The arsonist that destroyed my condo was given 5 years probation

[IChing]

No compensation, for me, for the condo association.
You may wonder why I have posted such angry things today.


Convicted arsonist sentenced to five years felony probation
By Quintin Cushner/Senior Staff Writer

A Santa Maria man received five years felony probation Wednesday for torching his condo and several nearby units last summer.

Rockie Ginter, 33, was convicted Dec. 21 of felony residential arson and sent to Pasadena Recovery Hospital, a private mental institution, said Deputy District Attorney John MacKinnon.



He is now receiving outpatient therapy for bipolar disorder while living with his parents in Santa Maria, MacKinnon said.

Because Ginter was a first-time arson offender and was seeking treatment for mental illness, prosecutors did not seek additional jail or prison time.

Superior Court Judge James Rigali did sentence Ginter to probation and ordered him to obey a temporary curfew.

“In the end, society is best protected with him (Ginter) monitored by probation for five years,” MacKinnon said. “He's accepting treatment for his mental illness for the first time.”

Ginter's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Tom Allen, also said he was satisfied with the sentence.

“This gives him a chance to re-establish a relationship with his family and move on with his life,” Allen said.

Ginter set fire to his two-story condominium off West McCoy Lane on Aug. 3.

The blaze caused moderate to major damage to four units at the Country Club Village Greens - in the 2400 block of Village Green - including Ginter's unit. Nine other condos sustained minor smoke damage, according to the Santa Maria Fire Department.

Ginter started the blaze while under the influence of methamphetamine and during a possible psychotic episode, MacKinnon said. Ginter may have used gasoline to set the home on fire, he said.


Note he was a convicted felon on parole, they found a shotgun in his truck upon his arrest the next day




MY BEDROOM WALL....thank god my dog woke me at 3:00 in the morning.


Republican Judge, prosecutor, the "victims" family were cops, his dad and his brother.

[Roon]

1. It's that damn meth

Sorry he didn't get more time.

I was stabbed once and the guy was gonna walk with probation and I was very upset. He was caught with weed between his plea and sentence, the judge gave him two years and he served every day of that with two years intensive probation for two years after he was released.

[knowbody0]

2. that sucks!

i remember when it happened to you, and those photos.

your dog deserves lots of hugs.

[Darth_Kitten]

3. shit.........

:hug:

that's terrible. You have a right to be angry. :(

[Nailzberg]

4. Tort! Tort! Tort!

Sue his ass. Doubtful there is much to get, but sue em anyway.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. As Dickens put it:

“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble,… “the law is a ass—a idiot. "

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. My dear IChing......

I am so sorry.....this is a miscarriage of justice, IMHO......

You have every right to be angry...

I agree with the poster who said to sue him. I sure would....

:hug:

[CanuckAmok]

7. I'd agree with probation, IF...

...he hadn't been on a meth bender and IF he had no previous convictions for anything.

But what the fuck.... he should be held liable for the damage he caused. Is your condo association going to file a civil suit? I would.

[maveric]

8. "Felony Probation"???

Should there even be such a sentence? A felony like arson should require SOME time incarcerated.
Wouldnt ya think?

[hedgehog]

9. Let me play devil's advocate

It's a lot cheaper for the rest of us and should be more effective in the long run to have him under court supervised psychiatric care that he pays for rather than in prison with no psychiatric care. Go ahead and sue him if there's any money there. I'd leave his family alone though. I'd be willing to bet they've already been to Hell and back trying to get him into a mental health facility but have been balked by civil rights laws.

[IChing]

12. Your devil is no advocate for Justice

The family is very rich, even though they are cops

They live in a 3/4 of a million dollar house and own many properties in town.


They are authoritarian assholes, and should have started this process long ago

Screw your devil
and screw you advocate

I am not angry at him as much as the 'money justice system"

The owner of the Condo upstairs from me is going into bankruptcy

he was burned out too. His renters, who work for him moved in the day before the fire


THEY TOLD ME I SAVED THEIR LIVES

or my dog did for waking me up with carbon dioxide poisoning.

[hedgehog]

13. Well, that's a horse of a different color.

Although I'm sure that there are some people out in the world that'll tell both of us that $750,000 is the going rate for a decent house these days! If you think the family wasn't stepping up to the plate on this, go ahead and sue. Just bear in mind that as I said, many times well meaning civil rights laws meant to protect the rights of the mentally ill make it just about impossible for families to get sick relatives into treatment if they won't commit themselves voluntarily.

If this person has bipolar disorder, the meth may have been a form of self medication. If this person has bipolar disorder, he's not "getting away" with anything by going into treatment. I wouldn't feel bad about suing the arsonist if he has any assets left. Sometimes that's the best way to get a person's attention and it may assist the treatment process. I just wanted to suggest that overall treatment is a better solution in this case than incarceration.

[IChing]

14. Your response is a Justice for the mentally ill

Treatment and incarceration is not my point

He already had a felony on his habit.

"Sometimes that's the best way to get a person's attention and it may assist the treatment process. I just wanted to suggest that overall treatment is a better solution in this case than incarceration."


he was already on probation for felony drugs possession when this happened


The parents helped sweep them under the table at that time too.

[hedgehog]

15. Again, you're not going to like my answer

but would jail have been the right answer for the drug possession? Maybe the drug problem was a result of the mental illness. What if all it took was a couple pills a day to keep this guy on the straight and narrow BUT he wouldn't stay on his pills because he was too sick to take them long enough for them to work AND there was no way to make him take them AND there were always people around willing to sell him me th or dope or whatever? How much has he stolen from his own family over the years? What you see as sweeping something under the table may have been someone making a desperate attempt to save the nice kid they remembered.

None of this puts your place back together unless someone ponies up the money. Right now we don't have a justice system, we have a vengeance system.

[LisaL]

18. Seems like such a miscarriage of justice.

The old apartment complex I used to live in was also arsoned by some idiot. A number of people died in that fire. I have no idea how long the guy got, but definitely not long enough for all the horrible things he caused. I would say, sue the bastards for everything they are worth, if you can.

[IChing]

10. The judge gave no penalties for victums

The condo units have lost over 10,000 dollars in insurance and other losses
they think that the lost is just one year, however, I pointed out that
it is not just one year for the loss

[IChing]

11. delete n/t

[msatty99]

16. Make noise. write the judge.

most important for you...contact the probation officer and
make sure you are kept informed of how he is doing on probation.

If he is a meth addict I can almost guarantee you that he will
wind up testing dirty on a drug screen or otherwise fing up his
probation. When he does...the judge will have no excuse not
to nail him. If he doesn't then maybe probation was the right
decision.

[msatty99]

17. Make noise. write the judge.

most important for you...contact the probation officer and
make sure you are kept informed of how he is doing on probation.

If he is a meth addict I can almost guarantee you that he will
wind up testing dirty on a drug screen or otherwise fing up his
probation. When he does...the judge will have no excuse not
to nail him. If he doesn't then maybe probation was the right
decision.

[originalpckelly]

19. There are some of these around already...but listen

There should be a judges association, which polices bad judges. This is different from organization like AJA, which mainly are judge advocacy clubs. They would rate each other on impartiality and appropriateness of punishment. This way the legislative branch doesn't get resistance or in trouble for imposing mandatory minimums or judge punishments. It would prevent things like this from happening.

The judges would rate each other, and their pay would be based upon the rating the judges organization gave them. Something awful like this would be a part of the rules, so they would have to punish a judge regardless. If there was sort of weird situation where the law required judges to impose a sentence, but the person doesn't deserve it, the judge may sign an affidavit guaranteeing that the judge would be satisfied with the judgment were it the judge who was the plaintiff or victim. If the judge continues to act like badly they will lower his rating (and thusly pay) so much the judge will have to resign.

[IChing]

20. to reflect my rage but not my hate

hate is not rage

[Floogeldy]

21. In all fairness . . .

. . . and with all due sorrow for the loss of your property . . . .

If the person is mentally ill, why should we punish him any more than someone who has a heart attack while driving, crosses the center line, and causes a bad wreck?

[IChing]

22. Sounds like your brain in that logic equals our losses

and your losses in the new Iraqi War


Against each other

[LisaL]

23. In all fairness, did you miss the part where the guy used meth?