not ruled out what is to be appropriate crime to the former mayor. The justice system from that country must be also corrupt.

I think we cannot blame those people who put his crime to garbage because their life might be threaten, we just don't know the whole story about it. Some countries are strict on their rules whenever someone commits some crime, they quickly handled it with justice. they are those countries that managed to give their citizens a good place to live due to their justice. On the other hand, most countries are corrupt and justice is only a myth to them especially the one who commits it who is someone capable of paying the judge, and so on so forth.

[Natsuu]

He should be behind bars due to graft and corruption he committed because instead for implementing projects that should benefited the public he'd use that money to benefit his private interest and thrown it all away in gambling.
The judge seems to have not ruled out what is to be appropriate crime to the former mayor. The justice system from that country must be also corrupt.

I think we cannot blame those people who put his crime to garbage because their life might be threaten, we just don't know the whole story about it. Some countries are strict on their rules whenever someone commits some crime, they quickly handled it with justice. they are those countries that managed to give their citizens a good place to live due to their justice. On the other hand, most countries are corrupt and justice is only a myth to them especially the one who commits it who is someone capable of paying the judge, and so on so forth.

If we keep an open mind, and weigh loads of the case. The sanction can be somehow justifiable given that there is no proof that the campaign fund was part of the public fund. Then if it is private, this case can only be weighted more if that private person or institution files a case against that mayor.

[Insanerman]

Now was it fair ?!
What do you think ?

If you would ask some online gamblers why they could bet thousands of dollars just for a single slot games or any other games, then it is because they can afford. Meanwhile, Joseph Stahura's campaign funds isn't really came from the money of the people, but from Stahura's networth himself. He is only charged for tax frauds which is really easy to get out of. Also, he wasn't alone and he never used it in an instant. He used it with his wife for over 5 years. Hence, this is just really a personal issue and shouldn't be taken to be a reason for imprisonment, as tax frauds are the only thing he can be charged of.

[South Park]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

Still got surprised about inequality of this world? Its not something new that those influential or to those who had position would really be having that kind of treatment even if they do commit out
those violations or crimes then would just simply be punished out with light ones compared if you are just an ordinary person then you would deal with maximum
one.

It isnt just right that he wouldnt really take the correct punishment for this one.Using up funds for other purposes is still a criminal offense.
I wont be also surprised that he would do this stuff once again.

I think we are all aware that if a person has lot of money or has a lot of influence with other powerful people then that person can get away with almost anything and this is just another example of this, we know the world is unequal but that does not stop us from realizing this is getting ridiculous, politicians say all the right things to get elected but we know that at the end they do not care for the people that just voted for them which is why I have never understand the people that get upset about politics.

[just_Alice]

After familiarising myself with the law, the jurisdiction, and looking through different cases, one thing became clear to me: almost anything can be justified and nearly anyone can get away with various sorts of law violations as long as this person has a good lawyer. In the Stahura case, the fact that he immediately pleaded guilty has played an important role in building a case for leniency, also, as I understand it, Stahura handled his duties as a mayor pretty well. Plus he's got no criminal history, and it's not like he's killed or severely injured anyone. So in the end, he was viewed as a good man, who has served well to the community and made just one little mistake, which he very much regrets. I'm afraid, the judge was left with no choice...

[Hamphser]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

Still got surprised about inequality of this world? Its not something new that those influential or to those who had position would really be having that kind of treatment even if they do commit out
those violations or crimes then would just simply be punished out with light ones compared if you are just an ordinary person then you would deal with maximum
one.

It isnt just right that he wouldnt really take the correct punishment for this one.Using up funds for other purposes is still a criminal offense.
I wont be also surprised that he would do this stuff once again.

I think we are all aware that if a person has lot of money or has a lot of influence with other powerful people then that person can get away with almost anything and this is just another example of this, we know the world is unequal but that does not stop us from realizing this is getting ridiculous, politicians say all the right things to get elected but we know that at the end they do not care for the people that just voted for them which is why I have never understand the people that get upset about politics.

Yes, this had been a normal scenario in todays world on where those people which are popular or influential would always be having that vip treatment
or something being special and in case if they do violate something then they would really be getting the slightest possible kind of consequence
or penalization which is totally unfair for those who caught on the same crime or violation but just only an ordinary man.
Deal with it folks since this one isnt really surprising.

[South Park]

It is a pity that people in power have some kind of favor in front of the judicial system compared to the most ordinary people. I am a supporter of equal rights, so I think that a suspended sentence should be replaced with a real one.

Still got surprised about inequality of this world? Its not something new that those influential or to those who had position would really be having that kind of treatment even if they do commit out
those violations or crimes then would just simply be punished out with light ones compared if you are just an ordinary person then you would deal with maximum
one.

It isnt just right that he wouldnt really take the correct punishment for this one.Using up funds for other purposes is still a criminal offense.
I wont be also surprised that he would do this stuff once again.

I think we are all aware that if a person has lot of money or has a lot of influence with other powerful people then that person can get away with almost anything and this is just another example of this, we know the world is unequal but that does not stop us from realizing this is getting ridiculous, politicians say all the right things to get elected but we know that at the end they do not care for the people that just voted for them which is why I have never understand the people that get upset about politics.

Yes, this had been a normal scenario in todays world on where those people which are popular or influential would always be having that vip treatment
or something being special and in case if they do violate something then they would really be getting the slightest possible kind of consequence
or penalization which is totally unfair for those who caught on the same crime or violation but just only an ordinary man.
Deal with it folks since this one isnt really surprising.

It is what it is, it doesn't matter how advanced a country claims to be this always keeps happening, I'm pretty sure that if we make the effort we can easily find dozens of cases like this just in the last month, if a regular person did something like that you can bet that person will get 20 years of prison or more, but since the person that did it is a politician and has many influential friends then he can get away with it and somehow people are supposed to just think that the justice system is working as intended.

[Silberman]

He should be behind bars due to graft and corruption he committed because instead for implementing projects that should benefited the public he'd use that money to benefit his private interest and thrown it all away in gambling.
The judge seems to have not ruled out what is to be appropriate crime to the former mayor. The justice system from that country must be also corrupt.

This is why the saying that justice is blind is completely false, it should be blind in the sense that you should not look at who you have in front of you in order for justice to be delivered, but justice has to be applied by humans, and we know that humans have biases, this person was a politician and it is obvious that he had many powerful friends and he used his influence and maybe even some favors that people owed to him to get away with this, and as long as justice keeps being applied by humans this will keep happening.

[vintages]

More than $255,000 and the lawyer says it's not an addition? Really.
I am not surprised though, trust a well-paid lawyer to defend his client by all means. And to think the punishment given to him is just home imprisonment and just that amount of fine. This guy won't learn his lesson.
There is a possibility that he might even do more in the future cause he scale through this easily.

[South Park]

More than $255,000 and the lawyer says it's not an addition? Really.
I am not surprised though, trust a well-paid lawyer to defend his client by all means. And to think the punishment given to him is just home imprisonment and just that amount of fine. This guy won't learn his lesson.
There is a possibility that he might even do more in the future cause he scale through this easily.

Not only that this sets the wrong precedent, if this happens again and I'm pretty sure that it will then another lawyer will be able to bring this case to the judge and say that it is not a big deal because another person already did this and got a light sentence, that way it's more difficult for the next person that does something like this to be penalized too heavily for it, all in all this is a loss for the justice system and also for regular people because they see that justice has not and will not be served.