LITTLE ROCK — So this is how the sad saga of the late Lowell Police Chief Joe Landers ends after almost eight months of awaiting justice in a Panama City, Florida, courtroom?
Jimmy John Christo Jr. of Panama City gets a whopping 12-year prison sentence (and five years probation) for the crimes he committed. Christo pleaded guilty to having killed Landers while driving his vehicle inebriated, then leaving the scene. When police later found him, he also had with him illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Landers’ Harley-Davidson couldn’t avoid striking Christo’s car after Christo suddenly pulled out in front of Landers on April 27, sending the vacationing officer flying head-first over the handlebars and onto the pavement.
The man who’d been Lowell’s police chief for 15 years died in a hospital bed a week later without regaining consciousness.
The multitude of charges against Christo sounded ominous: felonies of driving under the influence manslaughter (a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit) and leaving an accident with injury; and misdemeanors of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Because bystanders photographed Christo driving away after striking Landers, and because officers later found him sitting in his car covered in windshield glass, and because the man made an open plea to the court of his guilt, I had no question about his culpability.
So in the eyes of a Florida judge, 12 years was what Landers’ life was worth. And I’m betting the guy won’t spend even 10 behind bars.
The court also did revoke Christo’s driver’s license, which I doubt he’ll be needing, for a while anyway.
I knew Joe Landers, who was respected and liked by many. His life was worth far more than that puny sentence imposed on a man who already had an extensive history of misdemeanor traffic offenses in Florida. This was far from his first encounter with a courtroom.
Seems to me that it probably didn’t hurt Christo’s fate that he’s part of a politically connected family in Panama City. Had his name been Mike Masterson, I strongly suspect ol’ Jimmy John would be spending the next 20 years in prison, which, incidentally, I believe he should be.
Randy Harvey, the officer who replaced Landers as Lowell’s chief of police, said he and others also were surprised at Christo’s light sentence.
“It’s just like he [Landers] left on vacation and never came back. It kinda puts you at a loss for words,” said Harvey.
Well, perhaps, Chief. But I believe I’ve just written about 500 words concerning Panama City’s idea of justice when it comes to a drunken driver with a history that culminated in leaving the scene of a felony manslaughter with drugs in his car.
500 texts?
Speaking of justice, that supposed “limited” fling Attorney General Dustin McDaniel admits to having with Hot Springs attorney Andrea L. Davis is beginning to feel kinda like a summer’s wad of gooey gum stuck to the sole of my shoe.
Once it’s stuck on there, it gets mighty hard to walk away from.
His latest news conference called to rehash this event, the inappropriateness of which still hasn’t been explained in any detail, did earn my thumbs up on a couple of points.
First, he actually admitted his mess to Arkansas and his wife (who was absent from the stage during his second public mea culpa).
Secondly, he did his best yet again to draw the sting from this intimate encounter, or relationship, or whatever it was, by conceding that his office (make that our office) was involved in five cases opposing clients of Davis.
But do you suppose he would ever have whispered a word about this encounter had Ms. Davis’ ex not spelled out the accusation of an affair with the attorney general in a request for admissions filed during discovery in their ongoing custody dispute? No, I don’t either.
Once that scintillating tidbit made news, this Democratic candidate for governor could only deny or confirm.
As McDaniel now has twice gone public in search of redemption and forgiveness, he’s insisted that his “limited interaction” with Davis in 2011 in no way affected or compromised any of those five cases involving his lady lawyer friend.
Yet afterwards, Davis sent a message to the Associated Press indicating that she and McDaniel exchanged some 500 text messages in 2011 and 2012. Over what, jurisprudence?
Davis also said she hopes McDaniel will decide to present the things that transpired between them as they occurred.
What does that mean?
See what I mean? This has become kinda like a big ol’ wad of icky gum. Hopefully, the state will get more revealing news as Davis responds to that request for admissions.
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Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial, Pages 13 on 01/15/2013